Featuring Adam Green, David Icke, and Mark Passio

In the previous chapter of this series we outlined how the problem of child abuse pervades all cultures, political affiliations, genders, and religions.

Unfortunately, pedophilia is not the only problem associated with organized religion.

Organized religion, sometimes known as institutional religion, is defined as “a belief system and rituals which are systematically arranged and formally established”. Organized religions have an official doctrine outlining these beliefs and rituals, as well as hierarchical or bureaucratic leadership structure, and a codification of proper and improper behavior.

While humanity has been seeking to understand the physical world by creating stories and myths which explain natural phenomena since the beginning of our species, it took hundreds –  and in some cases thousands – of years to develop the current major organized religions.

A Brief History of Organized Religion and War

The origins of these organized belief systems begin to crop up around 2000 BCE with the seeds of Hinduism developing in Northern India. Early Judaism begins in the middle east around this time as well, while Buddhism sprouted in India around 500 BCE. We also see the beginning of Confucianism in China, the Yoga Sutras as outlined by Patanjali, and the Vedic text which contributed to both Hinduism and Buddhism. Additionally, around 140 BCE to 200 CE, the Hebrew Bible was developed and organized. The tales of Jesus of Nazareth also appear within a hundred years of the Current Era.

Over the last 2,000 years, these ideologies have been used as a method of dividing the populace, and justifying war, violence, and murder of heretics and non-believers.

Jewish Persecution

The Jews of the pre-Christian era, sometimes known as Second Temple Judaism, were already struggling to maintain their beliefs in the face of Hellenistic rule by the Greeks. Alexander the Great conquered the Land of Israel by 331 BCE and Jews often faced mistreatment. The Jewish opposition to Hellenistic influence on their religious and cultural practices lead to the Maccabean Revolt from 167 to 160 BCE.

The tensions between the Jews and their conquerors continued during the Roman empire resulting in several Jewish–Roman wars between the years 66 and 135 CE, leading to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple.

Over time, the Jews themselves divided into numerous sects, including Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots, and early followers of Jesus  of Nazareth. Battles between Jewish sects, Christians, and the Roman Empire began almost immediately after Jesus is claimed to have existed.

The Roman Empire’s religion was centered around the pantheon of Roman Gods and Goddesses, as well as various rituals, prayers, and sacrifices to the Gods. The emperors of the time viewed the rise of the Christian cult as a threat to their dominance and power, and began a period of persecution of Christian missionaries and believers. The Jewish leadership came to view Christians as a threat to their beliefs, while Christians often blamed Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus. Over time, as Christianity spread throughout the world, Christians would persecute each other, often based on minor differences in interpretation of the life, teachings, and divinity of Jesus.

Christian Persecution

The Roman Empire persecuted Christians beginning with the reign of Nero and continuing throughout the empire. Valerian reportedly ordered the Senate to command Christian clergy to perform sacrifices to the Roman gods or face exile. Christian leaders would also be executed or lose their titles and property if they failed failed to worship Roman gods.

As the Christian cult evolved into a mass religious movement, the Roman empire was forced to contend with its rising popularity. In 311, Roman emperor Galerius issued the Edict of Toleration which ended years of persecution of Christians and began their recognition by the empire. This acceptance would expand 2 years later with the so-called Edict of Milan by Constantine I, the first Roman ruler to convert to Christianity. This trend continued for decades to come, culminating with Christianity becoming the official state religion of the Roman Empire in 380 under Theodosius I.

Ironically, Theodosius would immediately begin suppressing and persecuting those who practiced the polytheistic worship of the Roman gods. Theodosius continued Constantine’s ban on animal sacrifices, and in 389 he began issuing decrees which implemented a ban on the celebration of non-Christian holidays and visits to temples for non-Christian gods. Despite the majority of the Roman empire still practicing worship of Roman gods, the persecution of these beliefs and the promotion of Christianity as the only accepted religion of the Roman Empire continued after Theodosius’ death with the reign of his sons.

Those who held onto their Roman spiritual traditions or practiced other forms of indigenous spirituality were often labeled “pagan”. The practitioners of these varied belief systems did not call themselves pagan. The term literally means rural, rustic, civilian, or someone who comes from the countryside. Thus, pagan can be seen as a derogatory term applied by Jews, Christians, and Muslims to those who practiced beliefs outside of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Islamic Persecution

The wars between religious factions would continue for the next 1500 years with the rise of Islam and the teachings of Muhammad. In the 7th century, Muslims began invading various nations in North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Europe as they sought to spread the gospel of Muhammad and Islam.

The Ottoman Empire was infamous for carrying out a number of genocides against Christians, Jews, and believers of other religious traditions. Christians and other religious minorities were discriminated against and persecuted in financial matters, prevented from owning weapons, holding certain professions, and obligated to pay taxes.

Muslim rule would expand across the Middle East, North Africa, and the Iberian peninsula in modern day Spain and Portugal during the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), and the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1517). The fourth and final caliphate was the Ottoman Caliphate, established by the rulers of the Ottoman Empire who claimed caliphal authority from 1517 until the Ottoman caliphate was formally abolished in 1924.

This period saw numerous battles and wars waged between the Islamic Caliphates and European Christian kingdoms. These include the Crusades, where the Catholic Church sought to recovery the “holy land” from Muslim rule; the Baltic Crusades against the non-Christian people surrounding the Baltic Sea; the Crusades against Christians based on schisms within the Church from 1200 to the late 1500’s; and the Reconquista which officially ended Muslim rule of the Iberian Peninsula in 1492 with the Granada War.

These religious wars continued to be waged across Europe and the Middle East during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The death toll from these wars ranges from 7 million on the low end to more than 10 million people on the high end. The 30 Years War from 1618 to 1648 is widely considered to be one of the most violent conflicts of this period with an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians dying from the effects of battle, famine, or disease.

The use of religion as justification for war and death has continued in the 20th and 21st centuries.

For example, in the late stages of the Ottoman Empire, the ruling classes implemented a program of forced migration and exile focused on Greeks in the Aegean Region. The expulsions continue throughout WW1 and lasted until 1922, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 289,000 to 750,000 people. The Ottoman Empire’s Greek Genocide also included forced death marches through the Syrian Desert, executions, and the destruction of Eastern Orthodox cultural, historical, and religious monuments.

Additionally, while the violent conflict between the Palestinians and Israeli government has waged since the very beginning of the creation of the Israeli state after WW2, the world has witnessed an increase in awareness, and disgust, for the violence since October 7, 2023. On that day, Hamas radicals carried out a terrorist attack on the Israeli population, resulting in the deaths of over 1,000 people, including Israeli citizens and foreign nationals. In the months following the Hamas attack, the Israeli government has carried out endless bombings on the Palestinian population, much of it being heavily documented by independent journalists using social media to broadcast the harsh reality to the modern world. Current estimates of Palestinian deaths since October 2023 range from 30,000 to over 100,000.

Buddhist Extremists

The Abrahamic religions are not the only organized religions which are responsible for violence – even Buddhists have participated in violence against people with differing beliefs.

In Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, Buddhist nationalist movements have formed in recent years in response to differences between the majority Buddhist populations and the minority Muslim and Christian populations.

Numerous reports during the 2010s and 2020s document how some Buddhist nationalists have become convinced they are under an existential threat from Muslims. Some extremist Buddhist monks have given up on pacifism and now attempt to justify the use of force against the ethnic minority Muslims in Myanmar. To be certain, some of the Muslim sects also promote hostility towards the Buddhists, and these conflicts have erupted into violent incidents.

In Bangladesh, villagers who converted from Buddhism to Christianity nearly two decades ago were attacked by Buddhist extremists after they refused to re-convert to Buddhism. Their Christian church was demolished and crosses were broken in retribution for their beliefs.

In all of these conflicts – from the current ongoing battles waged by religious fanatics to the wars fought thousands of years ago – religion is a central component of the misguided justification for continued violence, theft, rape, and murder. Time and time again, throughout humanity’s history, we have seen wars and violence enacted in the name of defending a God, or banishing those who refuse to comply with the edicts of the popular religious ideologies. Especially in the post 9/11 world, we see examples of politicians, military officials, and extremists who believe they are fighting a holy war in an attempt to bring about the prophecies of the Bible.

Researcher Adam Green has been studying the Abrahamic religions on his podcast Know More News for over a decade. Green says these religions are nothing more than methods of controlling and manipulating the masses.

(Adam Green)

Beyond the violence and war which has raged for millennia in the name of religion, there are also scholars who believe that the Abrahamaic religions simply co-opted pre-existing spiritual traditions when it was politically expedient for the ruling class. For example, we know that the narrative of Jesus Christ has many parallels in Middle Eastern myths about Gods dying and rising. The cults surrounding Baal, Osiris, and Adonis are all examples which survived through the Hellenistic and Roman periods and likely influenced Early Christianity. As the Christian cult grew into a formidable movement, and the Roman Empire chose to embrace Christianity, they rebranded many of the indigenous festivals and celebrations as Christian holidays.

(Adam Green)

Occult researcher Mark Passio believes one of the goals of the religious leaders is to distract from fundamental truths which have been hidden from humanity, namely, what he calls Natural Law.

(Mark Passio)

Quite clearly, organized religion has been and will continue to be a tool for manipulation and control of the masses.

State Atheism / Persecution of Religious Folk

One final point on the conflicts which arise from religion should also be noted. Specifically, even nations which have rejected religion as the official state dogma have in turn used violence against those who choose to believe in a God or a higher power.

The French revolution and the so-called Reign of Terror in 1792 lead to violence against church officials, the nationalization of Church property and the exile of tens of thousands of priests under what was known as dechristianization. The Mexican Revolutionary period in the early 1900s (under President Plutarco Elías Calles) also saw a program aimed at eradicating religious practices. We can also look to the many Communist revolutions as examples of State Atheism being used to justify the stripping of property, abuse and murder of adherents of various religions. These Communist revolutions burned churches, mosques, and temples which the state saw as a threat to its supremacy.

Conspiracy researcher David Icke has been studying the control techniques deployed by what he calls The Global Cult since the 1990s. He believes using religion to divide the population is one of the strongest techniques used to control mind and spirit.

(David Icke)

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

Perhaps the most vile aspect of organized religion relates to the tendency for politicians and influential public figures to proclaim their belief in the popular religion of their home country while privately living a life in complete opposition to the stated principles and values of said religion.

There are literally endless examples of politicians and religious leaders being engulfed in scandals which reveal adultery, lying, theft, murder, and the aforementioned pedophilia. Clearly, these actions do not align with the proclaimed tenets of the world’s popular religions.

Even more disturbing is the fact that many adherents to organized religion also privately practice rituals as part of their membership in a wide range of secret societies.

The Secret Society Subversion

Secret societies have influenced the modern world in countless ways of which the average person is completely oblivious. Secret societies have existed for millennia, going back to the Pythagorean secret societies in 530 BCE, the Eleusinian and the Mithraic Mysteries in Ancient Greece and Rome, as well as the Cult of Isis. These secret, and sometimes, not-so secret societies, rose and fell throughout the centuries leading to groups like the Rosicrucians, the Freemasons, and secret student societies at elite universities like Skull and Bones, and Scroll and Key at Yale University.

These secret societies and the mystery religion they covet were not simply the realm of religious fanatics or the average person. Kings, emperors, and politicians have all been members of these various cults and secret societies, which are sometimes referred to as fraternities.

There is no doubt that these organizations have wielded an uncanny influence on geopolitical outcomes. In the final episode of this series we will dive deep into the role secret societies like the Freemasons and not-so secret societies like the Society of Jesus have played in the unfolding of historical events over the last few hundred years.

For now, it is important to recognize that these societies include all types of people, from a wide range of backgrounds, political parties, and religions. For centuries, critics have debated whether members of these secret societies have a greater allegiance to their private clubs and fellow members than they do their own religion, nation, or family.

(David Icke)

There is perhaps no greater example of politicians and influential people living one life in the public sphere, and acting out a completely different fantasy in private than the group known as the Bohemian Club.

The Bohemian Club and the Cremation of Care

The Bohemian Club was originally founded in 1872. The Club owns the infamous Bohemian Grove, a restricted 2,700-acre campground in Monte Rio, California which every July becomes the home for hundreds of America’s influential politicians and industrialists for a 2 week encampment.

Some of the rich and powerful who have attended and/or given speeches include William Casey, the Director of CIA from 1981 to 1987; Former U.S. Secretary of State, Diplomat, and war criminal Henry Kissinger; Zbigniew Brzeziński, a former National Security Advisor and promoter of the Technetronic Era; Dr. Wernher von Braun, Nazi and scientists with the NASA space program; astronaut Neil Armstrong; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, and George H.W. Bush while serving as Vice President. General Dwight Eisenhower also attended before being elected to the Presidency.

Presidents who have attended include Herbert Hoover, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford.  Reportedly, Ronald Reagan and Nixon met at the Grove to discuss plans for Nixon to go after the Republican nomination unchallenged.

It has long been rumored that the seeds for the creation of the atomic bomb were planted at the Bohemian Grove in a September 1942 planning meeting for the Manhattan Project. Ernest Orlando Lawrence was an American nuclear physicist and a winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron. Lawrence worked on uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project.

According to the book An American genius: The life of Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Lawrence had many trips to the Grove where he connected with the men who would eventually fund his research. Lawrence’s membership in the Bohemian Club was sponsored by his university president in 1932. As a member of the club he met William Henry Crocker, Edwin Pauley, and John Francis Neylan, the men who helped him obtain money for his energetic nuclear particle investigations. Lawrence also shared a meal with General Eisenhower and former President Hoover at the Grove.

Even in the 2020’s, we continue to see powerful people in American politics attending the Bohemian Grove meetings. In April 2023, ProPublica detailed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ relationship with billionaire businessman Harlan Crow. The report notes that Thomas has attended the Bohemian Grove with Crow.

The most infamous and worrisome aspect of the Bohemian Grove is a ritual known as the Cremation of Care.

This ritual involves Grove members dressing up in red hoods, marching, and chanting in front of a 30-foot hollow owl statue at the head of the Grove lake. The Club says the owl is their mascot and symbolizes wisdom. The ceremony, which has been taking place since 1888, is presented on the first night of the annual encampment and is said to give Grove members an opportunity to banish their worldly cares. This “Cremation of the Care” involves incinerating an effigy of “Dull Care” in front of the owl.

Starting in the 1980’s, the Grove would be infiltrated by journalists and activists. In 1981, Rick Clogher’s Mother Jones article, Inside the Secret Life of the Power Elite detailed the elite gathering and reported on the owl and opening ritual. In July 1981, ABC News released a 5-minute special report about the Grove. However, the owl was only briefly shown and the Cremation of Care ritual mentioned in passing.

In 1989, Philip Weiss wrote an article for Spy Magazine detailing how he spent seven days in the camp posing as a guest. In his article, Inside the Bohemian Grove, he writes that he saw Bohemian Grove literature which claimed Grove rituals are derived from Druidic traditions.

However, it wasn’t until the year 2000 that the world was able to see the Cremation of Care ritual with their own eyes. That year, independent journalist and provocateur Alex Jones released his documentary, Dark Secrets Inside the Bohemian Grove. Jones and his cameraman snuck into the Grove and recorded the opening ceremony. Jones would later describe the ritual as Satanic.

While Jones’ video provided evidence of politicians participating in a secret ritual, his video was grainy and indecipherable at some points.

However, in December 2023, an anonymous train-hopping youtuber known as Dancer infiltrated the Bohemian Grove by sneaking in via a small boat over night. He infiltrated the Grove a second time in May 2024 and recorded the most clear evidence of the ritual to date.

Are these politicians and influential members of high society practicing a neo-Druidic ritual designed to help them shed their concerns for the world? In Druid traditions owls are seen as part of an initiation. The Cremation of Care could be an initiation ritual for members of the ruling class who are beginning their journey into the world of secret societies and secret .rituals.

This is but one example of the actions of powerful people meeting in secret to enact rituals which conflict with their public persona.

Solutions

While I do not profess to know for certain whether God or Gods exist, there is no doubt that institutional religions have been used to sway the masses to support actions which are diametrically opposed to the claimed intentions of the world’s religions. For thousands of years, tyrants and psychopaths have used claims of divine right or direct communication with God to justify their plunder, lies, and war crimes.

It is my belief that organized religions are themselves the biggest impediment to developing an individual connection with the divine, the world beyond the 5 senses, and a respect for all of creation.

Whatever your spiritual beliefs, whether you attend a church, synagogue, mosque or temple, do not allow pastors, priests, gurus, imams, and rabbis to stand in the way of your direct connection with the divine.

(David Icke)

Do not allow those who claim to have a monopoly on a relationship with God to mislead you or twist scripture to support actions which you know are immoral and ungodly.

We must guard against the forces of evil which attempt to justify their horrific actions while they hide their true intentions and beliefs. We must question everything, including religion and secret societies.

Conclusion

In the 16 episodes of this series we have described the design of the Pyramid of Power, and outlined the many institutions and individual players which allow this Pyramid to function. In the final episode of this series we will further explore the role of secret societies and the belief systems which guide these organizations as we finally answer the question:

Who (or what) does this Pyramid of Power serve?

Thank you for watching.

To dive further into the rabbit hole of religion and secret societies I recommend the following books:

Celsus in His Own Words: A Translation of The True Teaching

Secret Societies by Michael Howard