Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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74 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating and illuminating read., December 1, 2003
By A Customer
In the last ten years many books have come onto the market that explore and expose Freemasonry, the Knights Templar and the ancient connections that these groups have had in our distant past back to the time of the Egyptians. The Book of Hiram is the fourth in a series explored by Chrsitopher Knight & Robert Lomas. In this title, Knight & Lomas take us even further back, to the Stone Age where sites such as Stonehenge and Newgrange in Ireland were astronomically aligned to the movements of the stars and the rising and falling of Venus as the Morning and Evening Star in particular. As always, I was rivetted by the work and detailed research presented by both these authors. Both are themselves Freemasons and both have an intense desire not only to fully understand the seemingly strange rituals held in Freemasonry but also to trace the origins of these rituals and reasons for the secrecy which surrounds them. Today, many in the twenty-first century take the liberties of Democracy, equality, a justice of liberty and religious tolerance for granted. The world was not always so, and in order to achieve these goals, many thousands of years and many lives had to be sacrificed, often under the cloak of secrecy in order to wrest away power from those who advocated autocratic states and a trail by ordeal. The French Inquisition, the American War of Independence, the French Revolution and the Second World War are cases in point. Whether you regard the Freemasons as a demonic order or not, after studying their history, their basic precepts as laid out at the end of this book and the goals that they set out to achieve over many centuries, one has to admire their tenacity and determination and perhaps....... even take some time to thank them for once instead of denouncing them? Much like all orders and groups, there are those who would use their connections for humanitarian aims and those who would use them for selfish acquisitive purposes. The recent exposure of homosexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church is a case in point. Not all Roman Catholic priests are sexual child abuses, not all Roman Catholics are bad people. Mother Theresa was a nun under the order of a Roman Catholic church and her life was a testament to human kindness and caring. So to I believe it is with much of Freemasonry, which in some instances has been connected to the Illuminati, much denounced in recent times for their apparent attempts at world domination and global control. These were not the aims of the Knights Templar or those of Freemasonry in general, though I am sure that some used and are possibly still using these orders to achieve such aims. I believe that Knight & Lomas have only the highest ideals in mind and their willingness to share their truth and the riddles that they have solved against all odds and much criticism, is admirable to say the least. Should you wish to explore Freemasonry, then these authors are the best place to start, not only in The Book of Hiram but in all their works. Gail Evans. author of THE FIRSTBORN OF GOD.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Aside from a few swift assumptions made by the authors..., December 8, 2004
I thought that this was a great read. After reading all of the authors previous books, I opened this one knowing that they were going to make some mistakes, which they would try to correct in the next book (or that other scholars would give them hell for). However, I think that these kinds of mistakes are forgivable in a process where new ideas are introduced and where the bar is being pushed beyond what has already been agreed upon in popular theory. Research, in my opinion, is always in some capacity about disproving the most recently "proved" theory or else about providing a foundation from which the truth about a new theory can be discovered. That's what this book does very effectively.
To my knowledge, this book is the first to so completely tie ancient traditions, stories, and histories together as far back as 7000 B.C. The continuity of Venus worship and sun worship (even with glossing over the cultural differences) from the Grooved Ware People, to the formation of Christianity in Rome, to the treasured beliefs of secret societies is particularly intriguing.
Yes, the authors sometimes get over zealous with tying things together. And yes, they sometimes overemphazise the role of Free Masonry's connection to the ancient world (as another reviewer pointed out, the Masonic Testament section of this book should not so swiftly be taken to be info passed down for thousands of years - although it's not definitively proven that this knowledge doesn't have a tie to some ancient source, either).
Once you acknowledge that there are definitely generalizations and a few misteps, you can dig into the new ideas and concepts that make this book so enjoyable.
Another thing: after reading this book, I went back to reread the Hiram Key (their first book), and I would definitely recommend this book INSTEAD of the Hiram Key. This book is like a major facelift to the Hiram Key.
Because so many related discoveries are still being debated, translated, and analyzed, I'm sure that the new ideas and discoveries in this book will be trumped at some point. After all, the authors do not touch on the Cro Magon or Grimaldi peoples who migrated to Europe prior to the building of megalithic sites. And they do not go into depth about the roles of John the Baptist and Mary Madalene at Qumran. For now, this book is a breath of fresh air because of it's willingness to go against dogma with an open mind and freeness that traditional research lacks.
Read this book, along with Uriel's Machine (their third book) and Civilization One (the fifth book), for a more complete view of the author's revolutionary ideas. And read the Templar Revelation by Lynn Picket, plus related books, for counter ideas and to fill in some of the gaps. I'm off to find another book...
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Astronomic Empire shines through Masonic History, April 26, 2005
In their third book following "The Hiram Key" and "The Second Messiah", Masonic Authors Knight and Lomas set out to uncover some masonic relevance to ancient astronomy that ties in closely with a stone age cult towards Venus. This was passed down to Solomon, and later Jewish Kings. They show how this Venus worship was even embraced by Jesus Christ.
The Book of Hiram answers long sought after questions about Freemasonry's beginnings -- presenting an exciting challenge to readers to reconsider many of their preconceived notions (Hence keeping an open mind, or being a "freethinker" as freemasons often refer to themselves and their great fraternity.) In this, the final stage of their fourteen year quest (which spans five thousand years and four continents) to find the origins of Masonic ritual.
I found this book to be extremely uplifting and educational for anyone interested in ancient history or freemasonry. It is truly a fascinating read and not "preconceived history" as many critics will try and tell you. Perhaps they tell you this so you won't educate yourself with the "corner cases" of history. Perhaps they are afraid you will discover something, and make up your own mind from there...
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