Focus on Charles Taze Russell

This is in response to a site which, although directed at the JWs, presents mostly misinformation concerning Russell (who was never associated with the JW organization). The page is filled with deceptive graphical displays with sentences designed to place in the mind of the reader evil thoughts concerning Russell. Practically every sentence on the page contains deceptive falsehoods. In effect, the methods employed on the site imitate Satan.

For instance, whoever took the pictures of the Masonic Temple that was recently built next to the Rosemont Cemetery very evidently should have realized that there was no actual connection between the Masonic Temple and the Pyramid monument, so we can only assume that this  kind of deception is deliberate, that is, that the alignment of the pyramid monument in the Rosemont Cemetery with the Greater Pittsburgh Masonic Temple across the street is evidently done so as to make it appear that there is some kind of connection between the two. In reality, the Masons did not build that temple across the street from the cemetery because there was a pyramid monument on the WTS plot of the Rosemont Cemetery. However, the implication is that in some unexplained way, there is a connection between the Masons’ Temple and the pyramid, and this unexplained imaginary connection is presented as “irrefutable proof that Jehovah’s Witnesses are inseparably linked to Satanic Freemasonry.” This remark is made, of course, with the assumption that Russell was associated with the “Jehovah’s Witnesses”.

Another false connection is endeavored with the “cross and crown” emblem that is used on the pyramid, and a picture of the “cross and crown” that appears on the Watch Tower is presented, and it is claimed that this is a picture of the Masonic cross. In reality, there is no such emblem as a “Masonic cross”. A picture is presented of a Masonic Meeting Hall, evidently used by the Knights Templar, which displays a “cross and crown”, but which is different from the “cross and crown” that is shown in the Watch Tower.

However, it should be made known that Russell’s usage of this symbol on the Watch Tower is being singled out, since churches of practically of every denomination have used similar imagery for centuries. So if the usage by the Watch Tower of this emblem means that the Watch Tower is Masonic, then so are these other religious groups Masonic (the Google results linked to below are not perfect, but there is enough in the results to show the point):

Baptist:
http://tinyurl.com/dax6ou
http://tinyurl.com/ctcmcs

Methodist:
http://tinyurl.com/crngv6
http://tinyurl.comcmand3

Lutheran:
http://tinyurl.com/cwb48g
http://tinyurl.com/ckwc8v

Catholic:
http://tinyurl.com/c9emn3
http://tinyurl.com/dlhzyd

Greek Orthodox:
http://tinyurl.com/cs9az6
http://tinyurl.com/d53fhu

Presbyterian:
http://tinyurl.com/d55fcy
http://tinyurl.com/cq9cm2

Church of England:
http://tinyurl.com/dezxu8

Episcopalian:
http://tinyurl.com/dbnq73
http://tinyurl.com/cb6axc

We could probably present more. The point is, however, that if Russell’s usage of the “cross and crown” symbol is proof that Russell was a mason, then the same charge should be laid against practically every Christian denomination. Actually, while there is no “Masonic” cross, nor a “Masonic” cross and crown symbol, the Knights Templar did take a form of the cross and crown from the traditional church usage, but it is not the same form that appeared on the Watch Tower. One could term their usage to be a usage of the cross and crown as that of the “Knights Templar”, but this usage by the Knights Templar does not project upon the whole of the Freemasons, so that it could be called a “Masonic cross”. In other words, while the Knights Templar use this symbol, the Freemasons as a whole do not.

Regardless, the idea that Russell used a “Masonic cross” has to be imagined, assumed, and read into the usage, and then one has to further imagine, assume and read into the first assumption that these assumptions mean that Russell was a Mason, which he flatly denied, and which thousands of printed pages of his works attest that he was not. Surely, anyone who is truly familiar with Russell’s works can immediately recognize the falsity of the charge that he was a Mason, or that he had some kind of secret “Illuminati” goal that some have alleged, and evidently that he was openly sabotaging his real goals by his public religious ministry. The whole idea is preposterous, to say the least.

Freemasons and Related Links

See also:

http://tinyurl.com/rl-masons