The Story

 

1. “The book of the Sufis is not the darkness of letters. It is the whiteness of the heart.” Jalaluddin Rumi.
3. “A mountain is many times larger than a ruby”. Jalaluddin Rumi.

 

1. We may presume, with good reason, that never was there a time when there was not at least one man in Israel who held this higher priesthood (receiving it by special dispensation) and who was authorized to officiate in the ordinances, but this power and authority was withdrawn from among the people and they were denied the privilege of the ordinances which pertain to the fulness of glory, or the entering into the rest of the Lord.(Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3 vols., edited by Bruce R. McConkie [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-1956], 3: 85.)
2. How many others have been given this great honor we do not know, but there may have been many of whom we have no record …. Moreover, the Lord, of necessity, has kept authorized servants on the earth bearing the priesthood from the days of Adam to the present time; in fact, there has never been a moment from the beginning that there were not men on the earth holding the Holy Priesthood. Even in the days of apostasy, and apostasy has occurred several times, the Lord never surrendered this earth and permitted Satan to have complete control.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:45. see also Wilford Woodruff, in Journal of Discourses, 22:232.) (Milton R. Hunter, Pearl of Great Price Commentary: A Selection From the Revelations, Translations, and Narrations of Joseph Smith [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1951], 202.)
3. Joseph of Arimathea was uncle to Jesus. He was fairly wealthy having tin mines in Briton and holdings in other places. It has been written that Jesus and his uncle were traveling the world, including Briton between the time of his youth and his baptism. He and his uncle were very close. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, his uncle made arrangements to bury the body in a cave normally reserved for the rich. But after three days the stone had been rolled away and the body was gone. The authorities were pissed. They arrested Joseph of Arimathea and put him in prison for three years. While in prison, Jesus appeared to him and gave him the Priesthood garment and his endowments including the Fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood. He was finally released from prison. He gathered up a group of people, including the “virgin” Mary, Mary Magdalene and others and all fled to Egypt. They claimed to have super apostolic priesthood including the Patriarchal and the Melchizedek Priesthood. The time came that they had to flee from Egypt and made their way ultimately to Briton. They built a little wattle church dedicated to the “virgin” Mary. Joseph arranged with the authorities to receive 12 hides of land to settle on. And, before Joseph died he passed his priesthood down to others. But, the presiding keys were passed to his son and so on down. Each in turn holding the Fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood (see: Waite, pages 500,505, 541):

 

6. Joseph of Arimathea

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Josephes, or Bors (his son)

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Alein (also son to Joseph of Arimathea)

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Josue

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Aminadappe

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Catheloys

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Mangel (or Manaal)

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Lanbar

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Pellean

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Pelles, whose daughter Pelle bore the son to Lancelot

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Galahad¹

 

and:

7. Joseph of Arimathea

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Anna (Cousin to Virgin Mary)

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Beli (or Heli) the Great – King of Britain (London)

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Lud – King of Britain

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Tenuantius – King of Britain

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Cymbeline – King of Britain

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Arviragus – King of Britain

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Meric

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Eurgen

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Gladys

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Strada the Fair

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Helena (Saint) (Found the Black Madonna) daughter of King Coel (of nursery rhyme fame)

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Constantine the Great (Emperor of Rome)

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Constantine II

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Uther Pendragon – King of Britain

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King Arthur²

8. Upon the (death?) of King Arthur and because of the wickedness of the people, Arthur (or Lancelot, or Percival) (or Galahad, Perceval, and Bors)³ was forced by the Lord to take the Keys of the Fulness of the Priesthood (and associated Hallows)⁴ to Lebanon in or about 542 ad to give to another more worthy individual or nation.
9. In 570 the prophet Mohammed was born. One day, Mohammed accompanied his uncle to Syria on business. On the journey he met Bahera, a Christian monk, who gave him a blessing recognizing the young boy as a future prophet. He frequently went to a cave in the desert three miles from Mecca, where he would spend months in prayer and meditation. One morning, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and said: “Rise, for thou art the Prophet of God. Go forth and go forth and preach in the name of thy Lord.⁵ His first revelation was in 610. He immediately tried to convert his family to his messages. He succeeded. In Islam there is an outer church that has no organized priesthood (but they do have their mullah or teacher) or a sheikh (tribal or clan leader). But there is also an inner church known as the Sufis which did/do have a priesthood. A member of the Sufi movement would memorize his priesthood line of authority all the way back to one of the Prophet’s immediate family. Such a line would look like this:
11. Mohammed

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‘Ali (Son-in-law of the Prophet and Father of Islamic mysticism)

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Hasan al-Basri

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Habib al-‘Ajami⁶

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Da’ud al-Tai

(listing every man in the

line of authority until the

present day.) Including:

Munis ‘Ali Shah⁷

 

1. It is the Sufi’s that made/make a big deal about the Mantle. The succession of Teacherhood was refered to as the inheritance of the Mantle. It carried impalpable blessing or power. It is also an article of clothing made of blue or white material.⁸ The word “Sufi” comes from the word for “wool” or “piety” or such.⁹ There is a special robe that a Sufi wears that is patched in a certain way.¹⁰ These patches help a Sufi recognize another.¹¹ The true teacher can have no part of the property of his student, unless it were to be used for the common good.¹²
2. It was the Sufis that brought the Troubadours, the Rosicrucians, the Templars, the Masons¹³, Alchemy¹⁴, the Illuminati, etc. Their patron Saint was the Prophet Elijah.¹⁵ They were the teachers of Saint John of the Cross, Saint Francis of Assisi¹⁶, Roger Bacon, Raymond Lully, etc. There is some problems with transmission, however. Shaw says that the Carbonari, of France and Italy were the group that ported much of the Sufi learning to Masony¹⁷. However, Coil does not know the Carbonari until the early nineteenth century. He does, and with disdain, note that Rosicrucians began somewhere before 1614. With the mythical Christian Rosencreutz , Coil notes that he was taught in Egypt and Palestine obviously from a Sufi master. Waite has the group migrating in mass from Germany to Pennsylvania, where they eventually died out.
3. Please remember that Joseph Smith did reside in Pennsylvania for a time. Also remember that it was while in Pennsylvania that he was truly converted and received the priesthood.
4. Illuminism has been around for a long long time. The early Christians called themselves the Illuminati because they were illuminated by the Holy Spirit, in Spain they were known as the Alumbros. But, they attained their acme of notoriety in Germany under the tutelage of Adam Weishaupt who taught that Kingships were immoral as was churches and their priesthood. Which strangely is the same as what Joseph Smith taught. And curiously, Weishaupt was a polygamist. But the point here is that Weishaupt had special rites in his group that called for the ordination of a King and a Priest. Weishoupt’s order fell into some disrepute and was disbanded by the Elector of Bavaria in June 22, 1784. It is said, however that this order had migrated to the USA and that George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were both members. Please remember that it was Washington and Franklin who appeared in a dream to Wilford Woodruff and demanded their Second Anointings.
5. John C. Bennet, a Mason, and an Illuminist, introduced Joseph Smith to Masonry in Nauvoo. Little is known of his connection with the Illuminati, however. But this we know: 1. After the martyrdom, John C. Bennet had in his possession a revelation¹⁸ purporting to be to Joseph Smith which directed Bennet to give the revelation to Sidney Rigdon, which would establish Rigdon as the true successor. The revelation is probably false, but it does mention the Illuminati in the Church. That language could only come from Joseph Smith or John C. Bennet. Probably Bennet. Bennet went on to join with James Strang, and there an Order of the Illuminati was established. 2. Joseph Smith developed an order of Kings and Priests as did Weishaupt. 3. Joseph Smith taught that these men were answerable only to God. 4. It was in Nauvoo that Joseph began in earnest to teach Plural Marriage. 5. It was in Nauvoo that Bennet taught Joseph Masonry. Joseph’s father was a Mason as was his brother. But it took Bennet to really convert him to the idea. It is a small step to go from Bennet and Masonry to Bennet and Illuminism.
6. So, we have:

Jesus

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The Grail Kings

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Mohammed

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Sufis

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Alchemists – Troubadours

Masons – Illuminati – Rosicrucians

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Joseph Smith and John C. Bennet

6. And so this is how the most sacred of all ordinances has come down, down to the present day. Some hold the office in sacred humility and others are over-powered to the point of losing all the light that God meant for this office to have.

Please forgive the poor historian for his mistakes in putting this all together.

¹Norma Lorre Goodrich. King Arthur. New York: Harper and Row,1986. Page 217-210.

²Personal genealogy.

³Arthur Edward Waite. The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal; Its Legends and Symbolism. London: Rebman Limited, 1909. Page 162.

⁴Ibed.

⁵Sri Swami Sivananda.

⁶“Habif al-‘Ajami was of Iranian origin but resided in Basra. He was a professional businessman during his early life and used to charge usury to his clients, raising his interest rates every day if his debts weren’t paid.

One Friday (a holy day among the Islamic people) he went in pursuit of his clients. A group of children were playing on the road,and when they saw him coming they cried out, “Here comes Habib, the usurer. Run away quick. Don’t go near him or else you’ll become damned like him.” These words so deeply hurt Habib that he sought out Hasan al-Basri, who was famous for his piety. Hasan’s words so captured Habib’s heart that he fainted. He then repented of his sins and entered the circle of Hasan al-Basri’s devotees.

When he returned from Hasan’s assembly, one of his debtors saw him and immediately started to run away. “Don’t go,” beseeched Habib, “Up until now you ran away from me. Now I must hide from you.” On his way home, Habib passed where the children were playing, When they saw him, they all exclaimed, “Step aside so that Habib, the penitent, may pass by without our dust settling upon him. If this were to happen, we would be disobedient to God.” Upon hearing this, Habib said, “O my God, this one day I have made my peace with You, and You have transformed the hearts of these children towards me.” Habib then went out and publicly proclaimed that anyone who needed anything could come to him and take it. The people assembled and he distributed all his property and wealth among them until he was totally penniless. Another person showed up asking for something. Having no more goods, Habib gave away his wife’s chadur (a large piece of cloth used to cover the entire body that is commonly worn by women in Iran and some other Islamic countries). Then another person came, and he gave away his own shirt, remaining naked himself. Thereafter, he busied himself constantly in devotion to God, day and night, while studying under Hasan al-Basri. Javad Nurbakhsh, Masters of the Path; A History of the Masters of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order. New York: Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications, 1980. Page 10-11.

⁷This line of authority is also from Nurbakhsh, taking up most of his book. But additional lines of authority can be found in Ronald Grisell. Sufism. Berkeley, Ross Books, 1983. And, John A. Subhan, Sufism, It’s Saints and Shrines. New York, Samuel Weiser, 1970.

⁸Idries Shaw. The Sufis. Garden City, Anchor Books, 1971. Page 303.

⁹ibed, page 295.

¹⁰The word for patch can also mean “walking” or “divine fool” (corresponding to the first card in the Tarot. ibed, page 325.

¹¹ibed, page 325-326.

¹²ibed, page 299.

¹³It has been said by Sir Francis Burton, that “Sufiism is the parent of Freemasonry.” Quoted by Shaw, page 205. Indeed, Shaw asserts that many Sufis who were forced by persecution “to adopt secret passwords, grips, and other ruses in self-protection.” page xviii-xix. And again, “Free Masonry began as a Sufi society. It first reached England in the reign of King Aethelstan (924-939) and was introduced into Scotland disguised as a craft guild at the beginning of the Fourteenth century, doubtless by the Knights Templars. . . Richard Burton . . . being both a Freemason and a Sufi first pointed out the close relation between the two societies, but he was not sufficiently advanced in either to realize that Freemasonry had begun as a Sufi group.” Shaw, page xix.

¹⁴The Law of Adoption and the Patriarchal Priesthood is taught among the Alchemists. Elias Ashmole. Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum. New York, Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1967. Reprint of 1652 edition. Page 440. They also taught about Celestial Marriage, ordination of King and Priest.

¹⁵Shaw, page 250.

¹⁶Everyone knows the story about how Saint Francis went to see Pope Innocent III to have his little band of men recognized by the Church. When there Saint Francis told the pope a parable which did not impress the pope at all. So, he was sent away. But as soon as he was gone, the pope had a vision telling him to call him back. When Saint Francis came back, the pope fell upon him in tears and gave Saint Francis what he wanted. He also offered Saint Francis the priesthood to help him in his work. But, Francis refused. Why? Because he was already a member of the Greater Order of Najmuddin Kubra a Sufi order. He had “priesthood” there. He was also associated with the Master of the Whirling Dervishes, Jalaluddin Rumi, another Sufi Order.

¹⁷In fact, Shaw says that the Carbonari existed in 1515 at the time of Francis I of France. And that when hunting, did run across them and became their protector. If the rites of Freemasonry came from them, then it is easy to understand that the signs and tokens did not appear in Freemasonry until about this time. Shaw, 201. See also: Harry Carr. Six Hundred Years of Craft Ritual published by the Grand Lodge of Missouri, 1978.

¹⁸This revelation is currently found in the Warren Post collection in the BYU Library Archives.