Anti-Masonic Examples: Texe Marrs (original) (raw)

"Do not assume a conspiracy when simple stupidity will suffice." Seen on Usenet

We've seen Texe Marrs described elsewhere on the web as "A self-styled apologist known for his sensationalistic, often poorly-documented and purely speculative claims. Disseminates conspiracy theories, hype, and other unbalanced information....".

His 'ministry' was formerly called "Living Truth Ministries" but in 1999 they underwent a name change to "Power of Prophecy Ministries" and dropped their tax exempt status in order to (ostensibly) be better able to preach what Mr. Marrs perceives as 'the truth'. In reading the January 1999 newsletter at his web site,however, you learn that the 'ministry's' name change is as a result of some major conflicts with the US Internal Revenue Service - a conflict which no doubt fuels his conspiracy theories! Comparing the IRS to Hitler's Germany, Castro's Cuba or Stalin's Russia, Marrs writes:

"Unbelievable as it may seem, the IRS made it plain to us that, as a 501(c)3 organization, Living Truth Ministries will not be allowed to even publicly express an "opinion" unless acceptable to them. They alone will judge if what we say is "factual information." They literally told us that in writing. We also have been warned that it may be a violation to identify threats to Christianity or to American freedoms. We have especially been advised to shut up and remain silent about conspiracies, the United Nations, the Vatican, the New World Order, and the New Age Movement.

The IRS says that we cannot expose or disparage New Age cults and occult religions. The IRS rules also prohibit us from teaching the whole counsel of Bible prophecy for the end-times. That, says the IRS, is "sensationalism" and is forbidden of churches and Christian ministries."

In fact, in an extensive condemnation of the Internal Revenue Service, Marrs asks:

"Does the IRS hate the Gospel and despise Bible-believing Christians? Has the IRS become a police-state agency that regularly persecutes churches, pastors, and ministries that still believe in old-fashioned patriotism?

Listed below are 35 things the IRS contends are prohibited of churches and ministries. A pastor or ministry leader who violates the guidelines of the IRS on these 35 prohibitions can have his church or group's tax exemption revoked and be dealt with harshly by the IRS."

One item he lists - interestingly - is

"24. Criticize the Masonic Lodge, the Order of Skull & Bones, or other Secret societies."

We believe that the U. S. tax laws which exempt religious institutions were never made for the type of hate-group created by the likes of Messrs. Marrs or **Kunk**who denigrate fraternal organizations such as Freemasonry.

Mr. Marrs goes on verbose tirades with such diverse subjects as "German and Russian Air Forces Active in USA", "Satanism, Sex Crimes, and Consequences", "The Unabomber A Genius" (in which he writes that Ted Kaczynski and Oklahoma City killer Timothy McVeigh are both pawns of the 'New World Order'), "Our National Parks Now Belong to the United Nations" and much, much more. Mr. Marrs seems to see Freemasonry's hand in everything from his troubles with the IRS to bad weather in his neighborhood. His screeds against Freemasonry indicate a belief that the fraternity is wrong not only from a religious standpoint but also because it's part of some shadowy "New World Order". One could easily conclude that Mr. Marrs believes many of these horrid government conspiracies which the US seems to be concocting are designed to single him out for unfair treatment.

Mr. Marrs has many tapes, videos and books to sell you. When we first wrote this paragraph, his then most recent work was titled "Days of Hunger, Days of Chaos?" Was it mere coincidence thathe was then also involved in selling packaged food to help stave off these 'end-times' that he predicted would arrive on 1/1/2000? In fact, you could buy a one year supply of food for one person (182 items!!! - which, by our count - was going to make 3 meals a day for 365 days awfully meager) for only 2,395(plusfreightof2,395 (plus freight of 2,395(plusfreightof150). Important note: please see below!!!

Mr. Marrs, we're sure, would appreciate your support of his financial needs by visiting his web site. Sign up for his newsletter and you'll get a regular chance to buy LOTS of those tapes and books and read his anti-Semitic screeds!

In June, 2001 we received the following email from Mr. Marrs himself.

Dear Sir:

Subject: Fraudulent and defamatory information on your website

On your web site, masonicinfo.com, you make untrue claims and allegations against me. I am writing to you personally in the expectation you will promptly remove this material. I do not object to your exercising your First Amendment Rights. However, these rights do not extend to libel and defamation.

I therefore ask you to remove the following statements, referring to me, from your website: Can it be mere coincidence that he is now also involved in selling packaged food to help stave off these "end-times" which he predicts will arrive on 1/1/2000? In fact, you can buy a one year supply of food for one person (182 items!!! which, by our count is going to make 3 meals a day for 365 awfully meager) for only 2,395(plusfreightof2,395 (plus freight of 2,395(plusfreightof150.)

In fact, I have never and would never predict a specific date for the end of the world. The Holy Bible tells us not to set dates and I have always discouraged such.

Also, the above statement is a distortion because the 182 items you refer to are giant size containers of food which are more than ample to supply many multiple meals to people just as we advertise.

Other than the two statements in this one paragraph, we do not legally object to anything else you say on your website. You are entitled to your negative opinion of me and my work. Please let us know when you have removed this offending and legally libelous paragraph from your website. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely, Texe W. Marrs

Mr. Marrs' comments about my choice of words arise, I believe, from a different interpretation of how they are used. Mr. Marrs was certainly very vocal in his 'predictions' of the disaster that would befall the world on 1/1/2000 and while our definition of 'end-times' is likely a bit different than that of Mr. Marrs, we find it curiously interesting that you can no longer find even the slightest mention of the then-impending Y2K disaster about which he railed long and hard if you were to look through the archives of his newsletters as they now exist on his web site. Revisionist history is certainly an apt description of what has happened. In fact, if one didn't think about it a bit, they might not even realize that there's nary a trace of that 'end-times' doom which Mr. Marrs saw looming. Now, his newsletter archive shows truly inconsequential 'headline' topics during the latter part of 1999, much as if - dare we even suggest it? - the central articles that were there before are now gone. Did we just imagine his "Y2K horror approaching" frenzied ravings? Or did he decide to write that book and then just never mention it again....

Actually, if it was imagination, there were others who 'imagined' it as well. At this site, the authors have several pages which show the 'food controversy' and add several unflattering comments about Mr. Marrs' predictions (or what they perceived to be predictions).

Perhaps "global disaster" would have been a more appropriate phrase to use above instead of 'end-times' which Mr. Marrs uses SO frequently. Needless to say, in both the Y2K situation AND his views on Freemasonry, he's clearly wrong, wrong, WRONG!

Oh, and as to his 'justification' of the food volume: 182 containers for 365 days would mean eating the same thing for six meals over a two day period assuming that there's no opportunity for refrigeration. (No electricity since the grid was going to collapse - and gasoline or kerosene for generators would need to be strictly rationed.) Alternatively, maybe it was all dry food... Either way, it sure didn't sound too tasty to us frankly.

Since Mr. Marrs never needed all of that food he wanted everyone to buy from him and he no longer has it for sale, we'd hope that he would have taken all of it he'd stocked himself and in early January, 2000 when it was clear that the great disaster he and others foresaw hadn't come to pass, he then donated it all to a food shelter where it would be of some great help. Never a word about that, though. Maybe everyone who bought the stuff was just so happy to be alive, they never looked for a refund for the crap?

We're always pleased that those about whom we write take the time to notice our work. In fact, this message may spur us into a more full analysis of Mr. Marrs' more bizarre writings. We particularly loved the piece where Mr. Marrs told of how, under the United Nations Biodiversity Treaty, the Great Smokey Mountains National Park "... has been turned over to the UN's bureaucrats for control. Yes, you and I will continue to pay taxes for the maintenance and upkeep of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. But we no longer own it. Now, the UN has ultimate jurisdiction." Hmmmmm.... In that same article, he refers to Former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright as a Marxist and tells us how the UN was bringing in foreign troops and training them at Fort Polk, Louisiana "...-to assault U.S.A. cities and towns." We should mention that this was written in June, 1997 - and we're STILL waitingfor the outcome of the horror. We suspect that both we and Mr. Marrs will have met our Creator long before that ever comes to pass....

It's also nice to see that Mr. Marrs may also be able to earn some additional income selling the writings of a US president dead for over 150 years! (John Quincy Adams' anti-Masonic rants....)

And as is the case so often with anti-Masons, we're not the only ones who find their actions questionable. Hereis a very interesting website which has.... errrr.... 'cobbled' some of our phraseology about Mr. Marrs. They've also, however, provided some very interesting material about his finances which may give his benefactors pause.

October 2002 update

Mr. Marrs has now begun yet another website from which to incessantly hawk his wares! Conspiracy World contains more essays on the evils of Freemasonry but here, Mr. Marrs' anti-Semitism becomes much more clear. It also is filled to overflowing with Mr. Marrs' audiotapes for sale. Why, you can find one (sometimes dozens) offered on every single page! Who says these folks aren't inventive. If people think you're a whacko religionist, convince them you're a lurid conspiracy theorist.... Whatever sells those tapes!

As one example of Mr. Marrs' anti-Semitism, we read an essay on the decision by Baylor University (Texas) to no longer admit home-schooled children (something many universities across the United States are considering as well). He attempts to link Baylor with Freemasonry (because of its history, it having been formed by several Masons as the first public school in Texas) and then comments "Since its inception in America in the 18th century, the Masonic Lodge and affiliated Jewish Masonic groups such as the ADL and ACLU have attacked Christian principles and slammed home schooling and private schools by innuendo." Of course, Mr. Marrs fails to cite how many members on Baylor's present Board of Regents are actually Masons (or even have Masons in their family) and he further fails to show any connection whatsoever between the Anti-Defamation League and the American Civil Liberties Union. Such details, however, are clearly not essential; make the smear and move on!

We found it particularly curious that Mr. Marrs has a congratulatory letter on the site from the Assistant Editor of the Barnes Review to whom he had sent some anti-Masonic material. The Barnes Review is a pseudo-intellectual Holocaust denial magazine published by Willis Carto, generally referred to as a historical revisionist and anti-Semite. How curious that Mr. Marrs would choose to ally himself with such an outfit - and brag about it!

Readers might also find this website with material about Mr. Marrs of interest.

February 2003

We are always amazed at the number of books, videos, and tapes Mr. Marrs can manage to offer for sale. Obviously scaring folks and bashing Masons has been good to him because there's ALWAYS that element present in his works. Now he's wants you to know all about the mysterious "Planet X" - BUT he also points out that this is something talked about primarily by doomsayers and that the dates of its ostensible collision with the earth are wildly different. So why write about something that is so inconsequential (particularly when you give yourself the 'out' that some say the collision will be millions of years from now? Well, like the book which prophesized a massive iceberg destroying the world on 5/5/2000, Mr. Marrs is sure that the Masons know all about this stuff and are looking forward to this disaster. He says, in fact, that it's part "...of Freemasonry's Sirius mystery teachings". Despite our years as a Mason, we've yet to see where Sirius mystery teachings appear in any ritual, program, or book. Who knows: only Texe apparently. Sure, it's stupid to run around crying "WOLF (maybe)" but then again, that's the way Texe manages to seduce people into buying his wares. It's pretty comical, really, with him posting pictures of disasters and hoping you won't notice that his rambling is self-contradictory and irrelevant. You can read his Planet-X foolishness hereand then you can see what NASA has to say about Planet X right here. Don't sell the farm just yet, folks; Texe will probably do just fine on the sale of books and tapes without your extra cash. And, of course, by 2009 the Planet X matter is now all seen as misunderstandings based on fear.

And it's particularly noxious to find that not only does Mr. Marrs sell his own foolishness but he will also happily sell you the anti-Semitic "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". In fact, a recent audio tape by Mr. Marrs is advertised as follows:

Zionist Strategies for Global Conquest: Satan has a master plan to usher in his Judeo-Masonic Empire and seat an antichrist King of the Jews on the throne in Jerusalem. Texe Marrs exposes this plan, showing how the power of the United States is being used to implement Satan�s designs and how it all fits in with the infamous, but authentic Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.

Note that Mr. Marrs believes that the "Protocols" is authentic....

And another bizarre claim made by Mr. Marrs includes the following:

"In 1915, Masonic Jewish socialists overthrew the Islamic Ottoman government of Turkey and commenced the genocidal murder of two million Christian Armenians. "Butcher Brigades" of criminals cut off so many hands of Christian victims, the British Consul reported, that, if placed side-by-side, a highway could have been built of severed human hands. This severed hand of a Christian Armenian woman slain in the massacre was dried and kept as a souvenir and talisman by a Jewish Mason in the town of Salonika."Newsletter of May, 2005

It is SO very amazing that seemingly ALL of the evil in the world is committed by Jews and Masons - in Mr. Marrs' opinion.

By their fruits....

April, 2007

You'll find a very interesting book review of Texe's magum opus, Codex Magica, righthere.

In addition, don't miss these: