From: Niko-33@nowhere.invalid   
      
   Always be everything you were born to be.   
      
   Nimrod and the Scottish Rite   
      
      
   The DoubleHeaded Eagle:   
   Scottish Rite Freemasonry's Veneration of Nimrod   
   Much has been written about the symbols of Freemasonry.   
   To some, they are simply the emblems of a   
   fraternal organization that promotes fellowship, good will,   
   kindness, loyalty, tolerance, and brotherly   
   love.  Others see clues pointing to an esoteric mystery   
   religion that seeks to establish a New World Order.   
      
   Without opening a debate over the proper interpretation   
   of centuries old arcania, it can be shown, through their own words   
   and symbols, that Scottish Rite Freemasonry honors perhaps the   
   greatest rebel against God--the greatest human rebel,   
   at least--in all of history.   
      
   Symbols are, simply put, images that represent ideas.   
   They are as simple as traffic signs and can be as complex as   
   a symbol's creator wishes it to be.  They are everywhere.   
   In our multilingual world, text--itself a symbol representing   
   sounds--is increasingly being replaced with images that communicate   
   important concepts such as "no left turn", "men's room",   
   or the types of payment accepted at the checkout.   
      
   The sporting world, for example, is full of symbols.   
   Athletic jerseys, helmets, and stadia are covered with symbols   
   intended to inspire confidence and loyalty in fans or fear   
   and trembling in the hearts of rivals.  In the business world,   
   symbols represent strength, compassion, friendliness, professionalism,   
   and a host of other attributes to shape a company's image.   
      
   Symbols are employed because they work.  The human mind associates   
   the characteristics of an image with the entity to which it is   
   attached.  A university athletic department wishing to convey the   
   sense of being a fearsome opponent might choose to brand itself with   
   the image of a powerful, snarling tiger in midleap.  Certainly   
   that communicates a much different impression than an image of a   
   sleeping tiger cub.   
      
   Or the marketing department for an automaker might choose   
   to advertise a new model with images of the product zipping around   
   a series of sharply curved mountain roads, but they almost   
   certainly would never launch a campaign with video of the car   
   being towed into a repair shop.   
      
   It is safe to say that people and organizations choose symbols   
   that represent characteristics or ideals that they consider desirable.   
      
   So what about the symbols of Freemasonry?   
      
   Much has been made of the basic square and compass surrounding the   
   capital letter G, the pillars Boaz and Jachin, the checkered floor,   
   the beehive, and the rest.  Much of the analysis of the symbolism of   
   Freemasonry is necessarily speculative.  And frankly, some of what   
   is presented on the Internet about Freemasonry is fanciful at best.   
      
   Even a brief review of Masonic symbols is well beyond the scope of   
   this piece.  We will focus on just one--the doubleheaded eagle that   
   represents the highest degrees of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.   
   We'll examine what Scottish Rite Freemasons themselves say about   
   this symbol and what it represents.  And then we will simply ask   
   whether an organization that chooses such a symbol is one to which   
   a serious, thinking Christian should belong.   
      
   The author is aware that there are different paths Freemasons may   
   choose if they want to advance beyond the three basic levels of the   
   Blue Lodge.  In the United States, the main appendant bodies to   
   Freemasonry are the York Rite, more correctly called the American   
   Rite,1 and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, or simply the   
   Scottish Rite.  In simple terms, the York Rite is considered the   
   "Christian" path of Freemasonry while the Scottish Rite holds a more   
   tolerant attitude, requiring only that its members profess faith in   
   some deity.2   
      
   Men may belong to both organizations, so while there are differences   
   in philosophy and emphasis, there is at least a degree of fraternity   
   that exists between the York and Scottish rites.   
      
   The 32nd Degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, the highest degree   
   one can attain in the rite (the 33rd Degree is honorary, conferred on   
   about 1.5% of Scottish Rite Freemasons)3, is represented by a symbol   
   wellknown in Europe since the Crusades, a bicephalous (twoheaded) eagle.   
   Nations and royal houses have used the emblem, including the Holy Roman Empire,   
   the House of Habsburg, and the ruling houses of what eventually became Russia.   
   It was resurrected by the Russian Federation in 1993 during the   
   administration of President Boris Yeltsin.   
      
   However, the doubleheaded eagle was a royal insignia in the Ancient   
   Near East for centuries before the arrival of Crusaders.  It has been   
   known since the late 19th century that the Hittites used the doubleheaded   
   eagle as a royal motif.  Examples of the bicephalous eagle are found at   
   sites in Turkey dating from the 18th through 13th centuries B.C.4   
   It appears that the image of the twoheaded eagle originated with   
   the Hittites in Anatolia and spread from there to Europe, India,   
   and Asia over the next three thousand years.   
      
   Scottish Rite Freemasons, however, claim that the symbol is even older,   
   that it is "the oldest Royal Crest in the World,"5 nearly two thousand   
   years older than the earliest representations known to archaeologists.   
    According to various Masonic publications, the doubleheaded eagle originated   
   in the Sumerian city of Lagash "a thousand years before the Exodus from   
   Egypt,"6   
   or perhaps even as far back as "five thousand years ago,"7 or   
   circa 3000 B.C.--approximately 1300 years before the oldest known Hittite   
   artifact.   
      
   Since this link is apparently unknown to archaeologists, or at least   
   considered unworthy of much attention, the obvious question is,   
   why do Scottish Rite Freemasons identify themselves in this way?   
      
   Lagash, located northwest of the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates   
   rivers, was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East and played   
   an important role in the history of Mesopotamia.  It was the center of one   
   of the first verifiable empires in history, conquering all of Sumer around   
   2500 B.C.  Interestingly, Lagash filled a power vacuum left by the decline   
   of Uruk, which the Bible informs us was the "beginning of [Nimrod's] kingdom."8   
      
   The religious center of Lagash was a temple called the Eninnu9 devoted   
   to the god Ningirsu, or Ninurta (Nin Ur, or "God of War").  Ninurta   
   remained popular in the cosmology of Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria   
   for millennia two Assyrian kings were named TukultiNinurta,   
   and Ashurnasirpal II built a temple to Ninurta in his new capital   
   city of Calah around 880 B.C.  Several hundred years later,   
   during the NeoBabylonian and early Persian empires, the character of   
   Ninurta was apparently fused with that of the war god Nergal.   
      
   Why is this significant?  First, scholars draw clear parallels   
   between the god Ninurta/Ningirsu and the shadowy figure named   
      
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