July 26, 2007 journal, from the collector edition of U.S. News secret societies mysteries of history I will quote from page 15 on Knights, Assassins and Alchemists from this deep dark history. "From Jerusalem's Hills to Torture and Death, 700 years later the Templars tragic story still haunts us. An interview with Malcolm Barber". "Who were the medieval Knights Templar, and why are they still such a subject of fascination? In this 700th year anniversary of their arrest, Prof. Malcolm Barber, professor emeritus of Medieval History at the University of Redding, offers some insights into the Templars remarkable rise to power and their mysterious downfall. He is a foremost authority on the Knights Templar and author of The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple, (Cambridge University Press 1994) and the Trial of the Templars, Cambridge University Press revised edition 2006. Why is it that the Templars still holds such a fascination for so many people today? This is a relatively recent phenomenons, when I first worked on the subject in the '60s, almost no one had heard of them. The major reason for the renewed interest is that they have appeared in 2 best seller books: Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, and Dan Brown's The De Vinci Code. In both works the Templars play a small but significant role in providing a vital link in a chain of clues supporting to trace the bloodline of Christ, a secret supposedly closely guarded by the Catholic Church. This in turn, seems to relate to a popular taste for conspiracy theories, often fueled by suspicion of the official versions of events, such as 9*11 and the death of Princess Diana, the assassination of President Kennedy. A theory put forward by the late John Roberts, an Oxford historian, is that at times the rapid social and economic change it is comforting to ascribe complicated issues to some hidden forces intent on disturbing the status quo. Our own age may be an example of this. However, this still leaves a question, why the Templars? The answer probably derives from their spectacular rise and fall; at first they were the favored sons of the church, only to be brought down less than two centuries later by the French monarchy a amid accusations of secret heresy & corruption. This makes them an ideal vessel for the kind of popular history we have been discussing. Can you tell us something about the early years of the order under the leadership of Huge of Payns, the first grandmaster of the Temple, what sort of challenges the knights faced? The First Crusade was launched by Pope Urban II to regain from Muslim control what the Christians regarded as "their" holy places. The crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, but they were then faced with the practical problems of establishing viable states in Palestine and Syria, which would enable them to defend the holy places thereafter. Despite the Crusaders relatively small numbers they succeeded remarkably well, but even so, they were not able to spare men to protect the increasing flow of Western pilgrims, who were not infrequently attacked by bandits or overcome by heat and exhaustion. The 1st Temp-lars would have faced almost daily physical challenges as they tried to patrol the route between Jaffa (the main port) and Jerusalem, as well as attempting to live a quasi monastic ascetic lifestyle. Death of the Knights (opposite and cent) The orders last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake on March 18, 1314". Attempt to whitewash these secret orders seems ever-present, to make them good and godly when they are all Satanic. Beware of all secret orders because they all point to the new world order & the world of Satan. This magazine states that all the fraternities were developed for a good cause but I disagree, I challenge that statement because they all worship Satan the Devil. You'll find American citizens falsely called gentiles actually to be slaves to an idol system.