All Doves:
It is interesting as to just who are so enthralled with the lies of Enoch and their reasons for such passion. There are several web sites that are pseudo-intellectual advocates that promote a basis for justifying the interest in the book of Enoch. This was in my opinion unmerited for so many obvious reasons once you have read the entire book. As I noted, I photocopied the book of Enoch from my copies of J.R. Church's magazine, "Prophecy in the News". I placed the copies in plastic sleeve protector sheets and kept them in a binder along with several pages of notes that I made years-back when J.R. Church offered his DVD package on Enoch. I know from my contacts in the theological community, they do not take the book of Enoch as serious religious writings.
The facts suggest there is a large number of folks within the cult world that consider it as serious prophecy. Historically, the Jehovah Witness leaders, the SDA cult, the LDS (Mormons) and even Masonic elite draw their own ties and links to the book of Enoch. According to Fritz Springmeier, author of 'Bloodlines of the Illuminati', there are links to what is referred to as "Enochian Magic".
The cults are mystically obsessed with the book of Enoch, as a link to bring together their teachings with the Bible, as a means by which they establish their credibility within the religious community across the globe.
The Masonic Lodges are usually given a number and then are named after the location where they are at. For example, in Oregon something like 9 out of 10 lodges are named after the town they are in. However, some of the lodges are named after famous Masons such as Franklin, Lafayette, and Washington. Others are named after Masonic themes such as Mystic Tie, Mystic Circle, Rising Sun, New Jerusalem, and Mizpah. Mizpah? What is Mizpah? The Watchtower Society tells us in the issue of the Golden Age, March 26, 1924, on page 387, that Mizpah translates to "Watchtower". The Hebrew word "Mizpah" (also spelled Mizpeh and Mitspeh) occurs only once in the Scriptures. And, the use of the word "Mizpah" among the Masons is interesting.
The Watchtower Society was common to my home state of Pennsylvania. There are four Masonic chapters that are named "Mizpah" in Pennsylvania. They all are York Rite (Royal Arch Masons) lodges like Watchtower founder Charles Taze Russell belonged to. The "Watchtower Society" or Jehovah Witnesses go to some length to hide the fact that Charles Taze Russell was a Freemason, and that he was funded in his founding of the "Watchtower Society". The "Mizpeh Chapter No. 288 R.A.M. (Royal Arch Mason) was located at Allegheny, PA, which is now the "North Side" district of Pittsburgh, PA. Charles Taze Russell is buried in a local cemetery overlooking Pittsburgh's "Golden Triangle" business and shopping district.
A second Masonic chapter is "Mizpeh" Chapter No. 252 R.A.M. at Mahoning City, PA., which is north of the city of Pittsburgh, PA. A third Masonic "Mizpah" Chapter No. 96 of the Grand Commandery of the Knights Templar of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, PA. I can't recall at the moment the exact location of the fourth "Mizpah" but it seems to me I recall it being in Erie, PA. I have a wealth of information on Freemasonry that I have accumulated since the mid-1960's when I began an active interest in Freemasonry. My family, with the lone exception of my father, were all Masons, and nearly all of them were in one way or another in careers of law enforcement around the Pittsburgh regional area.
What is most important to Masonry to call their lodges Watchtowers is intrinsically related to Enochian Magic. The highest Masons who get cryptic and mystic, are all exposed to "Enochian Magic", where they use the magical watchtowers is key to the heart of "Enochian Magic".
Those who are fascinated with the book of Enoch probably do not know the importance the book plays for the cults. It may surprise the reader that several of the Masons who founded cults were fascinated in the name and person of Enoch. For instance Joseph Smith Jr. and Charles Taze Russell. SDA co-founder Ellen G. White was herself heavily involved with "Enochian Magic".
Joseph Smith (Founder of the Latter Day Saints of the Church of Jesus Christ - Mormons for short) actually gave himself the name Enoch, even called his first community the City of Enoch, and created the communal Order of Enoch. Furthermore, Joseph Smith, following the Jewish pseudepigraphal book of Enoch's story, purports to narrate Enoch's experiences in the Book of Moses. Joseph Smith in fact believed that Freemasonry went back to Enoch. In Joseph Smith's day it was extremely popular for Masons to trace Freemasonry back to Enoch. It is not quite so in vogue today. From what I know of the ties ascribed to Enoch by the cults is a major factor in why folks today should shun the deception of Enoch. Proponents or fans of Enoch are regularly exposed as known members of the cults, like the former World-Wide COG, the JW's, the SDA's, the LDS's, and Freemasonry, along with dozens and dozens of lesser known religious sects and bizarre cults.
Freemasons are known for making statements to the effect that the correct pronunciation of the sacred name of the Tetragramaton (YHVH) had been revealed to Enoch. In "Enochian Magic" the symbol of the Tetragamaton plays an important part and each letter represents one of the four different elements. You will see that in the four colors of the logo of Microsoft - Earth, Fire, Wind, Water.
In 1907, Charles Taze Russell made this statement, "Enoch may be considered as representative of that class of mankind which in the future will be a harmony with God and have eternal life - the ones who will be brought to perfection during the Millennial Age". Charles Taze Russell was careful not to exceed what he could appear to back up with Scripture, and he was not about to break his Masonic oath of secrecy and reveal about Enoch and "Enochian Magic". However, Russell can still be recognized as having put an inordinate amount of emphasis on Enoch. For example, Russell says what happened to Enoch "seems to be one of the secret things which Moses says belongs unto God," quoting Deuteronomy 29:29. This was found in the "Watchtower", April-May 1884 issue.
Russell pointed out that, on numerous occasions, Enoch was the 7th from Adam, and this means he was the perfect man. This view was still prevalent in the "Watchtower" as late as the early 1950's. The "Watchtower Society" tells us that "Enoch was put into a trance". The "Watchtower Society" has been fascinated by Enoch's "translation", some use the term, "transformation", but have been variable in their explanation of it. In 1943, the "Watchtower Society" tells us that Enoch was put into a trance, and that "God gave him a final vision of the New World.." and that when Hebrews 11:5 says God "transformed him" that it meant God granted Enoch a vision of the New World. This was a major change from Russell's belief based on speculation or something else, that God likely took Enoch to another planet. Also, in 1943, the "Watchtower Society" tells us that Enoch was the first man to prophesy of Jesus Christ.
Most people close their doors and hide when the JW's come two-by-two to their doors. Not me, I love to engage them in conversation about the Bible. Where I lived in the eastern suburban area of Pittsburgh, I can count on them visiting my street twice a month and sometimes weekly. They know me too well because they now go past my steps and don't stop at my door. If I am aware of their presence on the street, I will often go down and sit on the steps if I happen to be cutting the grass just so that I can talk with them. The JW's that come to my area are always black.
I live there five months out of the year and the rest of the year we live in another state where my wife babysits and watches after six grandchildren when they are in school while both parents work. I even have been visited on a Saturday afternoon by two JW witnesses in the small rural village we live in. Most of them are not really very good at talking shop about the Bible. Unfortunately, very few Christians are able to engage them in discussing the Bible and faith issues.
I have a lot of suspicion about the web sites that eschew the book of Enoch and the other pseudepigraphal spurious writings. Because of what I know about the cults and their fascination with Enoch, my intuition, or gut leads me to be suspect that they are members of the major cults, i.e. Mormons, JW's, SDA's, and an infinite list of smaller cults and sects that are harder to define. Its like when I have been doing my post series on "Pre-Tribulation Truth" the major ante-Pre-Tribulation site that puts out its Pre-Wrath Rapture Babble; they respond by pointing their followers to a series of videos by the Adventist speaker from "White Horse Ministries" Stephen "Marky" Wolhberg. Ask yourself, if you don't believe in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, why would you drop back to punt and then bring up one of the major "Adventist" spokesmen? Another possibility is that they are Sabbatarians of one of the late Herbert W. Armstrong break-a-way cult churches.
In this post I have mainly brought the reader's attention to the role of Enoch in the life of the founder of the "Watchtower Society" Charles Taze Russell and the Mormon founder Joseph Smith. Note the affinity they share, that being they were major Lodge brothers of the Freemasons. In my next post I will share the very same connections that Ellen G. White, co-founder of the SDA cult/church had with Enoch. The cults were intended to corrupt Christian Orthodoxy and have been effective because of ignorant and gullible dupes. While they might have been sincere seekers for truth they fell for the lies of their cults, hook, line, and sinker. I could write dozens of pages of how the Masons have worked to infiltrate and corrupt the clergy of major denominations such as the Southern Baptists and United Methodist Church as well. We always come back to the Satanic strategy line of their Satanic attack, "Yey, hath God said?" The goal is to sew seeds of disinformation, corruption, and confusion.
Next time I will go into the "Enochian Magic" which you can guess is not Biblical or Divinely inspired. None the less, the ability to deceive, confuse, and cause doubt in the true Word of God is the overarching agenda. You can choose to buy their nonsense or read the truth and discover just what Satan is up to in the world of Enoch's exaggerations and the spurious declarations made by those dupes.
Keep looking up,
Pastor Bob