The Second Messiah: Templars, the Turin Shroud and the Great Secret of Freemasonry

The Hiram Key #2

by Christopher Knight, Robert Lomas

Is the Shroud of Turin genuine?

For almost seven and a half centuries a piece of cloth was venerated because it bore the image of the crucified Christ, but in 1988 results of carbon dating showed that the fabric could not pre-date 1260. Now new evidence conclusively proves that it is not a fake yet neither is it the image of Jesus Christ.

Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas have been able to identify precisely where and when the shroud came into existence and to name the people involved. Using the latest scientific techniques, they explain the strange molecular chemistry that created this unique artifact.

The epic story behind the shroud begins with the crucifixion of Jesus when, as the authors show, his hidden teachings were driven underground. Following the destruction of the Jerusalem Church and the slaughter of the Jewish nation in AD 70, a few surviving priests from the smouldering city of Jerusalem headed to Euope to awit the moment of return prophesied in the Gospel of St. John. Precisely one thousand years later their bloodline descendants re-entered the holy city to claim their ancient heritage and form a new order of the priests of the Temple - the Knights Templar. There they recovered the lost teachings hidden blow the tumbled ruins and devised elaborate Tarot cards with cryptic meanings to protect their secret cult.

But their secret could not be contained for ever and in 1307 they were arrested. Their last leader was crucified in a bizarre parody of the crucifixion of Jesus, and the image of his suffering slowly materialized on the cloth that had once swathed him. As the Black Death devastated Europe the Church reached the lowest point of its existence, and the desire for a new savior, prophesied since ancient times, gripped the minds of people.

And now they had the image of their new savior, the Second Messiah.

In solving the riddle of the shroud, this book unravels a far deeper mystery: how this medieval artifact links directly to Jesus.

The guardians of this great secret tried hard to hide it from the world and even their own members. But they failed to destroy the evidence... hidden in abandoned rituals of Freemasonry.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Religion, Historical, Spirituality, Christianity, Alternate History

271 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

See Christopher Knight for the author of works on the Templars and alternate history.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thesis of this book is that the Shroud of Turin bears the image of the executed Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay (d. 3/1314), not that of Jesus. They "prove" that it cannot be of Jesus because of carbon dating tests performed on it. They argue for its association to the Grand Master from a host of evidences, but not, I think, convincingly.
As regards the physical shroud itself, it may be traceable to the sacking of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204 and it may have come into the possession of the Templars after that date. It may have been the idol the Templars were accused of worshipping during the trials signalling their dissolution beginning in 1307. It may even have been thought, by them, to be an image of the Christ. If the 1204 date of acquisition is correct, this makes any association of the image with that of the Grand Master of the Templars impossible, contrary to Knight and Lomas.
There is a vast body of literature about the Shroud and the Knight Templar, some authors associating the two with legends of the grail.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll have to go back and review the prequel to this book, "The Hiram Key". I read that before starting to do reviews here.

I should probably note that this review will be a *spoiler* to conclusions reached in the book and that if you want to be surprised by your read you should just go and read it because it is a really good book.

**********

It is probably also worth warning you that this book details the arrogant, maniacal, ruthless destruction of humanity in the interests of establishing a religious order that would not be questioned or challenged. Namely the Roman Catholic Church which is now splintered into all the Christian and Muslim sub-sects.

The authors do a great job of taking a lot of the loose ends regarding the formation of the early church, the Knights Templar and Freemasonry and drawing connections that seem much more plausible than any of the history lessons that are acceptable to the current administrative bodies of these organizations.

So briefly, the Essene Jews were critical of Rome as well as the mainstream Jews that had sold out their beliefs for success. Jesus, being particularly outspoken, was crucified. He was considered a fringe member by the Essenes so there wasn't much backlash. However, after Jesus's brother James was killed, Civil War broke out. He was the King of the Jews.

The rebellion was eventually crushed by Rome and the remaining Essenes escaped to Europe. They held their identities secret for hundreds of years until reconvening at an opportune time as the Knights Templar, receiving a papal blessing to enter the reclaimed Jerusalem where they searched the ruins of their old temple mount for the ancestral treasures that they had waited centuries for.

Within a few short years the Knights Templar were the richest group in Europe. They were actually the original bank loan officers of medieval Europe. Things went extremely well for them until King Philip of France grew so covetous of their wealth that he had them outlawed, rounded up and stripped of their riches. (Also tortured and killed in the name of the church.)

The remaining Knights Templar fled to Scotland and then some also went to the Americas. Scotland is where Freemasonry is formed by the outlawed Knights Templar. Not surprisingly, many of the initiation ceremonies for Freemasonry find equivalents in the Essene initiation rites.

As Freemasonry spreads around the world it becomes very fashionable and many non-Jews and "White-collar" people participate. The Freemasons of England seek to distance themselves from their radical Scottish forebears and gain control of the social movement just the same as they control the bank systems of the world. They eliminate many of the rites and change many of the ones they leave, completely severing whatever ancient knowledge is contained in them. So the Scottish rites are the only true masonic path but to be fair, the Essenes never intended to share their religion or their wealth with you, so why are you so into it?

The reference in the title to a "Second Messiah" refers to Jacques de Molay, the final leader of the Knights Templar who is killed in France and is the most likely candidate for the image impressed on the shroud of Turin. This whole element to the book seems like a side note to me. Jesus was not considered the first messiah by his own people of the time and is still not venerated as such by his Jewish brethren. Jacques de Molay was quite possibly a direct descendant of Essene hierarchy and his murder could be considered a similar martyrdom to James or Jesus but that's really only in the perverted lens of the Roman Church.

Jacques de Molay was interested in political and financial power. Neither of these things is holy or even of any redeeming value. I'd like to see an altruistic tale of Good vs Evil but there only seems to be a petty power struggle between narcissistic leaders with the most underhanded one winning.

This book is still a great groundwork for examining where society finds itself now.

If this were a work of fiction it would be very engaging. To think that even some of it is true is completely astounding. I encourage you to read it. I dare you to. I double-dog dare you!

[Coenraad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of a wide-ranging investigation, following upon THE HIRAM KEY. The authors' finding are surely controversial and thought-provoking. The writing is compelling too, despite the feeling that a lot from the previous book is repeated. Closer comparison shows what is newly added, yet their point of view remains the same: present-day Christianity is not based upon the original teachings of Jesus, which is demonstrated by the ceremonies of the Freemasons.

Die skrywers sit hul studie van die oorsprong van Vrymesselary voort en vind opspraakwekkende inligting. Hul standpunt, dat hedendaagse Christendom nie gebaseer is op die oorspronklike leer van Jesus nie, is onrusbarend, hul vertelling fassinerend. Hul verklaring van die Kleed van Turyn maak meer sin as baie ander verduidelikings.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this for a second time, I decided to write a review. While the book is entertaining and thought provoking, it is in no way historical. The authors use circular reasoning to support their arguments by using their own conclusions as facts from their previous book, "The Hiram Key". There are no primary sources used and their "conclusions" are merely conjecture. For example, The Larmenius Charter, turned up in 1838 or thereabout, was allegedly a list of Templar Grandmasters since Jacque DeMolay, which the authors accept as factual has long been shown to be a forgery.
While the book is an entertaining read, it is not totally factual by any means.

[Mauro Martone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a well researched hypothesis, but bear with me. It starts strongly true, with a very well put argument for the Reux Deus (God's Kings) being: Hughes de Payen, Geoffrey de St Omer, Andre de Montbard, Payen de Montdidier, Achambaud de St-Amand, Gondemare, Rosal, Godefroy, and Geoffrey Bisol.. Which the two authors (self confessed masons) argue were the descendants of the ancient Jewish clergy who were chased out of Jerusalem in 70AD by Titus (son of Emperor Vespasian). Thus the authors name the nine founders of the Knights Templers and accordingly place them all upon Herod's temple under both the Baldwins. Then they show that these men most probably excavated under the ruins of the temple, wherein they likely located secret arcane knowledge - fine thus far then.

Then they rightly refer to this argument about St Clair bringing these secrets to Rosslyn in Scotland (Ros: in the Gaelic meaning - Knowledge, and Linn: meaning - generation, cleverly translated by Tessa Ranford (a Gaelic specialist from Edinburgh) as: "Ancient knowledge passed down through the ages"), which is additionally persuasive. Particularly when considered alongside the architecture and design of the Rosslyn building itself, which is clearly a mini-replica of Herod's temple and littered with evidence. Furthermore, the masonic angle and their connection to the Templers, among other revelations made by the authors, are also duly added to what seems like a mounting pile of evidence.

Yet where things begin to unravel for yours truly, is with regards to the two authors argument about the shroud itself. They seem to me to be hanging their entire argument, or at least the spine of it, upon a loose hook - the 1997 theory that previous carbon dating evidence (in 1988) meant it cannot possibly be Jesus Christ's face upon the shroud. The authors accordingly then apply the masonic/Templar claim - that Christ was not divine, etc. However, since then the lab which had previously dated the shroud to the medieval period (in line with masonic belief) back in 1988, would go on to state in Oct 2019, that they had made an error in 1988 by testing a part of the shroud that had been sewn on in the medieval period. Accordingly, they then applied modern radiocarbon dating to the rest of the shroud and came up with a new date consistent with the gospels. We could surely close the case there then based on this scientific update.

However, there is further evidence: the botanist Avinoam Danin has since found that the pollen grains on the cloth itself are appropriate to spring time in Israel. While scientific Prof Garlaschelli at Pavia University, has since described the shroud as being "unearthly", saying, "The implications are that the image on the shroud was formed by a burst of UV energy so intense it could only have been supernatural." Then on top of of this, there has been the recent discovery that the image upon the shroud is actually three dimensional too. More recently, forensic pathologist Robert Bucklin examined the shroud and stated afterwards in his report that, "I can not help but accept that there is a tremendous consistency between the gospel accounts and the forensic pathological findings, from scourge marks, crucifixion wounds, even a crown of thorns."

So, the shroud is now confirmed to be dated as far back as 30AD, from spring time in Judea, and showing classic Roman crucifixion wounds, as well as scourge wounds, and a stab wound. In 2016 the calcium and strontium tests of the blood stains on both the shroud and from the Sudarium of Oviedo, were compared and found to be a match of the same individual. Now there's a scientific coincidence, no? In a court of law, all of this is a slam-dunk against the author's case.

When weighing up both the material and written evidence, the somewhat shaky hook which the authors had original hung their hypothesis upon, has slipped because of modern technology. Another concern for me had been their reliance upon the prophecies of the questionable fourteenth century Jewish scientist - Maimondes, whose argument about the last grand master of the Templar order - Jacques de Molay, being "a second messiah", and the actual face on the shroud, etc, wasn't too sound anyway. So, as well researched and presented as this hypothesis is, and I did enjoy reading it, I do feel that the two authors intentions were to present a credible reformation of Christian belief, and are based upon wishful thinking.

[Chuck Springer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of these authors. In this book, they present their findings concerning the links between Jesus, his brother James, the first Jerusalem Church, the Knights Templar, the Turin Shroud and Freemasonry. It is an intriguing and enthusiastic piece of work.

While I am not 100% convinced by all the authors' claims. I appreciate their level of research and combing though vast quantities of historical data. Even if they are wrong on some aspects, guess what, so are many historians. The ability to review, evaluate, draw new conclusions and correct previously held concepts is how we expand our understanding. It's the opportunity to come to new conclusions or provide stronger proof of the "old knowledge".

I still found the book to be extremely thought provoking. It kept me up into the long hours of the night in personal reflection and contemplation.

[Ivana Oltovska · Rating 5 out of 5]

not so bad

[Tamsin Ramone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a thoroughly interesting book, well researched and well written. It is slightly frustrating how the writers tend to take hearsay and write it as fact even though it is unprovable. Still, a bloody good working hypothesis! Lomas and Knight are well worth reading, especially if you want to gain insight and perspective on the life of Jesus, on James the just, the shroud of Turin, the Templer Knights and the origins of freemasonry.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about the Templar Knights and the Shroud of Turin, which in recent years has been revealed to *not* be Christ's burial shroud. This book explores the possibility of it being the burial shroud of Templar Grand Master, Jacques de Molay. For those who do not know, the Templar Knights are the origins of today's freemasonry...

[Heino Colyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the structure of the book as well as the individual chapters - each step of their investigative process is neatly defined, explored and concluded. The book encourages and promotes an open minded revisiting of the past. Definitely recommended if you have any interest in the Knights Templar, Freemasonry, the Turin Shroud or the origins of Christianity.

[Rudy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my way of looking at history.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

really well-researched and presented the information in an objective manner.

[Lee Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Supposed history of DeMolay, tying his supposed crucifixion with the Shroud of Turin.

[Dick]

This is the 2nd of a series of books by Chris Knight and Robert Lomas. This one is signed as well.

[DJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book... started my journey to the light.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

What we leaned in The Hiram Key continues in this book as the authors dig deeper into the Templars and the Turin Shroud. Wow!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book goes hand in hand with the Hiram Key. It has a very plausible theory on the origin of the Shroud of Turin that I believe has been repressed by the Catholic church.........mgc

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well crafted and thought provoking. It presents a different argument for the Shroud of Turin.

[Brian Reagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor scholarship and even worse logic make what could have been enjoyable a waste of time

[Bungo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fascinating read and pretty compelling alternative theory about who might lie behind the Turin Shroud.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book, shared it with my friends who equally found it fascinating. I love a book that makes you think, and this certainly does that.
One of my favourite books.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thick read with lots of content. Took a while to get through, but worth it

[Renata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary book!

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful

[Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complete and utter tripe. But, fun tripe. If you can find it for fiddy cents (and can tell the difference between history and hogwash) give it a shot.

[Marinus Uys · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good and easy read. Liked the hypotheses structure. The origins of the Christian church structure makes much more sense.

[Thorsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.
No further comments.

[Cyril Embil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting ideas and theories to piss off the "establishment."

[Stephen Tuck · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some while ago I wrote a fairly cranky review of Erich von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods. I think I should apologise. To Mr von Daniken. He actually hasn’t written the worst piece of faux-scholarship I’ve ever seen. That honour goes to Messrs Knight and Lomas for The Second Messiah: Templars, The Turin Shroud and the Great Secret of Freemasonry.

The authors basic hypothesis runs like this: Jesus Christ was the child of a teenager called Mary who was sexually assaulted by a priest of the Jerusalem Temple. Paul the Apostle misunderstood that Christ’s resurrection, which (the authors say) was a Jewish ritual and not an actual return from the dead. As a result, Christianity developed into a strange set of ideas which Jesus would not recognise. The priests of the Temple fled to Europe as refugees after the destruction of the Temple in 70AD. There they established themselves as the “Rex Deus” families and, a thousand years later, conspired to launch the First Crusade, recapture Jerusalem from the Saracens, recover the scrolls and other knowledge buried under the site of the Temple, and found the order of the Knights Templar. This order continued to exist after its suppression in 1307 (the image on the Shroud of Turin belongs to their final Grand Master, Jacques de Molay). It morphed into modern Freemasonry, which has itself lost sight of the ancient knowledge it was meant to preserve.

I think it’ll tell you everything you need to know about this book that before I’d finished reading the first page, I’d already written “bollocks!” in the margin. I repeated that word, and worse, for the next 244 pages. In fact, the only pages that I didn’t write something like that on were the ones were I’d largely stopped reading and was just skimming with increasing annoyance. Let’s speak plainly: the authors have not done even basic research into their subject. They appear to be unaware of the scholarship surrounding how the New Testament came to exist (for example, they seem to believe that Mark’s gospel came into existence spontaneously, and don’t seem aware of the hypothesised “Q Source”. They plainly know nothing at all about mediaeval spirituality (reading Norman Cantor’s landmark ‘The Crisis of Western Monasticism, 1050-1130’* and JH van Engen’s ‘The “Crisis of Cenobitism” Reconsidered’** would have done wonders, for instance). Weirdly, they seem to think that a priest and a monk are the same thing (pp. 23 and 75), that canonization and beatification are identical (p. 40), and that the Celtic church denied the divinity of Christ (as, in the authors’ view, did some parts of Christianity(!) before the Council of Nicaea (pp. 70 and 199).

More exasperating, though, are the errors suggesting that not only did the authors do no research, but that nobody actually read the manuscript before it was published. How else can one explain the baffling conflating of the Greek letter Tau (Τ) with the Hebrew letter Taw (ת), when the shape of the letter is critical to their argument (p. 41)? Equally, how did nobody notice their bizarre claim that the serpent-and-rod symbol for medicine is the Rod of Asclepius from Greek mythology and not a symbol from the Jewish Essene sect (p. 213).

The entire “Rex Deus” argument is based on an account given to the authors of a story spontaneously told to another writer by “a distinguished [French]man of advancing years” who claimed to be a member of the Rex Deus family. The Frenchman is never identified, although one wonders if it was not the infamous fraudster and hoaxer Pierre Plantard (pp. 77-9 and 198-9). The authors seem unfamiliar with the concepts of “hearsay”, or “lying”, or “bullshit”.

It would take a couple of pages to itemise the errors in the book, and I’m not going to do that. Life is too short. The authors should perhaps not be condemned for writing drivel if the public was willing to buy it. The publishers, however, should be strung up for aiding and abetting this exercise in historical negligence.
======================================
* (1960) 66 American Historical Review 46.
** (1986) 61 Speculum 269.

[Midhersand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended for the student of history, science, religions and secret traditions. The least compelling section of this book regards the turin shroud and whether or not deMolay’s image is upon it.

The most important aspects span the beginning and few chapters afterward, which clearly suggest reasonably and rationally that the original church was a Jerusalem church headed by James, the brother of Jesus. The philosophical and potentially historical link between the Essenes, the ancient Egyptians, the Templars and modern freemasonic ritual is obvious to most of us who are either members or students of such subjects.

I can’t agree with some of the author’s conclusions, but reading this book 3 or four or five times is NECESSARY, with about three dozen other books on slightly diverging but related subjects. Broaden and deepen your context before reviewing.
The holy Roman catholic church has been the abject enemy of the human race, the enemy of progress, the enemy of science, of women and the enemy of freedom since the very beginning....and they still continue to portray this attitude. That one thread can be seen in not only this book, but many others whose investigations tend to open up the empty spaces between all the historical discoveries we have made in the last 50 years.

Their response to any information which tends to expose their atrocities and their utter hypocrisy will be continually filled (as it has been for centuries) with evasion, deliberate misinformation, double speak, verbal maneuvering and a thorough attempt to deflect blame to others.

I also recommend other books written by these authors like Uriel’s machine, the Hiram key and any other works which touch the subject; like the book of Enoch, the secret teachings of all ages, royal arch Freemasonry, Rennes le chateau, tribus impostoribus, sanchoniathon’s history, the jesuits, the Russian empire, the Vatican in world politics, and myriad others.