Showing results by author "Joseph Lumpkin" in All Categories

It is the solitary purpose of this work to place back on this beautiful text flesh and blood so readers of today may feel and see and touch and know the wisdom and peace expressed so very long ago. The world of the twenty-first century is not the same as China in 300 BCE, but there remain common threads connecting mankind throughout the ages. In these threads we find a way to fully express and connect the depth of the Tao Te Ching to a modern age without compromising its ancient meaning.

In 1868, a French archaeologist and his team were excavating a cemetery in Egypt when they came upon a certain tomb from the eighth century. In the tomb was a monk, reclining peacefully with hands folded on his breast, clasping a small book which he believed to be sacred, holy, and inspired. This book contained the Gospel of Peter. A portion of The Gospel According to Peter had been restored to the Christian community after having been lost over a thousand years.

Certain elements, rituals, and stories have been passed down within the brotherhood of masons from those great workers and architects that created structures from King Solomon’s Temple to the classic churches of the Middle Age. The stories and legends of our progenitor and our first Grandmaster could be true. The layout of the lodge and the offices occupied within the lodges of the Freemasons may indeed date back to the time of King Solomon, yet none of these events explain the strange words, terms, and and military-like events taking place within the lodge today.