Pat Robertson's Own Secret Society

Evangelical icon and media mogul Marion Gordon “Pat” Robertson has made millions of dollars over the years with his Christian Broadcasting Network, his many books, and even his own weight loss plan. His program, the 700 Club, presents a strong conservative Christian message twice a day to millions of fans around the world. Robertson was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister in the 1960s, but voluntarily dropped his credentials in 1987 when he ran, unsuccessfully, for the Republican Party presidential nomination. He is the founder of the Christian Coalition and his views heavily concentrate on eschatology. Robertson is especially interested in the important role he believes will be played by the Jews in Israel during the End of Days, and is a strong supporter of Israeli military policy. This is in sharp contrast to the majority of conspiracists who believe the Jews are a force for evil in the world.

What makes all of this interesting is that Robertson wrote a book in 1991 called The New World Order. In it, he dragged out the usual parade of Masonic/Illuminati/Jewish world government accusations, and “borrowed” extensively from discredited sources like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It was a curious set of accusations to make against a people he seems to regard as integral to the Christian Apocalypse. But what was more perplexing were his attacks against Freemasons, particularly since his own father, Senator Absalom Willis Robertson, was a Virginia Freemason. He was raised in Buena Vista Lodge No. 186, joined Rockbridge Royal Arch Chapter No. 44, and served as a District Deputy Grand Master (according to a letter the Senator personally wrote to the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction in 1941).

None of these pesky details kept The New World Order from being the #1 best selling religious book of 1991. Somewhat unbelievably, the Zionist Organization of America awarded him in 2002 as an unwavering friend of Israel.

Clearly they hadn’t read his book.

Robertson doesn’t have any quandaries about being a member of a secret society himself – the secretive Council for National Policy (CNP) is an invitation-only, closed door group that meets three times a year at undisclosed locations to discuss ways to influence U.S. government policy. In 2003, CNP executive director Steve Baldwin boasted to ABC News that "we control everything in the world."

Patterned after the more infamous Council on Foreign Relations and founded in 1981 by Left Behind author Tim Lahaye, its membership list is not available to the public. Providing the original funding for the group were Nelson Baker Hunt (billionaire son of billionaire oilman and John Birch Society promoter H.L. Hunt), businessman and one-time murder suspect T. Cullen Davis, and millionaire William Cies, all from Texas.

“The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs, before or after a meeting,” reads one of the cardinal rules of the CNP, according to a long article on the website of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (not that I don't think THOSE guys go too far either).

On the one hand, liberals in the media seem to be shrieking "Yipe! A Christian!" over this group. On the other hand, guests may attend meetings only with the unanimous approval of the organization’s executive committee. Members are told not to refer to the group by name in e-mail messages. Anyone who breaks the rules can be expelled. Guest speakers almost never release the text of their speeches at CNP meetings. In fact, virtually everyone questioned in the aforementioned ABC piece refused to comment on the group, or even acknowledge its existence.

So what is Pat Robertson trying to hide?