IDEOLOGICAL
ORIGINS OF
THE CNP

Evangelicals need to clearly understand that the ideological origins of the CNP are not to be found in the theology of old-line evangelical Christianity, but in the gloom and shadows which spin and whirl around belief in the Illuminist Conspiracy and in the reactionary fascist, racist and anti-Semitic circles of the Political Right. Russ Bellant, an investigative reporter, traces the conspiracist impulses behind the Council on National Policy (CNP) [the agency established by Religious Right leader Tim LaHaye to coordinate the activities between the Political Right and the Religious Right] back to the murky ideas which surround Illuminism.[1] He writes, "The view on the Radical Right that an organization such as the CNP was needed stemmed from their perception that the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) - closely identified with the Rockefeller family - was selling out American interests in the pursuit of a ... left-wing foreign policy agenda."[2] Indeed, there can be little doubt that the obsession of the CNP towards the activities of the CFR and the Rockefellers stems in part from the fixation of certain of its members on the Illuminist Conspiracy [Both the CFR and the Rockefeller family are main players in the mythology of Illuminism.] - and we don't have to rely merely on conjecture or Bellant to substantiate such a conclusion: Pat Robertson clearly makes the connection in his 1991 best seller, The New World Order.[3]

In addition, the antipathy of CNP members towards the Council on Foreign Relations has been further fueled by the linkage of many CNP members to the John Birch Society, specifically to a book the Society promoted in 1972, None Dare Call it Treason by John A. Stormer, a publication that identified the CFR as pro-communist. The significance of this book lay in the fact that it presented a secularized and somewhat sanitized version of the Illuminist Conspiracy that could be accepted more readily by people who were not pre-disposed to accept as real a conspiracy which reached back into the obscurity of the Dark Ages and encompassed Freemasonry, the Templars, the Teutonic Knights, the Hospitalers, the Knights of St. John, etc.; and one which was so openly anti-Semitic and could so easily be linked to the insanity of Hitler and Nazi Germany. Nonetheless, Stormer's sanitized conspiracy contained all the elements dear to the heart of Illuminist enthusiasts: belief in a world-wide conspiracy (the "Communist Conspiracy") which aimed at the destruction of Western Civilization (particularly the United States), Christianity, and the "free enterprise system." Moreover, once people "bought into" Stormer's theses, it was but a short step from Stormer's sanitized None Dare Call it Treason to Robertson's "real McCoy" The New World Order and Illuminism.

Alan Crawford has written, "The Birchers seem to have wormed their way back in along the frontier of the New Right. The New Right leaders seem to welcome them."[4] Bellant writes, "The Birch influence on the political goals of the CNP is significant. Indeed, it's probably not too much to say that the links that the Society has managed to establish with New Right groups in recent years has contributed mightily to a resurgence not only of the Birch Society, but their ideas as well. The JBS (i.e., John Birch Society) was with the CNP from the beginning. Nelson Bunker Hunt, mentioned earlier as a prime mover in CNP's founding, was on the Birch Society's national council. By 1984, John Birch Society Chairman A. Clifford Barker and Executive Council Member William Cies were CNP members. Other JBS leaders also joined the Council. Five board members of Western Goals, essentially a JBS intelligence-gathering operation ... joined the CNP as well."[5]

Evangelicals need to pause and ask themselves, is this what Christianity is all about? - chasing the ghosts and demons that haunt the John Birch Society. The problem, of course, is that these kinds of demons have a way of turning on those who "fool around with them." Christians had better be very careful here - they could end up promoting the very "conspiracy" they are so afraid of - and in the process, becoming a part of it themselves!!!

Written By S. R. Shearer
Antipas Ministries

1. Russ Bellant's investigative work has been called "well-documented and reliable" by Allan A. Ryan, the former Director of the Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Department of Justice.
2. Bellant, The Coors Connection, pg. 43.
3. Please see Pat Robertson, The New World Order (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1991).
4. Alan Crawford, Thunder on the Right (New York: Pantheon, 1980), pg. 96.
5. Bellant, The Coors Connection, pg. 45-46; see also Harry Hunt, Texas Rich (New York: Norton, 1981), pg. 369; CNP Board of Governors Meeting, Dallas, Texas, August 17-18; CNP Executive Committee Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland, May 12, 1989.