Böcker av Charles Raymond Dillon

The Knights Templars began as a nine-man team of well-intentioned noblemen who became warrior monks which were dedicated to escorting pilgrims to the Holy land. For sustenance, they relied on alms from the pilgrims. Follow the monk warriors as they became a multitude, the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, and went on the Crusades to battle the Moslems for the hold sites of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.See them battle the Moslems as they lay siege to strongholds and cities of Acra, Antioch, Haifa, and others on their march to Jerusalem. Relive the scenes of bloody battles and massacres, some, which they won, and others they lost.You will meet the heroic figures of Bohemund I, King Baldwin of Jerusalem, Robert of Normandy, Stephen of Blois, Richard the Lion Heart, and Saladin as they conduct war.Within two centuries they could defy all but the Papal throne. They were immune from any authority, and were destroyed because of their enormous wealth and seemingly unlimited power.When they returned home to their Chapters after their defeat in the Holy land, they invented the banking system and became money lenders to the monarchs of Europe.Learn how the secret meetings and rituals of the knights eventually caused their down fall. King Philip IV of France turned his greedy eyes to their wealth to fill his coffers.He had all the Templars arrested on a charge of heresy, since this was the only charge that would allow the seizing of money and assets.The Templars were tortured to obtain false confessions of homosexuality, sodomy, trampling and spitting on the cross, and worshiping an idol. The Last Master Templar, Jacques De Molay, was burned at the stake. Some historians believe the remnants of the order went underground and has survived.

Author Dillon tells how many popes who reigned during the first 16 centuries were no more than criminals. They bought the papacy by bribing cardinals with gifts of gold and benefices. When in office, they committed adultry, fathered many illegitimate children, commited murders, and even incest.They took good care of their bastards at the expense of the Church. Some children were made priests as young as age seven, and cardinals by age thirteen. They bestowed on them the benefices of churches and towns with incomes that made them rich.Learn how Sergius III (904-911) obtained the papacy by murder, and instituded a reign known as "the rule of the harlots."Read how John XII (953-963) made the St. John Latern "as if it were a brothel." He defiled virgins "even on the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul. Women were afraid to enter St. Peter's Basilica for fear of being raped by the pope.Boniface III (1294-1303) said, "to enjoy oneself and lie with women and boys is no more of a sin that rubbing ones hands together." He callled Jesus Christ a hypocrite.Yet for all of the wicked popes, the Church and Christianity has survived.

Do you believe in ghosts? Many people believe they have seen, heard, or been touched by something they call ghosts.After you read the stories that follow perhaps you will reach a similar conclusion.What happens to a person when they die has fascinated and puzzled people from the beginning of time. Why do some people seem to reappear as ghosts, and why are some benign and others mischievous or destructive?There are incidents of ghosts and manifestations that have been experienced by motion picture celebrities, and people like you and me.Perhaps you will be frightened or titillated by what you read, so visit the haunted places at your own risk.