Order denies links with loyalist group
Irish News
October 28th 1999
By Liz Trainor
THE Orange Order last night denied it had links with a shadowy loyalist group which a former member claims has its roots in witchcraft rather than Protestantism.
The rebuttal came after the publication of the book Behind Closed Doors by ex-loyalist Paul Malcomson who claims hundreds are leaving the organisation because of bizarre ritual practices.
Mr Malcomson, a born-again Christian and a former member of the Royal Arch Purple which is an elite branch of Orangeism, claims recruits are put through a series of bizarre initiation practices which include:
- blindfolding the victim and making him kneel on a mock coffin while vowing to destroy his own life if he divulges the teachings of the order
- tying a rope around the neck of the recruit, who has most of his clothes and one shoe taken from him and a purple ribbon fastened to his shirt
- riding the goat a ritual in which the blindfolded initiate is wrapped in a canvas sheet and then kicked and tossed about by assembled members
- harsh beatings members beat the candidate across the legs and bare feet with brambles to the accompaniment of laughter
But Rev William Bingham, a high profile member of the Orange Order, said: “It is misleading to say they are part of the Orange family. “I have heard there have been a number of resignations as some people have listened to what Paul has said. “But they are an entirely separate organisation with chaplains and lodges. The Royal Arch Purple speaks for itself.”
Mr Malcomson, who is taking his campaign to Scotland, also plans to write a book on the Royal Black Preceptory.
We recommend a revealing book written by the great revivalist Charles Finney who was a former Freemason (The Character, Claims And Practical Workings Of Freemasonry):
Newspaper articles relating to Evangelical Truth
Belfast Telegraph – Inside the Royal Arch Purple Order
Belfast Newsletter – Northern Ireland’s loyal orders ‘mirror freemasonry’
Irish News – Man lifts lid on secrets of Arch Purple Order
The Observer – Satanic secrets of the Orange Order
Irish News – Order denies links with loyalist group
The New Zealand Herald – Orange Order ‘pagan’ rites under attack!
Sunday World – Weirdo Order exposed by member
Irish Independent – Flagging Freemasons secret society admits RTE cameras in desperate bid to recruit
Irish News – Twelfth parades – tourist attraction or sad travesty?
Irish Daily Star columnist John Coulter – The best piece of anti-Protestant propaganda since the notorious Proclamation of the 1916 Easter Rising
Irish News – Secrets of Royal Black Institution revealed
Sunday World – New Book Exposes Black
Banbridge Chronicle – Macabre rituals detailed in book (Black Response) (Evangelical Truth response)
Lisburn Star – Local author embraced for controversy over book on Royal Black institution
Newry Democrat – Oaths in some groups require candidates to conceal other members’ secrets, says author
Irish News columnist Roy Garland – “Fundamentalists, not Jesuits, infiltrated the loyal orders”
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