Wow! Excellent tour of the Free Masonry HQ. Free Masonry in the south is a bit different. They will not let you join unless you believe in Jesus Christ. Also, they have separate lodges for both black and white Freemasons. In the north of the USA, both black and white members can be part of the same lodge and the requirement you believe in a higher power is all that is required.
Some of the people I've met over the years who are Freemasons seemed pretty cool. Some seemed like total morons. And, I also had a room mate who's father was a 33rd degree Mason. And in my room mate's book collection was a book written by the (then) Grand Commander. I think it was called "The Path to Enlightenment".
After reading the book, I felt it came off more like a "new age" text. But, the caveat here being, it was all supported by the group of Freemasons as opposed to someone who writes a book, goes on tour, and gives speeches. And the thing that struck me about the Freemason book was that the author stated that, "Enlightenment is something that is growing and will affect us all.", (paraphrased as I read this book about 15 years ago).
Haven't read any books from Pike. But, after reading the Freemasonry book about enlightenment, I would have a hard time believing that the God they worship is Lucifer. Perhaps this is simply one interpretation. But what I read had a lot to do with man's consciousness growing and thereby divine knowledge to raise up mankind as a whole was growing.
I was actually invited to a dinner that would have introduced me to the Freemasons in Atlanta. And well, I chickened out. Part of it was the ominous feel that I think Dan picked up on in the building. And I was getting a weird feeling about meeting these Freemasons at this dinner, so I canceled.
One year at Dragoncon, (which is a pop-culture convention similar to San Diego Comic held in Atlanta once a year), I was speaking on a panel about the "2012 Apocalypse". And in it, I spoke about some research I had done about Freemasonry after a panelist condemned the "illuminatti" as the epicenter for a conspiracy to enslave all of man. I reminded him that it was Freemasonry that was partly responsible for creating the USA. And that as a whole, Freemasonry's goals were to uplift society and make it better.
After the panel, a man approached me who identified himself as the head of the Tennessee Freemasonry Lodge. And he told me he appreciated it that I spoke up about Freemasonry as being "good guys". After speaking for a while he told me that through the years different factions have broken away from Scottish Rite Freemasonry and have attempted to use dark energy to achieve their goals. And he also admitted that over time, Freemasonry has had to purge its membership of people who use it for manipulative and dark purposes.
Also think it's interesting that some people I knew when I live in Atlanta that used to be part of the lodge, began to badmouth it during the 2nd Gulf. Now this couple was really into Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. And we know what they supported during the war. Well, this couple told me that the Atlanta Freemasonry Lodge would talk about ways to influence the USA policy makers in how to stop the war.
So, when you think of George Bush and the Skull and Bones organization, perhaps this is the dark break-off group that was referenced by the Freemason I spoke with.