Joseph "Doc" Marquis

Joseph "Doc" Marquis was a Christian writer who claimed to be an ex-member of the Illuminati.

According to his version of events, he was initiated into the group at the age of four by his foster aunt, became a high priest at thirteen, and a master witch at seventeen before eventually leaving in 1979. He claimed that after he left the group the Illuminati tried to kill him. He said that other people involved with the Illuminati included Charles Manson, Sharon Tate (whom Manson was sent to assassinate as she wanted to leave), and alleged alien abductee Whitley Strieber ("the biggest, the most obnoxious individual I've ever met", says Doc).

He claimed that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is genuine evidence of a conspiracy but one organised by the Illuminati rather than Jews.

Marquis said that Satan has assigned seven demons with controlling hell and interfering with human affairs: Rege ("deals with such drugs as Marijuana, hashish, cocaine, speed, LSD, peyote and mescaline... [and] is also responsible for seeing that music is hexed"); Larz ("Demon of Sexual lust, homosexuality, bi-sexuality, adultery, and other such sexual pleasure"); Bacchus ("Demon of addictions, such as [to] drugs, smoking, and alcohol"); Pan ("causes mental illnesses, depression, suicide, nerves, and rejection"); Medit ("Demon of hate, murder, killing, war, jealousy, envy, and gossip"); Set ("Demon of Death") and a seventh, unnamed demon "so powerful that most witches won't even bother him" whose job is "Getting Christians to talk about each other through gossiping and causing strife within the church".

I, Witch
Marquis' book Secrets of the Illuminati contains an elaborate seal with the phrase "I, Witch" written above it in red, representing the New World Order. The Cutting Edge Ministries website - an eager supporter of Marquis' claims - explains that this is not the official NWO seal but merely a diagram outlining Marquis' theories.

Apparently, the "I" part "depicts the extremely self-centered, self-proclaimed wise and righteous man who is working mightily for Lord Satan to achieve this new system". The outer circle lists the "many organizations which are striving mightily and cooperatively for the New World Order": Catholicism, Satanism, Rosicrucians, Dungeons and Dragons, the eight "Satanic Sabbaths" and the Cabala, represented by Hebrew text reading "Witchcraft Today For As Much Within Ancient Babylon". Cabala is actually a mystic philosophy, but according to this lot it's "the most influential of all secret societies in the drive to the New World Order".

The second circle is apparently "comprised of [sic] the most influential human activity possible": the Illuminati, the Masons, the United States seals ("The Two Seals of Our Doom"), the House of Rothschild, the rock and roll industry and the Black Pope. Sounding rather like one of those seventies exploitation films, the Black Pope is apparently a Jesuit leader who is "believed to wield the real absolute power within the Vatican".

Criticisms
Marquis' claims have been refuted by Wiccan commentator Kerr Cuhulain. "Salman Rushdie has a one million dollar price on his head and has gone deep underground", he writes. "Marquis claims that he has a half a million on his head and takes no precautions whatsoever to avoid assassination. He can supply no details of the eight alleged attempts on his life. He claims that he only reported the first attempt to police but cannot remember where or to what agency. Marquis excuses his lack of precautions by claiming that 'God won't allow' him to be killed."

Cuhulain also questions how a thirteen-year-old boy was able to serve as a high priest of this secret society without his parents finding out and points to inconsistencies in Doc's account of the over one-hundred human sacrifices in which he claims to have been involved: first claiming that the bodies were simply left in woods or by roads, then claiming that they were carefully disposed of. Presumably, he changed this part of the story to explain the absence of evidence, although, as Cuhulain points out, it still leaves the question of why Doc apparently hasn't helped out on any missing person cases that would have inevitably arisen.