Reddit user FreedomIntensifies wrote the following:

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."

The first amazing rebel in the western historical record is Plato. He was inducted into the mystery schools in Egypt. Why is he a rebel and how do we know? The allegory of the cave. He tried to communicate to people that their perception was not reality but the shadows on the wall being projected by the masters of fire, the school of Prometheus.

Before this, the dominant surviving western philosophy is that of Judaic law which condemned Lucifer and Eve for the exchange of knowledge. Plato was truly radical, the sort of radical that you may not see emerge within any given generation. He wanted to spread knowledge, he established curriculums for learning, taught the people about the mystery schools.

The next significant historical figure in the western history is Jesus. This guy is a lot like Plato. Jesus is another one of those absolutely brilliant figures that rarely emerges. He not only shared Plato's radical view of spreading knowledge, he embraced the symbology of Lucifer in the Old Testament and plotted the downfall of Judaic law, which is the exoteric representation of the mystery schools. Jesus calls himself Lucifer in other words - "the Bright and Morning Star." The Bible makes it explicit that his fight is with the mystery schools, "Jesus is the stone which the builders have rejected, and has become the cornerstone." Jesus plots the downfall of the mystery schools by abolishing the Judaic tradition, elevating Lucifer, praising knowledge, and commanding that it be freely available: "let those who have ears to hear, hear."

These people don't go away freely. This is just the start of a huge fucking war that hasn't yet ended. Mass persecutions begin but the movement builds and nominally captures Rome; the mystery schools thus retreat somewhat to the north and make Venice the base of operations. As the mercantilist power of Venice rises in the wake of the Roman empire collapse and subsequent extended depression, the church falls to the influence of the mystery schools in the 5th century. The response is the creation of Islam, a more militant version of Christianity but no other essential difference. A two pronged assault on the Venice trade empire is thus launched, moving west across the African coast and to the north through Israel / Turkey / Greece. The mystery schools, thus crippled, have severely diminished influence for the next several centuries.

Within Europe, nation states emerge with the Christian philosophy incubated within them, national universities are established, literacy begins to spread, the governments for the first time turn their attention to promoting domestic productive rather than foreign conquest as a source of wealth. Islam is similarly known for being a very scientific, enlightened society during this period. What we have here is a peaceful encirclement of the old rulers of the world, but victory won't be complete.

Venice's influence rises again several centuries later in the aftermath of a successful campaign to split the Christian church culminating in the great schism. Not long after we get Christian assaults on the Islamic holding of Jerusalem - a real historical tragedy because the religions come from the same movement with the same goals. Cults are built up around so-called sacred artifacts brought back from Jerusalem, superstition becomes rampant, etc.

This is a period of real degeneration of the culture. Various alliances rise and fade against Venice, the black death severely weakens them in the 14th century. People don't venture out of their town, or permit strangers, and thus commerce is choked off, Venice is brought to heel. In the 15th century, you see widespread and sustained disgust with Venice across the continent.

Venice undertakes a great transformation process as a result. The oligarchy migrates towards the Netherlands, where the House of Marlborough invades England by the end of the 17th century. Long story short, Venice successful conquers England. Queen Anne came after William of Orange and wasn't bad, but the succession of George's afterwards are terrible and completely under the influence of Venice anti-industrial policy. This is reflected in laws against domestic manufacturing in America, banning ironworks, and so on. The response is that the families who eventually lead the revolution move into the Appalachia and establish covert manufacturing bases capable of producing weapons and undergo a multi-decade effort to prepare for revolution (see How The Nation Was Won by Lowry for tremendous detail).

The leaders of the American revolution get themselves initiated into the mystery schools as a strategic move. This is important because these people take oaths to protect one another's lives if at all possible; as a result, the British officers didn't tend to engage in assassination of US officers and this is the critical factor that allowed the revolution to succeed. This strategy was carefully cultivated by a tight knit circle with extraordinarily clever operatives; the same year that the revolution began our operatives commenced a massive disinformation campaign that resulted in the famous exposure of the "Bavarian Illuminati" and enabled the insertion of paranoia, confusion, unclear objectives, and a disruption of the command structure of the mystery schools during the period of the revolution.

From here, the great enterprise that traces all the way back to Plato and Jesus kicks into high gear. But, to be sure, so does the opposition. Vast influxes of profits from the British East India Company start flowing into elite universities like Princeton, Columbia, etc. Skull & Bones is established under the Russell trust, also funded by same. We have the Captain Morgan affair, which is the public declaration by the British grand lodge that assassinations of other freemasons will now be tolerated if they are rebelling against the unified command. From this point forward, America is plunged into a violent and shadowy civil war which rages to this day.

As an example, Pat Robertson is of the Churchill family (Winston), which is really the House of Marlborough - our friendly conquerer of England on behalf of the Venetians. Pat Robertson represents the thrust of the opposition to Clinton, but Clinton's primary financier is Pamela Harriman of the House of Marlborough! Other apparent "divisions" in modern American politics are similarly contrived; these are the operations of the British grand lodge and the mystery schools.

What exactly is it about America that has provoked freemasonry to wage war against it?

We are the centerpiece in a two millennia war to free mankind that is now coming to a head. In the coming years, the middle class of America will continue to erode and fall apart; with it, the free flow of information, the agency of individuals independent of the order, and so on will disappear. Or, the people will use the gifts they have been given, namely, weapons in the hands of the common person to enable revolt and seizure back of the government, and bring back the proven model of economic advancement to expand and stabilize the middle class ("Hamiltonianism," "The American System," "dirigism").

Now you have the broad outlines of the war; it is fought out of love with the purpose of blessing the world with freedom, enlightenment, universal brotherhood.

If you're hung up on the Lucifer bit, that's ok. Remember, Satan is not Lucifer. He merely pretends to be Lucifer, promising people false light and enlightenment, but delivering only lies. So, it's not equating Jesus with Satan.