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MASONRY
What the Christian needs to know
By Ron Wallace
(Summarized From The Secret Teachings of the
Masonic Lodge)
by John Ankerberg
1. Basic definition:
Masonry is a divinely appointed institution, designed to
draw men nearer to God, to give them a clearer conception of their proper
relationship to God as their Heavenly Father, to men as their brethren and
the ultimate destiny of the human soul.
(The Iowa Quarterly Bulletin, Apr, 1917)
2. Two basic "earthly" goals: (The Builders,
by Joseph Fort Newton, 1951)
A. To bring about a universal league of mankind
B. To form mankind into a great redemptive brotherhood.
3. Religious view:
A. There is under all the creeds, one universal religion
(The Great Teachings of Masonry, H.L. Haywood, 1971)
B. This one true religion . . . is the very soul of Masonry.
(The Builders, Newton)
C. The true disciple of ancient masonry has given up forever
the worship of personalities . . . As a mason his religion must be universal:
Christ, Buddha or Mohammed, the names mean little, for he recognizes only
the light and not the bearer.
He worships at every shrine, bows before every altar, whether in temple,
mosque, or cathedral, realizing with his truer understanding the oneness
of all spiritual truth . . . No true Mason can be narrow, for his lodge
is the divine expression of all broadness. There is no place for little
minds in a great work.
(The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, p. 64-65; Manly P. Hall)
D. The candidate for Masonry: There he stands without
our portals, on the threshold of his new Masonic life, in darkness, helplessness
and ignorance. Having been wandering amid the errors and covered over with
the pollutions of the outer and profane world, he comes inquiringly to
our door, seeking the new birth, and asking a withdrawal of the veil which
conceals divine truth from his uninitiated sight.
(The Manual of the Lodge, Albert Mackey, 1870)
E. (Masonry) is the universal, eternal, immutable religion,
such as God planted it in the heart of universal humanity.
Masonry teaches, and has preserved in their purity, the cardinal tenets
of the old primitive faith, which underlie and are the foundation of all
religions. All that ever existed have had a basis of truth; and all have
overlaid that truth with errors. [For example,] the primitive truths taught
by the Redeemer were sooner corrupted, and intermingled and alloyed with
fictions than when taught to the first of our race. Masonry is thus the
universal morality which is suitable to the inhabitants of every clime,
to the man of every creed.
(Morals and Dogma, Albert Pike, p. 219, 161, 1906)
4. Masonic view of the bible:
A. The bible, so rich in symbolism, is itself a symbol
. . . It is a sovereign symbol of the Book of Faith, the will of God as
man has learned it in the midst of the years-that perpetual revelation
of himself which God is making to mankind in every land in every age. Thus,
by the very honor which Masonry pays to the the bible it teaches us to
revere every book of faith. . . joining hands with the man of Islam as
he takes oath on the Koran, and with the Hindu as he makes covenant with
God upon the book that he loves best. For Masonry knows, what so many forget,
that religions are many, but Religion is one-perhaps we may say one thing.
. . Therefore it invites to its altar men of all faiths knowing that, if
they use different names for "the Nameless One of a hundred names,"
they are yet praying to the one God and Father of all; knowing, also, that
while they read different volumes, they are in fact reading the same vast
Book of the Faith of man.
(Holman Temple Illustrated Edition of the Holy bible, Joseph Fort Newton's
preface)
B. The prevailing Masonic opinion is that the bible is
only a symbol of divine will, law or revelation, and not that its contents
are divine law, inspired or revealed. So far, no responsible authority
has held that a freemason must believe the bible or any part of it.
(Coil`s Masonic Encyclopedia)
C. The eminent Masons all contend that there is a veil
upon the scriptures, which when removed, leaves them clearly in accord
with Masonic teachings and in essential harmony with other sacred books.
(Freemasonry: An Interpretation, Martin L. Wagner)
5. Masonic mysticism:
A. It stresses universal brotherhood and is working for
a new world order.
B. It offers an esoteric enlightenment stressing "higher"
states of consciousness.
C. It believes that all men are in some sense divine.
D. It accepts occult philosophy and practice, including
spiritism.
6. Masonic morality: The standard of Masonic morality is
the law of nature, and so longs as he obeys it, he is a moral man. He may
steal, lie, deceive and commit adultery outside of the circumscribed sphere
of the fraternity, and not be guilty of any immorality, Masonically viewed.
He is under a different moral government, bound by a different moral law,
and guided by a different system of ethics. Masonry by its covenant makes
the essence of morality consist in the relation of the individual to masonry.
(Freemasonry: An Interpretation, Wagner, p. 536)
7. Salvation by works:
A. In all ages the lamb has been deemed an emblem of innocence;
he, therefore, who wears the lambskin as a badge of masonry is continually
reminded of that purity of life and conduct which is necessary to obtain
admittance into the Celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect
of the Universe presides.
(Tennessee Craftsmen or Masonic Textbook, Raymond Lee Allen, 1963)
B. "We cannot arrive at the Sanctum Sanctorum but
by purity of manners righteousness of heart, and the secrets of the first
degrees of which they are the school..."
(From the Fifth Degree of the Scottish Rite,
referenced in Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated, George Simmons, 1979)
8. The god of Masonry:
A. It is faith in this deity that , as a prerequisite
for membership, is demanded at the door of the lodge of every candidate
for Masonic honors. It is this deity in whose name the covenant is made,
and who is invoked for help to keep it inviolate. It is to him that the
prayers in the lodge are addressed,...whose praises are sung in Masonic
odes and whose divinity is extolled. It is to him that Masonic altars are
built, priests consecrated, sacrifices made, temples erected and solemnly
dedicated. This great architect of the universe is the "on God"
in freemasonry and besides him there is no other in that institution. Freemasonry
as such knows no deity save the Great Architect of the Universe.
(Freemasonry: An Interpretation, Wagner, pp. 292-93)
B. Masonry, [is that religion] around whose altars the
Christian, the Hebrew, the Moslem, the Brahman, the followers of Confucius
and Zoroaster, can assemble as brethren and unite in prayer to the one
God who is above all the Baalim.
(Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry,
Albert Pike, 1906)
C. Men have to decide whether they want a God like the
ancient Hebrew Jahweh, a partisan, tribal God, with whom they can talk
and argue and from whom they can hide if necessary, or a boundless, eternal,
universal, undenominational, and international, divine Spirit, so vastly
removed from the speck called man, that He cannot be known, named or approached.
So soon as man begins to laud his God and endow him with the most perfect
human attributes such as justice, mercy, beneficence, etc., the Divine
essence is depreciated and despoiled...The Masonic test [for admission]
is a Supreme Being, and any qualification added is an innovation and distortion.
(Coil`s Masonic Encyclopedia, Henry Wilson Coil, 1961, pp. 516-17)
D. God`s name, Jabulon: In the ritual of the Royal Arch
Degree, every Royal Arch Mason is told that the true name for the God he
has been praying to throughout the different degrees of Masonry is, "Ja",
joined with "Bel" or "Bul" and "On."
(Mackey`s revised Encyclopedia of freemasonry, Albert Mackey, 1966)
9. Masonry and Christ:
A. Scripture quotations: Masonry does not allow the ritual
to cite the name of Jesus Christ. Therefore, whenever scripture references
are used, any mention of Christ's name is deleted.
1 Peter 2:5; 2 Thes. 3:6; 2 Thes. 3:12
B. Prayer: All prayers in Mason lodges should be directed
to the one deity to whom all Masons refer as the Grand Architect of the
Universe...Prayers in the lodges should be closed with expressions such
as, "in the Most Holy and precious name we pray," using no additional
words which would be in conflict with the religious beliefs of those present
at meetings.
(Freemasonry: The Invisible Cult in our Midst, Jack Harris, 1983)
C. Witnessing: Though in ancient times Masons were charged
in every country to be of the religion of that country or nation, whatever
it was, yet `tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that
religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves.
(Albert Mackey, Revised Encyclopedia, 1966)
No man has the right to dictate to another in matters
of belief or faith; no man can say that he has possession of truth as he
has of a chattel.
(Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated, J. Blanchard, 1979)
D. Deity and savior: Jesus was just a man. He was one
of the exemplars one of the great men of the past, but not divine and certainly
not the only means of redemption of lost mankind.
(The Deadly Deception, Shaw and McKenney, pp. 126-127)
10. Divinity of man: Masons speak of man as being divine
or becoming God.
A. The great secret of Masonry: that it makes a man aware
of that divinity within him.
(The Builders, Joseph Fort Newton, 1969)
B. God becomes man that man may become God.
(Religion of Masonry: An Interpretation, Newton, 1969, p. 37)
11. One worldism:
A. If then we wish order and peace to prevail on earth,
we must be united; we must have but one will, but one mind. Both we find
in the teachings of Masonry only, and against that compact of unity; tyranny
and usurpation, whether religious or political must fall subdued and powerless.
Masonry, victorious over all adverse circum- stances, will become the honored
medium of uniting all mankind in one vast brotherhood.
(Scottish Rite Masonry, J. Blanchard, 1979)
B. Masonry is a world law destined to change the earth
into conformity with itself, and as a world power it is something superb,
awe- inspiring, godlike... The doctrines of Masonry will ultimately rule
the intellectual world.
(The Great Teachings of Masonry, p.33)
12. Masonry and spiritism:
A. The master mason embodies the power of the human mind...His
spiritual light is greater because he has evolved a higher vehicle for
its expression...For him the Heavens have opened and the Great Light has
bathed him in its radiance...The voice speaks from the Heavens, its power
thrilling the Master until his own being seems filled with its divinity,
saying, "this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."...
the Master Mason is in truth a sun, a great reflector of light...He, in
truth, has become the spokesman of the Most High,...Through him passes
Hydra, the great snake, and from its mouth there pours to man the light
of God.
(The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, Manly P. Hall, 1976)
B. The Master Mason, if he be truly a Master, is in communication
with the unseen powers...He is the spokesman for the spiritual hierarchies
of his craft...a Priest-King after the Order of Melchizedek, who is above
the law...He wears the triple crown of the ancient Magus, for he is in
truth the King of heaven, earth and hell...He seeks to be worthy to pass
behind that veil and join that band who, un-honored and unsung, carry the
responsibilities of human growth...It is then only, that a true Mason is
born. Only behind this veil does the mystic student come into his own.
(The Lost Keys, p.p. 57, 59-60)
C. Masonry is not man-made; it is God-made...Masonry has
survived the ages because in truth and fact we have been guided by inspiration
and by intuition, by Grand Lodge on High, whose members are not dead Masons,
but a living society of Illumined Minds, the knowers of God's plan. (The
Spirit of Masonry, Foster Bailey, 1972, p.119)
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