2/7/07
Freemasonry is incompatible with Biblical Christianity and has had great influence on western societies for 300 years. Freemasonry is an occult brotherhood, a secret society that has influenced the highest levels of national governments. That influence extends to nearly every small town and village in many countries.
False Gospel of Works
Freemasonry teaches a false gospel of works, includes occult rituals and pagan theology, and teaches the “Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man”. Its pattern of working one’s way up through degrees in stature within the brotherhood is mimicked throughout society. The oath of the first degree includes, “Never to reveal, ever to conceal“. The concept of initiations and oaths, found in many organizations and institutions and processes, is rooted in the ancient traditions of occult societies.
Symbols
Its symbols of the compass and square, the All Seeing Eye, and many other symbols pervade society.
When a person puts his hand over his heart for an oath or a pledge he is mimicking a Masonic gesture used in their rituals. Possibly one of the most widely distributed pieces of printed material in the world is the U.S. one dollar bill. On it is the official seal of the United States. On the reverse of the seal is a symbol from the Mystery Religions of Babylon and Egypt: the pyramid, the equilateral triangle, and the All Seeing Eye of Osiris. Washington D.C. was designed by a French Freemason and the design was supervised by the first U.S. President, a Freemason. The U.S. capital is laid out in Masonic symbols.
Global Vision – Morality
Freemasonry, which often calls itself, “The Craft”, promotes a false gospel of morality. Masonry’s promotion of a life of morality that does not necessarily require the Lord Jesus Christ is the pattern for all such do-good philosophies.
Freemasonry’s global vision of the unity of all religions under the umbrella of the Craft is the prime example of all do-good visions for global peace and harmony.
American Society
The French philosopher and historian, Alexis de Tocqueville, supposedly said, “America is great because America is good”. He is quoted as basing this on America’s churches and the preaching in the pulpits. But there is no record of Tocqueville ever saying this. In fact, in his writings Tocqueville emphasized the “associationalism” in America in describing the do-good volunteerism of the fraternal orders such as freemasonry. It is this vision of an assembly of moral people doing good works that is the local and global vision promoted by all fraternal organizations. And yet believers in the Lord Jesus must realize that this is a counterfeit of the Church, the Ekklesia of Jesus Christ.
When entering a town or a city you often see a “Welcome to” sign, put there by the Chamber of Commerce. On it are symbols of various community organizations and clubs and fraternal, humanitarian, philanthropic orders and societies. This is symbolic of that pattern of fraternal orders with initiations and associations for doing good and promoting a Tower of Babel vision of Heaven on Earth that either ignores or rejects the Jesus of the Bible.
Any system of morals and ethics and values that either ignores or rejects Jesus Christ is just another pagan religion. Even a system of Christian morals, without Jesus, is just another pagan religion.
Evangelical Churches
There are leaders of Evangelical churches who are Freemasons. This is wrong. There are people among our assemblies who are Freemasons. They need to be encouraged to forsake the counterfeit and draw near to the real Jesus in terms of the Biblical Gospel.
People like the Freemasons are very hard to witness to because they consider themselves so moral and so devoted to doing good to others. They do not tend to see a need for Jesus as their Savior.
Mormonism
Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saints, was a Freemason and therefore there have been many similarities between the occult rituals in a Masonic Temple and those rituals and oaths in a Mormon Temple.
History
Although the documented history of Freemasonry only goes back about 300 years, sometimes Freemasons will trace their origins to the stone mason guilds in the middle ages; sometimes to the Knights Templars of the middle ages; sometimes to the stone masons of the builders of Solomon’s Temple; and sometimes to the ancient mystery religions of Babylon and Egypt.
One way to understand the history of the west over the last 1000 years is as a hidden, and sometimes not so hidden, war between the Knights Templar/Freemasons versus the Roman Catholic Empire and its Popes.
A synthesis seems to have occurred as documented by the mass media in the 1970s and 80s as members of the illegal Masonic Lodge, P2, included members of the Vatican staff. The Vatican Banking scandal temporarily spotlighted an overlapping of Cardinals, Bishops, Freemason, Mafioso, and various intelligence agencies.
Popular non-fiction books in the 1980s followed by a very popular novel and movie in the last few years claim a continued war between one of Roman Catholicism’s secret societies, Opus Dei, and a Masonic-like occult brotherhood, the Priory de Sion.
Evangelical Leaders
There are leaders in the Evangelical subculture who have been seduced by the visions of Freemasonry and who are, in turn, manipulating professing Christians down a path of the Masonic agenda. This is not referring to private friendships but public endorsements and yoking in ministry.
Billy Graham, for many years, endorsed the ministry of the 33rd Degree Freemason, Norman Vincent Peale. Peale founded the publication, Guideposts, and was a mentor for Robert Schuller. Both Graham and Campus Crusade’s Bill Bright publicly endorsed the ministry of Robert Schuller. Zig Ziglar, often promoted by James Dobson, publically endorsed Norman Vincent Peale, also.
Consider the hand gesture of Pat Robertson on the cover of Time Magazine, February 17th, 1986, when he was trying to gather support for his run for president.
Initiation to the 33rd Degree
Jim Shaw’s Initiation to the 33rd Degree of Freemasonry (prior to 1988) took place at the Washington D.C. Temple at which the participants drank out of human skulls, and included: Two former U.S. Presidents, a Scandinavian King, an internationally famous Evangelist, two other internationally famous Clergymen, and a very high federal official gave him his certificate.
Auxiliaries
The women’s organization auxiliary to Freemasonry is the Eastern Star, which uses as its logo an inverted Pentacle. The associated young people’s organizations are DeMolay, Job’s Daughters, and Rainbows.
Since the power networking of Masonic Lodge membership and meetings are for men only, why do you suppose that feminist attorneys such as Gloria Allred have never brought suit against Freemasonry?