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Post by marcopolo on Jun 4, 2008 4:56:13 GMT
I’ve recently become a Master Mason, a fact of which I’m very proud. It is a Fraternity with a long and storied tradition. However, I’ve found that as an Evangelical Christian, I’ve found the amount of misinformation and outright foolishness passed on about Freemasonry by people who “heard” or “knew somebody who heard” is disturbing. As I began to look into becoming a Mason, I spent several months researching the negative things I had heard. In the context of not bearing false witness, I’d like to address the following.
1. The Masons are secretly a satanic cult.
OK, let’s assume for a minute that someone actually believes this. It is quickly disproved, and the person bringing up this point quickly moves to my second point. (See Number 2; Only “High Level” Masons know the real secrets.)
I will go into the entire history of where this myth came from later. However, I’ll do a quick “sanity check” to show why this is highly, highly unlikely. The following people were all Masons. If you honestly believe they were secretly worshipping Satan, you’ve spent too much time listening to late night AM radio.
Famous Masons include a huge range of famous personalities, from the very accomplished (Sir Winston Churchill, The scientist who discovered Penicillin, etc.) to the Less serious (Mel Blanc, voice of all our favorite cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny , Elmer Fudd, Barney Rubble of the Flintstones, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the cat or others and half of the comedy teams of Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello), And from all ends of the spectrum (From one-time segregationist George Wallace to Jesse Jackson.)
• 14 U.S. Presidents (Including George Washington) • 12 U.S. Vice Presidents • 9 Signers of the Declaration of Independence (Including John Hancock) • 13 Signers of the Constitution • 31 Supreme Court Justices (Including Thurgood Marshall) • The founders of the following corporations: Bell Aircraft, Chrysler, Colt, Dow, Ford, Texaco, Gillette, Hoover, K-Mart, Macy’s, Massey-Ferguson, IBM, Maytag, State Farm, Oldsmobile, Penney’s, Wendy’s and KFC (Yes, good ole Dave and Colonel Sanders were both Masons).
• The founders of the following civic organizations were Masons: The Little League, Pop Warner Football, The Boy Scouts of America, The Mayo Clinic, The Red Cross, the NAACP, the inventor of the sport of basketball, and all 7 Ringling Brothers.
• Other good-doers include: The father-son team who sculpted Mt. Rushmore, The sculptor of the State of Liberty, The author of the Pledge of Allegiance, The founders of Baylor and Stanford Universities, and the man who discovered penicillin.
• From Texas History: Colonel William Travis, Stephen F. Austin, James Bowie, David Crockett, and Sam Houston.
• Foreign dignitaries: Several Canadian Prime Ministers, Australian Prime Ministers, at least 3 Kings of England, as well as Frederick the Great (King of Prussia).
• Miscellaneous Masons: Daniel Boone, Mark Twain, Lewis and Clark, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, J. Edgar Hoover, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and Mozart.
And Finally, John Wayne. If you can, with a straight face tell me you think that not only George Washington, but John Wayne.. THE DUKE was somehow secretly worshipping the devil, seek help immediately.
How can I be sure that it isn’t really true?
First, how about a quick quote from a man who is former President of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) (not exactly an organization known for its frivolity or secret satanic worship), as well as the President, Chancellor, and President-Emeritus of Baylor University.
“In thousands of meetings of Freemasons and of Baptists stretching back 60 years, I have seen nothing that made my belief and work in the Fraternity of Freemasons incompatible with my belief and work as a member of a Southern Baptist church."
First, in order to become a Mason, one must profess a belief in a Supreme Being. While someone might want to argue that Satan could be considered "Supreme", the fact of the matter is that the entire process of application would discourage someone with behavior which is so deviant from societal norms.
But let's examine this further: would a person who might enjoy blaspheming God want to join a group which has an open Bible on the Altar in the center of the Lodge room? Would a person who would find pleasure in debasing Deity feel comfortable around a group of men, nearly all of whom were active in the practice of their faith and many of whom were leaders in their Church, Synagogue, or Mosque? Of course not.
But what about the bizarre claim that all Freemasons are actually Satanists or worshipping Satan?
All one needs is a little common sense to debunk that foolishness. Don't you think that if such a thing WERE going on that there would be FAR more men leaving the organization - and speaking loudly about it? Do you really imagine that millions of men are so schizophrenic that they could worship with their families in their church, synagogue or mosque and then attend a lodge meeting to revile God just a few days later?
And let's be honest: there are those who HAVE left Freemasonry over the past 300 years, claiming that it conflicted with their religious beliefs somehow. Not a single one, though, can point to ANY degree or ANY activity within the Masonic family that has Satan, Beelzebub, or ANY kind of devil or devil worship in ANY degree or ceremony. Certainly those who'd left claiming some type of religious objection would be CROWING about such a thing if there had been, don't you think?
The bottom line: Freemasonry has nothing whatsoever to do with Satanism.
OK, so why do some people, especially many preachers, say that Masons are secretly a Satanic Cult?
OK, this next section is extremely long. If you really want a history of where this came from, here it is.
The short version is that there are two quotes, one misquoted and the other a complete hoax.
The first was due to an unfortunate/archaic choice of words by a man named Albert Pike. He used the term “luciferian” in the true, academic sense. It was taken out of context and has been used accordingly ever since. (This reminds me a lot of the Washington D.C. staffer who was fired after using the word “niggardly”. While it sounds racist, it has an entire different and innocent meaning. It didn’t matter, people jumped on it ignorantly and the man lost his job.)
The latter (hoax) was a Frenchman named Leo Taxil who wrote that he infiltrated the Masonic organization and learned that they secretly worshipped a bearded goat-god name Baphomet. He later admitted it was a hoax, and it has even been listed in U.S. News and World Report at one of the 10 greatest hoaxes of the 20th Century. It didn’t matter, the damage had been done. This SAME author is quoted in nearly every anti-masonic book ever written, including a famous Chick Tract many of us have read entitled “The Curse of Baphomet”
Now, the long version:
It was a practical joke which has gone on to have a 'life of its own': Gabriel Jogand-Pagès, better known as Léo Taxil, was born in France in 1854 and educated by the Jesuits who caused him to be embittered toward religion. Taxil became a 'free-thinker' and actually joined Masonry but was expelled as a result of wrong-doing. Further angered, he chose revenge in a literary manner and decided - perhaps in an effort to redeem himself with Masonry by making the Roman Catholic Church look foolish - to ridicule their credulity about Freemasonry by creating an elaborate story in which the leader of the Southern U.S. Scottish Rite, Albert Pike, was the brunt of the fabrication.
This hoax supposedly 'revealed' a highly secret Masonic order called the Palladium - which existed in Taxil's imagination only. Taxil claimed that the Palladium practiced murder, devil worship, and more. In his book, Taxil utilized Levi's "Baphomet" and to this day, anti-Masons often make the charge that Masons "worship" a God called "Baphomet" - or Satan.
When someone makes this charge, it's often quite easy to find the source of their "Luciferian Conspiracy". It begins, "On July 14, 1889, Albert Pike, Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry, addressed to the 23 Supreme Confederated Councils of the world the following instructions...." and thus begins this infamous hoax. In 1897, Taxil publicly confessed to the hoax, just as he was being acclaimed all over Europe for his 'religious zeal'.
The Infamous Taxil Hoax "quote" supposedly from Albert Pike
"That which we must say to a crowd is - We worship a God, but it is the God that one adores without superstition. To you, Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, we stay this, that you may repeat it to the Brethren of the 32nd, 31st, and 30th degrees - The Masonic Religion should be by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian Doctrine. If Lucifer were not God, would Adonay whose deeds prove his cruelty, perdify and hatred of man, barbarism and repulsion for science, would Adonay and his priests, calumniate him? Yes, Lucifer is God, and unfortunately Adonay is also god. for the eternal law is that there is no light without shade, no beauty without ugliness, no white without black, for the absolute can only exist as two gods; darkness being necessary to the statue, and the brake to the locomotive. Thus, the doctrine of Satanism is a heresy; and the true and pure philosophical religion is the belief in Lucifer, the equal of Adonay; but Lucifer, God of Light and God of Good, is struggling for humanity against Adonay, the God of Darkness and Evil."
The Infamous Taxil Hoax "quote" supposedly from Albert Pike Taken from "La Femme et l'Enfant dans la Franc Maconnerie Universelle" by A. C. DeLa Rive published in 1894
When Taxil admitted his hoax in 1897, De La Rive wrote: "With frightening cynicism the miserable person we shall not name here [Taxil] declared before an assembly especially convened for him that for twelve years he had prepared and carried out to the end the most sacrilegious of hoaxes. We have always been careful to publish special articles concerning Palladism and Diana Vaughn. We are now giving in this issue a complete list of these articles, which can now be considered as not having existed."
Note: If you see this quoted in an anti-masonic document, you can quit reading. It’s a well known and disproved hoax. A quick reason that this quote is completely bogus? The 31st and 32nd degrees being seen as “high level” degrees. A Mason, literally, receives the 32nd degree as soon as he joins the Scottish Rite, possibly very same day. It’s not a sequential system which requires him to pass or learn 31 previous degrees. So to think this is some great secret, high degree is completely inaccurate.
For over 100 years writers of anti-Masonic books and web sites have repeated all or parts of that "quotation" without checking into its authenticity (or, knowing it to be false, repeat it regardless in their zeal to defame Freemasonry). To this day, it shadows the name of Pike who, according to biographer Jim Tresner and others, was a sincere and devoted Trinitarian Christian until his death.
Current anti-Masonic writers like Jack Chick and Bill Schnoebelen have taken the false quote and do well, apparently, selling books based on that lie.
The grotesque idea of the devil (or Satan or Lucifer or any force of evil) presiding over a Lodge of Masons is totally repulsive to any Mason but that notwithstanding, the charges remain despite the passage of a century! Taxil apparently simply made up the hoax out of thin air and was praised by the religious authorities and showered with honors for having revealed the "true evil purposes of Masonry". These events happened long ago and they're documented in detail on other internet locations. As Jim Tresner, Director of the Masonic Leadership Institute and Editor of The Oklahoma Mason writes: "I wish it were true that Taxil had murdered the hoax of Masonic devil worship which he created, but that corpse revives with frequency. From anti-Masonic comic books (e.g. The Curse of Baphomet by Chick Publications or The New World Order by Pat Robertson) to the thunderous animadversions of some misguided television "ministers," Taxil lives on. He fooled the ignorant in the late 1800’s—he fools the ignorant today."
In the August 26 - September 2, 2002 issue of U. S. News & World Report with half of the issue devoted to the foolishness of lies which seem to have deceived SO many. Devoting half of the issue to exploring hoaxes from the present to deep into the past, they selected ten of history's 'greatest' hoaxes and prioritized them as follows: #1 - The D is for Deception - The story of how the Allies managed to deceive the Axis powers keeping the D-Day attack a secret and saving untold likes; #2 - Hooked on a crooked book - An Antisemitic fraud born a century ago wins new converts explains how the Protocols of the Elders of Zion continues to be defame today. While USNWR's article deals with the Jewish issue, it should be remembered that Freemasonry plays a central part in this fraud as well. And as #3 is Devil in a red fez - The lie about the Freemasons lives on which explains the infamous Taxil hoax.
Amazing that the #2 and #3 items mentioned by US News & World Report - outstripping Crop Circles and Captain Kidd's treasure are hoaxes involving Freemasonry that simply won't die.
USNWR in this article also mention a number of others whom we've featured on this site including (in a 'Rodney Dangerfield sort of way) Duane Washum, Jack Chick and Pat Robertson. In the past, we've had folks ask "How can you be sure it was a hoax?" Well, because everyone KNOWS it is, the hoaxer admitted it was, and the facts prove it. Pretty simple really....
2. Only High Level Masons actually know the real secrets:
This usually comes up after you have disproved number 1. To answer number 2, I find it odd that the people who bring this up never know what that level is. Or what “high level” actually means.
Or what about the variation on that theme: that it's the 32nd Degree (Scottish Rite) Masons who practice Satanism? Or maybe it's some other (undefined) 'high ranking Masons', then. Again, your 'manure detector' should be going off at this point.
Men who spend year after year, decade after decade believing that Freemasonry is morally upright suddenly find they are expected to change their entire belief set to worship Satan just because they've been given some honor or made part of a special group? How silly is that? And, moreso, just how many do you think wouldn't scream to the rooftops about such stupidity?
Here’s a brief background on why this is simply not the case, as well as where this myth came from.
The Masonic Fraternity is divided up into several groups. ALL Masons have come through what is called the “blue lodge” if you see a Masonic Lodge as you drive home, it’s most likely a “blue lodge”.
There are only 3 degrees in Freemasonry; Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason. I cannot stress enough that the highest degree you can receive in Freemasonry is the degree of Master Mason.
After becoming a Master Mason there are several appendant bodies you may join. The most well known being; The Scottish Rite (which has 33 degrees, more on that in a moment), the York Rite, and The Shriners (Yes, the guys from the parades and hospitals). Where many people will be confused by “high degree Masons” is to hear that someone is a “32nd Degree Mason!” This is inaccurate. This means they have received the 32nd degree in the Scottish Rite. To give you an idea of how illustrious and secretive this degree is, it is open to all Master Masons and can be received the very day you become a member of the Scottish Rite. Unlike the blue lodge where you work through each of degrees, often for several months at a time, the Scottish Rite awards you with the 32nd Degree on day 1, you do NOT work through 31 other degree sequentially.
Also, contrary to myth, there is no single governing body for Freemasonry. Each state has a Grand Lodge for blue lodges. Each appendant body has their own (for example, Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite in the U.S.) so, there is no single “leader” of any of these bodies. Kind of like saying there is a single “Christian” leader for the United States, and that secrets go on at the “top level”. How difficult would it be to keep some sort of secret with a mythical secretive board of the Baptist, Methodist, and Assembly of God leadership? Ludicrous. You will often hear, when he is mis-quoted, Albert Pike listed as Grand Commander, Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry. Ridiculous. There is no such office. Not only is there no single leader of “universal freemasonry”, Pike wasn’t even the head of the U.S. Scottish rite, much less “universal freemasonry”.
Well, I heard that a Masonic Leader admitted in their “Bible” that they actually do worship Satan!
Coupled with the Taxil Hoax above, another quote from Albert Pike is used. It is a long, detailed explanation, but here it goes.
(I did not write this portion, so I will omit it. It is simply an explanation of the misunderstanding of the infamous Albert Pike quote; What he said, what it actually means, and also who Pike actually was as opposed to titles he has been listed as having.
OK, so the Masons don’t secretly worship Satan. Why is it so secret?
We Masons joke that if we are a secret organization, we’ve got to be the worst one in the world. You can find us in any phone book, our lodges are clearly marked, and most members wear a ring or other clothing which proudly identify them as such.
Almost all our "secrets" deal with ways of recognizing each other. We have pledged to help each other in times of need, these “secrets” allow us to identify another brother. This is no different than any other fraternity. As an example, I know of many instances in my church where people have claimed to be members in distress and after receiving assistance have turned out to be frauds. Even more disturbing, I hear of Christians who do not want to help those in distress since the cannot “verify” them.
In the case of Masonry, we have vowed to help another Mason in distress, and as a Mason I will be able to verify that the person in need is indeed a brother. This allows me to gladly and completely provide for their aid. Even with this, many of our “secrets” have been out in the open for years. It wouldn’t take much of a Google search to find them. The real “secret” of masonry is the coming together of men from all walks of life, as brothers, and the shared service together.
But as far as Freemasonry, what it does, what it teaches, how it's organized, where it came from, what goes on in a Lodge meeting - that's open for discussion.
There are two types of meeting agenda. The first is like the business meeting of any other organization. It takes us just a bit longer to call the meeting to order, because we use a longer opening ceremony or ritual than most civic clubs do. But, it reminds us of some of the most important lessons in Masonry.
Then, when the lodge is "open", we hear the reading of the minutes, vote to pay bills, take care of old and new business, and plan projects, just like everyone else.
The other type of meeting is one in which new members are received. This is done with a beautiful ritual, centuries old, which is designed to teach some important lessons. The Ceremonies of Masonic Initiation are meaningful and historic. Nothing humorous or embarrassing is permitted. In fact, it is a very serious Masonic offense to allow anything to happen during an initiation which is undignified or "funny".
What about those "Secret Vows" I hear so much about?
The exact words of the vows are secret. That's one of the ways we recognize each other. The contents of the vows are not. In less formal language than we use in the Ritual, a Mason promises: "to treat women with deference and respect, to help a Brother when he asks for and needs help, to remember that people are entitled to dignity and respect and not to treat them as if they were things, to follow the directions of the Grand Lodge in things Masonic, and if he disagrees, to use the proper channels to express that disagreement and seek resolution, to respect the traditions of the Fraternity, and to keep secret the few things that are secret".
I've heard that Masonry is a religion. Is it? Can a man be a Mason and a Christian at the same time?
Masonry is NOT a religion. The best example I can think of is that Masonry is to religion what the PTA is to education. It is stressed and encouraged, but nobody will ever tell you “what” course of study to take. This allows brothers from all walks of life and religion to meet together without religious conflict. We do not permit the debate of religion or politics in the lodge. We would certainly have a difficult time retaining harmony if we did!
Masonry acknowledges the existence of God. No atheist can become a Mason. Prayer is an important part of the Masonic ritual. Masonic vows are taken in the name of God, but Masonry never tries to tell a person how he should think about God, or how he should worship God, or why he should believe. We offer no plan of salvation. We teach that man should live a good life, not because that alone will earn him entrance into heaven, but because anything else is destructive, both to himself and to those around him. It is good to be good.
As to whether a man can be a Mason and a Christian, the best answer is that most of us are. There are many Free Masons who belong to other faiths, including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, but the majority in America is Christian. And we number many, many ministers of many different denominations. From my personal experience, we have numerous church deacons, board members, and those serving in ministerial staff (volunteer) in our lodge.
OK, so you have meetings and perform ceremonies for new members. What do you actually DO?
Charity is the most visible Masonic activity. Each year Masons give many millions of dollars to charity. Some are large projects, some are small. Among the hundreds of local projects, we sponsor large programs such as Children in Crisis, and Blindness Prevention programs, testing thousands of school children and senior citizens for vision problems. We have strong commitments to public education. Many Lodges have programs in which they recognize outstanding students. We have essay contests, awards for outstanding teachers and even programs to help teachers get supplies. The Fraternity gives hundreds of college scholarships to students each year. Nationally, throughout the United States, the Masons give more than $2,00.000.00 (that is two million dollars) EVERY DAY to charitable causes, most of which are not Masonic. A fact never publicized and thus hardly known.
All those things are external, and they are important. But the real things the Masons do are far more difficult to describe. In essence, we try to build ourselves into better men, better fathers, better husbands and better citizens. We strive for self development and self improvement. We try to learn more about what it means to be human and what it takes to become better men.
What about the rituals? That sounds kind of Satanic to me.
There is a ritual associated with each of the three degrees in the Lodge. To put this in perspective, many men in ancient lodges were illiterate or lacked any formal education. Many were laborers. The fact that men from all walks of life could meet together as equals seems obvious now, but was quite scandalous in many countries. The “rituals” which are much like small “skits” are used to teach important lessons at each degree. I can personally assure you that they are very basic lessons on “how to be a better man”, and would be absolutely acceptable moral lessons to any Christian.
Aha! So, Masons aren’t a Christian Organization!
No, they are not. They aren’t a religious organization at all. Nearly every single member of the lodge I attend happens to be a Christian, but that is not the purpose of the lodge. The lessons taught are not taught in Christ’s name. This bothers some Christians. However, I’ve watched some great movies over the years and made sure my daughters saw them as well: Remember the Titans, Miracle, Hoosiers, Radio, etc. None of these preached the gospel of Christ, nor do most of the Fairy Tales we teach our kids. The same goes at the Lodge. I do not find these lessons to be in ANY way contradictory to the message of Christ.
How could becoming a Mason hurt my walk with Christ?
I’ll be very frank here. They only way I could personally see any conflict is if I were to wear a Masonic ring to church and someone were to then believe I somehow worshipped the devil (here we go again). That would be the only conflict I can realistically see. Otherwise, I think Masonry falls into any other organizations or activity you might participate in. Some of the same faults people seem to find with the lodge (it doesn’t preach Christ, it draws you away from time at church) don’t seen to apply to bowling, or the American Legion, or fishing, or golf. In theory, you could invest so much time into your activities at the lodge that you would neglect your walk with Christ. I will say, however, that instruction at the lodge is very clear that you are to attend to God and Family FIRST, then your job, and only then to the Lodge. I’ve never been given those same instructions from a sports league.
What about ties to the Templars and Gold (Like in The DaVinci Code or National Treasure):
You can tell very quickly that you are dealing with a conspiracy theorist here. It can turn into “one world order” and “Zionist conspiracies” in a hurry. I’ll just say this. Any organization which routinely has to hold fish fry’s and BBQ’s to keep the Lodge’s light bill paid probably don’t have any stash of secret templar gold. If you are on a website that is posting this type of nonsense, I’ll be that they are also posting 9/11 “truther” info, Zionist conspiracies, etc. and will be glad to sell you books on the subject!
This concludes my post. I think you can see why I am so proud of having become a Master Mason. It links me to a history of men dedicated to making themselves better men, husbands and fathers. Vowing to each other to be held to the highest standard of conduct. To truly strive to be "upright men". The selfless acts I have seen displayed in my lodge have moved me to tears. To anyone who still holds any fear as to the ability of a Christian to be a Mason, I can only say this; I stand before God completely without any conviction whatsoever. My salvation comes from Christ alone. The works I have performed for the poor, the widows and the orphans in my lodge will be blessed upon my entrance to heaven.
I remain your brother in Christ and a MASTER MASON,
Marc
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