Against Freemasonry
"The masonic religion should by all of us initiates of the high degree be maintained in the purity of the luciferian doctrine. Yes, Lucifer is God. Lucifer, God of light and God of good is struggling for humanity against Adonay the god of darkness, and evil. " (Albert Pike, Encyclopedia of Masonry, p. 730).
In this article official Masonic sources recommended by Masonic lodges are used, so Mason's cannot claim that this is Christian propaganda.
MOST MASONS ARE IGNORANT ABOUT MASONRY
The Masonic authority, Rollin C. Blackmer writes: "It is a lamentable fact that the great mass of our membership are...densely ignorant of everything connected with Masonry..." (Blackmer, The Lodge and the Craft, p. 1).
Edmond Ronayne: "[T]hose who know the least about Freemasonry are the Masons themselves." (Ronayne, The Master's Carpet; or Masonry and Baal-Worship--Identical, nd., np. distributed by Missonary Services and Supply, Route 2, Columbiana, OH 44408), p. 242).
George H. Steinmetz: "..."The average Mason is lamentably ignorant of the real meaning of Masonic Symbology and knows as little of its esoteric teaching." (Steinmetz, Freemasonry---Its Hidden Meaning, pp. 2,5).
MASONRY AS SECRET SOCIETY
Encyclopedia Britannica: [Masonry is] "the largest worldwide secret society." ("Freemasonry," Encyclopedia Britannica Micromedia , Vol. 4, p. 302).
DEISTIC TENDENCIES
The ritual of the Scottich rite teaches, "Masonry is of divine origin."(Blanchard, Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated: The Complete Ritual Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Vol. 1, p. 455).
The Iowa Quarterly Bulletin teaches, "Masonry is a divinely appointed institution..." (Iowa Quarterly Bulletin, April 1917, p. 54).
The charge to the candidate for the second degree tells him, "Masonry [is] of a divine and moral nature..."(Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. and A.M., Monitor of the Lodge: Monitorial Instructions in the Three Degrees of Symbolic Masonry (Grand Lodge of Texas, 1982), p. 63).
Henry Coil: "Modern Freemasonry owes much to the thought of the eighteenth century, and this concept of God reflects the prevalent Deism, in which God is the Supreme Being, the Creator who has set the world in motion, laid down His moral laws for men to obey, but does not continue to act personally in the world in mercy or in judgment." (The Baptist Union of Scotland (endorsed by the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland), Baptists and Freemasonry (Baptist Church House, 1987), pp. 4-5).
MASONRY IS RELIGIOUS
Masons often claim that Masonry is not a religion. But in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1972), Professor of Philosophy, William Alston, cites nine characteristics of religion. It is clear from these characteristics, that Masonry is indeed a religion.
1. A belief in supernatural beings (God or gods).
2. A distinction between sacred and profane objects.
3. Ritual acts focused on these sacred objects.
4. A moral code with supernatural sanction.
5. Religious feelings which are aroused by sacred objects or ritual and connected to the idea of a divine being or beings.
6. Prayer.
7. A particular worldview which encompasses the individuals place within the world.
8. The organization of one's life based on such a worldview.
9. A social group that is bound together by the above traits.
Masonic authorities have admitted that Masonry is a religion or religious. In his book, "A Comprehensive View of Freemasonry," Henry Coil writes: "Religion is espoused by the Masonic ritual and required of the candidate." (p. 186).
The Masonic authority, Albert Mackey states in his Revised Encyclopedia of Masonry, "All [Masons] unite in declaring it to be a system of morality, by the practice of which its members may advance their spiritual interest, and mount by the theological ladder from the Lodge on earth to the Lodge in heaven." (Vol. 1, p. 269).
Another respected authority on Masonry writes, "Masonry is the realization of God by the practice of Brotherhood." (Joseph Fort Newton, The Religion of Masonry: An Interpretation, p. 116).
"[Masonry is] that religious and mystical society who's aim is moral perfection on the basis of general equality and fraternity." (ibid).
Henry Coil: "Freemasonry [is]...a primitive religion, and a philosophy of life...incorporating a broad humanitarianism...it is a religion without a creed, being of no sect but finding truth in all...[It] seeks truth but does not define truth..." (Coil, A Comprehensive View of Freemasonry, p. 234).
Henry Coil:"...its religion has changed, and doubtless the concepts of it by its members have changed." (A Comprehensive View of Freemasonry, p. 216).
Masonry has influenced liberal religion such as Unitarian Universalism, as well as Mormonism. (See: Tanner, Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?, pp. 484-492; Fisher, Behind the Lodge Door, , p. 1-15, 187; Rongstad, How to Respond to the Lodge, p. 10.).
Masonry claims to be divinely instituted. (See: Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. and A.M., Monitor of the Lodge, p. 63).
Masonic authorities admit Masonry is a religion:
Albert Mackey: ...the religion of Masonry is cosmopolitan, universal... (Mackey, An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, Vol. 1, p. 301).
Henry Coil: Many Freemasons makes this flight [to heaven] with no other guarantee of a safe landing than their belief in the religion of Freemasonry.(Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 512).
Albert Pike: Masonry...is the universal, eternal, immutable religion...(Pike, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (Charleston, SC: Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, 1927), p. 219).
(Note on Albert Pike: Masons sometimes claim that Pike had little influence on Masonry; but Carl H. Claudy refers to Pike as the "greatest of Masons as he was greatest of mystics." (Claudy, Foreign Countries, p. ix). In addition, The Interfaith Witness Department Study (pro-Mason Baptist "Christians") admitted to Pike's great influence on Masonry. It said that Pike's, "Morals and Dogma was traditionally given to candidates of the 14th degree of the Scottish Rite. The Interfaith Witness Department Study also cited Walter Lee Brown. He said that Pike "intended it [Morals and Dogma ] to be a supplement to that great connected system of moral, religious, and philosophical instruction' that he had developed in his revision of the Scottish ritual." (Study, 57). Albert Pike was also honored by the leading Mason, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite, C. Fred Kleinknecht. He said, "Albert Pike remains today an inspiration for Masons everywhere. His great book, Morals and Dogma, endures as the most complete exposition of Scottish Rite philosophy. He will always bee remembered and revered as the Master Builder of Scottish Rite." (Kleinknecht, The House of the Temple of Supreme Council (Washington DC: The Supreme Council 33rd Degree , 1988), p. 25). In 1993, Dr. S. Brent Morris (33rd degree) refered to Morals and Dogma as "this great work of our Order." (Morris, The Sound and the Fury, Scottish Rite Journal, , February 1993, p. 95).
Joseph Newton: Everything in Masonry has reference to God, implies God, speaks of God, points and leads to God. Not a degree, not a symbol, not an obligation, not a lecture, not a charge but finds its meaning and derives its beauty from God the Great Architect, in whose temple all Masons are workmen. (Newman, The Religion of Masonry: An Interpretation, pp. 58-89).
Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry: "Freemasonry may rightly claim to be called a religious institution...The tendency of all true Freemasonry is toward religion...who can deny that it is eminently a religious institution"? (Vol. 2, p. 847).
Joseph Newton: "Masonry is...a worship, in which men of all religions may unite...it is not the rival of any religion, but the friend of all..." (Newton, The Religion of Masonry, pp. 11-12). Notice the ecumenism?
Many P. Hall writes that because he is "freed of limitation of creed and sect, he stands as a master of all faiths..." (Hall, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, p. 13).
Former Freemason, Edmond Ronayne: "Freemasonry claims to be the only true religion now in the world." (Ronayne, "The Master's Carpet, pp. 111-112).
Albert Mackey: "...It is impossible to derive Freemasonry from Christianity...[Freemasonry's] religion was derived from the ancient priesthood." (Mackey, The Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 327).
Joseph Newton writes that Masonry is "the one eternal religion--The Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the moral law, the golden rule, and the hope of a life everlasting." (Newton, The Builders, pp. 243, 246, 247).
Experts in comparative religion have also said Masonry is a religion. Shildes Johnson holds three doctorates in religion or related fields. He writes: "A comparison of the moral, allegorical, and symbolic teachings of Freemasonry with these definitions of a religion reveals that the lodge is a theistic, non-Christian, man-centered and universal religion." (Johnson, Is Masonry a Religion?, p. 21).
Most conservative Christian denominations have issued official condemnations of Masonry as an antiChristian religion. (See: Ankerberg, Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, p. 223).
MASONRY ON JESUS CHRIST
Jim Shaw was a 33rd degree Mason, a Past Worshipful Master of the Blue Lodge, a Past Master of all Scottish Rite bodies, and a Knight Commander of the Court of Honor. He said that official Masonic doctrine maintains that "Jesus was just a man...not divine and certainly not the only means of redemption of lost mankind." (Shaw and McKenney, The Deadly Deception, pp. 126-127).
The Masonic Maundy Thursday Ritual of the chapter of the Rose Croiz states officially: "We meet this day to commemorate the death [of Jesus], not as inspired or divine, for this is not for us to decide." (ibid, p. 127).
One Mason declared, "Jesus and Krishna are the same." (Cf. The Kentucky Monitor, 1946, p. xv).
In addition to holding a heretical view of Jesus, Masonry is actually anti-Christian. Masons want to "strip from all religions their orthodox tenets, legends, allegories and dogmas." (Clausen, Clausen's Commentaries on Morals and Dogmas, p. 157).
Albert Pike said that Jesus was "a great teacher of morality --but no more." (Morals and Dogma, p. 525).
According to Ronayne, "Freemasonry carefully excludes the Lord Jesus Christ from the Lodge and chapter, repudiates his mediatorship, rejects his atonement, denies and disowns his gospel, frowns upon his religion and his church, ignores the Holy Spirit, and sets up for itself a spiritual empire, a religious theocracy, at the head of which it places the G.A.O.T.U.--the god of nature--and from which one only living and true God is expelled by resolution..." (Ronayne, The Master's Carpet, p. 87).
Dr. R. Swineburne Clymer, a high Mason, says in "The Mysticism of Masonry: "In deifying Jesus, the whole of humanity is bereft of Christos as an eternal potency within every human soul, a latent (embryonic) Christ in every man. In thus deifying one man, they have orphaned the whole of humanity [of its divinity]." (Harris, Freemasonry, p. 102).
MASONRY IS OCCULTIC, ESOTERIC AND PAGAN
Some Masons see Masonry as an ability to see occult power. "a secret order which can have great power if properly developed..." (Bailey, The Spirit of Masonry, p.12).
in "The Great Teachings of Masonry," Haywood writes: "All our historians, at least nearly all of them, agree that Freemasonry owes very much to certain occult societies or groups that flourished--often in secret--during the late middle ages, and even into the after - Reformation times. Chief among these were the Rosicrucians and the Knights Templar." (Haywood, The Great Teachings of Masonry, p. 94).
Virtually all Masonic historians admit that Kabbalism exerted great influence on Masonry. (ibid, p. 95).
Scholar Dr. Shildes Johnson holds three doctorates and lists the Rosicrucians, the Golden Dawn, and the Illuminati as having influenced Masonry. He writes: "Today, the chief religious influence of Masonry may be observed in the Unitarian-Universalist Church, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), and in witchcraft." (Johnson, Is Masonry a Religion? pp. 12-13).
"...The average Mason is lamentably ignorant of the real meaning of Masonic Symbology and knows as little of its esoteric teaching." (Steinmetz, Freemasonry--Its Hidden Meaning, pp. 2:5).
Masonry accepts a form of pantheism called panentheism. "In its doctrines concerning the divine imminence Freemasonry is decidedly pantheistic..." (Wagner, Freemasonry, p. 286).
"Behind all Masonic symbolism there is an undisclosed occult interpretation of which most Freemasons are ignorant." (Storms, Should a Christian Be a Mason? p. 43).
"From the nineteenth to the Twenty-eighth [degree] the work is most deeply occult..." (Heline, Mystic Masonry and the Bible, p. 91).
An official inquiry into Masonry declared: "The whole complex of ideas inherent in Masonry bears close similarities to occultism." (The Baptist Union of Scotland, Baptists and Freemasonry, p. 7).
Clausen's commentary on the 28th degree of the Scottish Rite: "This is a Kabalistic and Hermetic degree of the greatest antiquity..." (Clausen's Comemntaries on Morals and Dogma, pp. 172, 174).
Albert Pike said, "the Kabalah is the key of the occult sciences." (Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 626).
Pike also encouraged Masons to familiarize themselves with Kabalistic doctrine. (ibid, p. 754).
Albert Pike: "All the Masonic associations owe to it [Kabalism] their Secrets and their Symbols." (ibid, p. 744).
A review of Crow's book "Witchcraft, Magic and Occultism in the March 1975 issue of "Masonic Square admitted the connection between English Masons and Rosicucianism. (Masonic Square for 1975 and 1976 (bound volume), (Vol.1--March 1975--December 1975), p. 29).
Manly P. Hall said that the Eighteenth degree (commonly known as the Rose-Croix) perpetrates many of the symbols of the Rosicrucian Fire Alchemist. (Hall, An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic Hermetic Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy (Las Angels:Philosophical Research Society , 1977), p. 139).
Albert Mackey writes: "In all of the old manuscript records which contain the legend of the Craft, mention is made of Hermes as one of the founders of Freemasonry." (Mackey, Mackey's, Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Vol. I, p. 449).
The Masonic authorities, H.L. Haywood and A.E. Waite both agree that "There is a class of religious practices (or experiences) called mysticism; Freemasonry is a religious mysticism...." (Haywood, The Newly Made Mason, p. 211).
Mystical Masons desire altered states. (See: Clausen, Clausen's Commentaries on Morals and Dogma, p. 210).
The second degree of Masonry, Fellow-craft involves "the use of the psychic and higher intellectual nature." (Wilmshurst, The Meaning of Masonry, p. 1112, cf. pp. 74-75, 174-185).
Djwhal Khul was one of the spirit guides of the theosophist, Alice Bailey. Djwhal said this about Masonry: "The Masonic movement...is the home of the Mysteries and the seat of initiation...It is a far more occult organization than can be realized, and is intended to be the training school for the coming of advanced occultists." (Djwhal Khul, The Restoration of the Mysteries, The Beacon (May 1963) in Corinne Heline, Mystic Masonry and the Bible (La Canada, CA: New Age, 1975), pp. xiv-xvi; cf. p. xvi).
The Mason Lynn F. Perkins integrated the occult and New Age philosophy, and claims his ideas were inspired by the spirits. He wrote, "Masonry in the New Age." (See pages 18-19).
Harold Percival was a mystic and spiritist. He is the author of "Thinking and Destiny." He later published a separate book called "Masonry and Its Symbols in the Light of "Thinking and Destiny." (The material on Masonry was originally part of the manuscript for "Thinking and Destiny." The manuscript on Masonry was part of the spirit's inspiration through Percival. He claimed that it was later published separately with the approval of Masons. Percival wrote that "Intelligence's in the earth's sphere [spirits] are behind Masonry, though the lodges are not aware of this in the present age." (Percival, Masonry and Its Symbols, pp. 1,2).
Manly P. Hall taught that the spirit world operates invisibly and imperceptibly behind the man who becomes a Mason and recognizes it's true meaning. (Hall, "The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, pp. 11-13).
Masonry has pronounced that Mithra (an evil and finite god) is omnipotent and beneficent, and that "Tao" (an impersonal concept) is a "loving creator." (Clausen, Beyond the Ordinary: Toward a Better, Wiser and Happier World (Washington, DC: The Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottosh Rite of Freemasonry, 1983), p. 253).
Numerous books have been written about the mystical side of Masonry, such as "Masonic Symbolism and the Mystic Way, by Ward; and "Mystic Masonry," by Buck.
"The Masonic view of the revelation of God, in the lower degrees, is deistic, but in the higher degrees it becomes pantheistic..." (Wagner, Freemasonry, pp. 309-310).
In the Royal Arch Degree of the York Rite, the secret Masonic deity is called "Jabulon." (Knight, The Brotherhood, p. 243; Acker, Strange Altars, p. 32). The name is probably a composite of Jehovah (Ja) the Canaanite god Baal (Bul) and the Egyptian god Osiris. (See Wagner, Freemasonry, pp. 338-399;). See also, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia p. 516, to lean more about this pagan deity.
The Lord Jesus used the name of Baal for Satan. Beelzeboul is the New Testament form of Baalzebub. (Barton, "Baalzebub and Beelzaboul" in No. 114, p. 298; cf. Luke 11:15-19; Matthew 10:25-27).
Sovereign Grand Commander Clausen said that each of the 32rd degrees of the Scottish Rite teaches "to reach the spiritual and divine within himself." "man is...an eternal soul advancing ever nearer to perfection." (Clausen, Clausen's Commentaries on Morals and Dogma, p. 156).
MASONRY IS SYNCRETISTIC AND ECUMENIST
In "The Lost Keys of Freemasonry," Manly P. Hall notes that "The true disciple of Masonry has given up forever the worship of personalities...As a Mason his religion must be universal: Christ, Buddha or Muhammed, 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..." (pp. 64-65).
"Masonry is not a religion but Religion--not a church but a worship, in which men of all religions may unite...It is not the rival of any religion, but the friend of all, laying emphasis upon those truths which underlie all religions and are the basis and consecration of each." (Newton, The Religion of Masonry, pp. 11-12).
Masonic authorities admit that Masonry brings men of all creeds together, and that under all creeds there is one universal religion. (See: Newton, The Builders, p. 258; Hall, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, pp. 64-65).
Joseph Fort Newton is probably the most popular masonic writer of all time. He said that Masonry did "finally emancipate itself from any sectarian and dogmatic interpretation of Christianity." (Little Masonic Library, Vol. II, p. 92).
The Masonic scholar, Oliver D. Street writes that Masonry "unites men of every country, sect and opinion." (Little Masonic Library, Vol. I, pp. 115-117 and 134).
MASONRY IS NOT CHRISTIAN
Almost all authorities, whether Masonic, secular, or Christian, agree that Masonry is not Christian. (see: Rongstad, How to Respond to the Lodge, p. 24; Committee on Secret Societies, Christ or the Lodge? pp. 22:25; Wagner, Freemasonry, pp. 24, 282; Acker, Strange Altars, pp. 58-61; Harris, Freemasonry, p. 143; "Freemasonry" Encyclopedia Britannica Micromedia , Vol. 4, p. 302; E.M. Storms, Should a Christian Be a Mason? (Route 1, Lytle Road, Fletcher, NC, New Puritan Library, 1980), pp. 4, 78-79; John R. Rice, Lodges Examined by the Bible (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1946), p. 47; J. J. Rogers, The Word of God vs Masonry (Van Alystyne, TX: B&R Publishers , nd), pp. 1-2; Alva J. McClain, Freemasonry and Christianity, p. 32; The Working group established by the Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Church of England, Freemasonry and Christianity: Are they Compatible?; The Baptist Union of Scotland, Baptists and Freemasonry,; Report of the Faith and Order Committee of the British Methodist Church, Freemasonry and Methodism, 1985, (presented to the General Assembly of the British Methodist Church and adopted by them Wednesday, July 3, 1985).
The standard work on Masonic history admits in the Constitution of 1723, "Christianity was discarded." (Coil, Freemasonry Through Six Centuries, Vol. 1, 9. 174).
THE GOAL OF MASONRY
The most widely read and influential book on Masonry, "The Builders," by Joseph Newton, says what Masonry "is trying to do in the world." One of the objectives is that Masonry seeks to free men from a limiting conception of religion, and thus to remove one of the chief causes of sectarianism. (Newton, The Builders, p. 243).
Masonry teaches that "each member is a living stone in this Holy House"--the Masonic Temple. (See: The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction USA, Ceremonies of Installation and Dedication (1995, rev.), p. 119).
Masonry refers to itself as a "Holy Empire" with a mission to "dispel darkness." (ibid., p. 123).
Masons see Masonry as a "world mission in aid of all men everywhere in the world, and that this mission is spiritual." (Bailey, The Spirit of Masonry, p. 125).
SYMBOLS AND RITUAL
Albert Mackey writes: "Freemasonry is... a system of doctrines which [are] taught...by allegories and symbols." (Mackey, The Symbolism of Freemasonry: Illustrating and Explaining Its Science and Philosophy, Its Legends, Myths, and Symbols, p. 10).
For Masonry, the Bible, like the Scriptures of other religions (the Upanishads, Koran, etc) is only just a symbol. (Mackey, Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Vol. 1, p. 133).
Albert Pike: "The Hebrew books [the Bible] were written in Symbols unintelligible to the Profane [non-Masons]." (Morals and Dogma, pp. 744-745).
All Masonic authorities "Establish three things: 1) that the Bible is only a symbol, 2) that a Mason is not required to believe its teachings and 3) that some other book may be substituted for it." (Little Masonic Lodge, Vol. 1, p. 132).
Recommended Books
The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, by Ankerberg and Wheldon;
Bowing at strange altars: The Masonic Lodge and the Christian conscience, by Ankerberg;
Christianity and the Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, by Ankerberg and Weldon. (written specifically to "Christian" Masons.