Free Masons - What to Make of Them

[Mike]

My pastor has always been outspoken about them. Many here no doubt have seen the accusations of the underpinnings of the organization. Some probably have studied them in great detail. However there are many Christians who are members of the Masons.

Is it an example of those lower in a hierarchy of a group don't know the secrets of the ultimate purpose? Do they not recognize the contradiction to the Christian faith? Did it once have a "cultish" origin, but now become something more of a benign social club? Has it never had the dark side that some have accused it of? What about our forefathers who many of us argue to be evangelical being members of the Masons?

I'm just asking because I recently read "The Lost Symbol", and the fact that Dan Brown, who pulls no punches in reconstructing Christian doctrine seems to be very Mason-friendly and preaches . That right there got me wondering.

What do people here think about them? Are there any members of this board who are also members of the Masons?

 

[handy]

My grandfather was really high up in the Masons. He was always trying to get my dad to join but my dad absolutely wouldn't because of the rituals and the vows they had to take. I was talking with Mom this weekend, and she said that Grandpa quit the Masons when he turned his life to Christ.

Naturally, because of the secretiveness, there aren't a lot who really know what goes on behind closed doors of the Masons, but if one needs to make vows and perform rituals, that should set up huge red flags.

 

[Lewis]

Hmmmmm http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/ha ... yindex.htm

 

[jasoncran]

a mason used to work with me in another department. he was a master mason(3rd degree). the masons are nonexclusive in truth. meaning that muslim,jew, christian,etc as long as they believe in god can be saved and a mason.

 

[ronniechoate34]

Jude:1:2: Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
Jude:1:3: Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Jude:1:4: For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[JudaicChristian]

Jude

1. Jude, a servant of Yahshua the Messiah, and brother of James, and to them that are sanctified by Yahwah the Father, also called and saved by Yahshua the Messiah.
2. May mercy, peace, and devotion, be multiplied to you.
3. Loved, I was eager to write to you about the salvation we share, it was necessary for me to write to you, and encourage you to earnestly contend for the faith that was given to the saints.
4. Because you are unaware that certain men have sneaked in, who are of a ancient order to their condemnation, these ungodly men turn the grace of our God into immorality, and deny that the only God is Yahwah, or that our lord Yahshua is the Messiah.

Jude 1:19
These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

 

[veteran]

According to history of British Masonry by a British Mason (John Robison 1798), all later Masonic lodges on the continent of Europe originally sprang from British Masonry which had only 3 degrees. John Robison was a British Mason that revealed the Bavarian Illuminati order in his era, in a work called 'Proofs Of A Conspiracy'.

He showed how the many later degrees Continental Masonry (separate from Britain) added created the Blue Lodges of Masonry separate from British Masonry. Basically what happened is occultists, alchemists, and those into pagan philosophy crept into the Masonic Lodges in Germany, France, Belgium, etc., countries on the continent of Europe (i.e., Continental Masonry). That included the Illuminati order also seeking to exert its influence upon those lodges with new degrees (like the Scottish Rite) which new degrees they claimed were the REAL degrees of true Masonry from old. The Illuminists sought to gain control over those lodges, and slowly did so over time per Robison's documentation.

Robison said the idea of Masonry started originally with the idea of craftsmen's guilds. Craftsmen joined together socially because of their history as craftsmen. What it created was a type of collective, since members could be from any number of religious faiths and customs and languages. That's eventually how traditions of crafstmanship even going back to the time of Solomon's temple would come into it.

Nothing dangerous about folks wanting to join a social club to share fellowship with others in their skillsets. But when a club grows as huge as to include hundreds of thousands of members from all nations, that provides an organization and structure where the enemies of Christ can creep in and use it for 'their' aims. And if the organization's meetings are behind closed doors, and private to members only, well, one can see how that kind of structure can provide the wicked with a useful tool. That exactly is what Weishaupt's Bavarian Illuminati order in the late 1700's tried to do. And it's why a British Mason like Robison would be so concerned about it, simply because of the wicked elements he revealed that were brought into the Blue Lodges of Continental Masonry.

Masonry now has at least 33 degress that's been made public. So based on what Robison showed, that's 30 degrees that are bogus that have been added by the corruptions the Bavarian Illuminati era started in the 1700's.

Robison revealed how at a certain level, a member is tested for advancement by initiation to spit on a crucifix. If the member refuses, then that marks him as unsuitable by the the higher leaders in the Greater Mysteries section. If he agrees, then he is advanced, being told ideas like religion is a vice, and prevents doing the higher work of the fraternity, for all religions are equal in their own right.

This is why one will often catch high Masons (33rd Degree) espousing the idea that Christianity is only another path to the same God all other religions recognize. This is why their work involves actually creating equality of all nations and religions on earth as if making Heaven on earth now in this world, without Christ Jesus' return or specific recognition. This is why Masons of other nations and religions respond very negatively to true Christians who know and declare Christ Jesus is the ONLY WAY of TRUE SALVATION.

 

[oi_antz]

This is why one will often catch high Masons (33rd Degree) espousing the idea that Christianity is only another path to the same God all other religions recognize.

There is only one God, there are many spirits however which possess part-truth, only God and God's spirit possesses the whole truth. Thus, other religions can introduce you to your life-long spirit friend of the enemy if that's what you really want. I don't know what happens in the end for these people, it's not my decision to make.

What I see as a fundamental flaw in religion like the masons is that they try to learn truth from each other's contributions. This leads me to share recent thoughts I've had around the nature of communication: that all human communication has at least some flaw in portraying an understanding, and therefore every communication is prone to a degree of misunderstanding. Because only God is 100% holy, and Jesus is God in the form of a human, every word which comes from Jesus or The Holy Bible is impossible to misunderstand!

The trap people easily fall into in their search of truth, is to think they can learn truth from anyone else but God! This is where Christians really have genuine faith: that The Holy God will never be argued with nor accused of lying.

 

[veteran]

If you're saying that the majority of Masons are being duped by its system, I agree. I can also see a Mason who comes to Christ in truth and in spirit wanting to leave such fraternities, simply because of the fact membership requires they don't claim Christianity as the only true way.

My guess is that only about 20 percent of Masons ever become a 33rd, most being content to stay in the lower degrees. The lower membership seems more of a social brotherhood while it's really the upper membership that's suspect.

My best advice is for Christians to stay out of such fraternities altogether. And if a fraternity that offers me membership starts right off with claims that it requires me to be a professing Christian and read my Bible, I'm gonna interpret that to mean they know exactly which emotions and ideas to start attacking to try and remold my beliefs.