1 Thessalonians 5:21 “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

1. Session 2 - Freemasons and the Masonic lodge 1 Thessalonians 5:21 “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

2. Statistics and information on freemasonry - Six million masons worldwide - 33,700 lodges and meeting places for masons - Four million masons in America - 15,000 lodges and meeting places in America Most people join the Masonic Lodge for… Business opportunities Self development Social opportunities The mystery of a “secret” society

3. First lodge opened in 1717 in England First lodge in America opened in 1729 What is the public appearance of the Masonic Lodge? Look what CNN says: 1.  When meeting, Masons do not discuss religion or politics. "There are certain subjects which are prevented or we simply proscribe from discussing within the lodge," Piers Vaughan, master of St. John's Lodge #1 in New York, told Mo Rocca. "And religion is one.  Politics is another."

4. 2.  Freemasonry is not a religion. "Freemasonry has the look of a religion," said Jacob. "You think of religion as ritual, there's also this ritual element.  But there are no priests, there are no ministers, there are no rabbis, there's no system of clergy of any sort.  Everybody's their own thinker." 3. Atheists are not welcome. Freemasonry is not a religion per se, but agnostics or atheists cannot belong, said Brent Morris, a Masonic historian, editor of the Scottish Rite Journal, and a 33rd degree Freemason.

5. Famous Masonic symbols… Square and compass Washington monument Unfinished pyramid & The all seeing eye

6. Only men can be free masons Other sects of freemasonry - Order of the Eastern Star – Women - Demolay - Boys - Order of the rainbow – Girls - Job’s daughters – Young ladies

7. The Blue Lodge In order to be a free mason you must go through the blue lodge which is a series of degrees where they reveal things to you step by step Must be invited into the blue lodge to become a mason (Today that has changed a little bit cause of the decrease in membership) Three levels to the blue lodge - Apprentice - Fellowcraft - Master Mason

8. After you complete the blue lodge, you may enter… The 32 degrees of the Scottish rite The 13 degrees of the York rite Once you complete all the degrees in either, you can become a Shriner “Ancient and Arabic order of Nobles of the Mystic shrine”

9. Initiating in the blue lodge Oaths, Secret oaths, passwords, handshakes, etc Initiating into masonry – Candidate is blindfolded, a noose or cable-tow is put around his neck, left trouser leg is rolled up above knee – the point of dagger is placed at your chest, and you are led into the lodge where an alter is set up – they bow before the alter and the Worshipful Master (lodge head) stands behind the alter

10. Blood oaths Degree one – Thumb to throat “Binding myself under no less and penalty, then that of having my throat cut across, my tongue torn out from its roots , and buried in the rough sands of the sea” Second degree (Fellowcraft) “binding myself under no less and penalty, then that of having my left breast torn open, my heart plucked out and given as prey to the wild beasts of the field and the fowl of the air”

11. Third degree “binding myself under no less and penalty, then that of having my body severed in twain, my bowels taken from thence and burned in ashes”

12. Some Biblical problems… The worshipful master… Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” When blindfolded at the alter you are required to say… “I’m lost in darkness and need the light of freemasonry”

13. Bowing before an alter…? 1 John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:” James 5:12 “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”

14. White lambskin apron The ancients had their religious initiation into the worship of the Sun-Gods, “One of the principle ceremonies of which consisted in clothing the initiate with the skin of a white lamb. In this we see the origin of the apron of white sheep skin used in Masonry”(Morals & Dogma pg. 406-407)

15. The purpose of the lambskin apron is the cover the Masonic deity! -The male reproductive organ - Masonry is a fertility cult! What does the “G” Stand for on the square & compass? Some people claim it stands for Geometry… which is wrong. It stands for the “Generating principle of life”

16. Hiram Abith and Solomon's temple The name of God was lost during the building of the temple according to free masons… J.B.O is the true name of God, the meaning of this name is revealed to masons in the 7th degree - Jehovah - Baal - Osiris This is supposed to be the true trinity!

17. When you reach the 17th degree of free masonry masons are told the secret password that will let them into the Masonic deity on the day of Judgment… The password is… Abaddon Revelations 9: 1, 11 “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit… And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.”

18. What do Masons believe about religion and God? “The true Mason is not creed bound. He realizes with the divine illumination of his lodge that as a Mason his Religion must be universal; Christ, Buddha, or Mohammad, the name means little. (Manley P. Hall – Lost keys of Freemasonry, pg. 64-65) The name means little? Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

19. “…He worships at every shrine, bows before every alter, whether in temple, mosque, or cathedral, realizing with his truer understand the Oneness of all spiritual truth. No true Mason can be narrow, for his lodge is the divine expression of all broadness.” (Manley P. Hall – Lost keys of Freemasonry, pg. 64-65) Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

20. Shriners Once you complete all levels of the Scottish or York Rite you can become a Shriner All Shriners are masons, not all masons are Shriners Blood oaths taken to become a shriner… “Having my eyeballs pierces to the center, with a three edge blade, my feet flayed, I will be forced to walk on the hot sands of the red sea”

21. They then take a blood oath to Allah as their God, and Mohammad as their prophet Sword and Crescent Why the red color? Mohammad came to fez in Morocco with the Islamic sword and slaughtered the Christians there, and took their fez hats and dipped them into the blood of the dead Christians

22. Masonry and Universalism “Masonry is the Universal Religion in the heart of Universal Humanity” (pg. 219) “Masonry is a worship. Masonry is the universal religion in the heart of universal humanity… the ministers of this religion are all Masons; its sacrifices to God are good works and perpetual efforts to attain to all the moral perfection of which man is capable.” (pg. 219)

23. Example prayer in the Masonic Lodge to the great architect of the universe Most Holy and Glorious Lord God! The Great Architect of the Universe, the giver of all good gifts and graces….In Thy name we assemble….And we beseech thee, O Lord God, to bless our present assembling, and to illuminate our minds, that we may walk in the light of thy countenance; and when the trials of our probationary state are over, be admitted into THE TEMPLE “not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

24. “Masonry, around whose alters the Christian, the Hebrew, the Moslem, the Hindu Brahmin, the followers of Confucius and Zoroaster, can assemble as brethren and unite in prayer.” (Pg. 226) “Every Masonic Lodge is a Temple of Religion” (pg. 213) Masonry and fertility “The point within a circle is derived from sun worship, and is in reality of phallic origin.” (Symbolism of Freemasonry pg. 353)

25. “The point within a circle is a beautiful illusion to the old sun worship, known among the ancients as a worship of the phallus” (Mackey-Manual of the Lodge pg. 156) The phallus… the male generative organ was represented by a column which was surmounted by a circle at its base, intended for the vagina or female generative organ. The union of the two represented by the point, within a circle was intended by the ancients as the prolific powers of nature and worshipped under the united form of the active (male) and passive (female) principle.” (Mackey-Manuel of the Lodge pg. 56)

26. “The Earth, therefore, the great producer, was always represented as a female, as the Mother… As the procreative and generative agents, the Heavens and the Sun have always been regarded as Male; as the generators that impregnate the Earth and cause it to produce. The Compass, therefore, is a symbol of the Creative Deity, and the Square of the productive Earth or Universe.” (Morals and Dogma pg. 850-8510)

27. “The sun and moon are symbolized in every lodge. The sun and moon represent the two grand principles of all generation, the active and the passive, the male and the female… these two divinities, the active and passive, were commonly symbolized by the generative parts of man and women, the male and female sex organs… the Masonic point within a circle expresses the union of the two great causes of nature.” (Pike – pg. 13, 401)

28. What about the afterlife? Freemasonry offers a way to reach the Celestial Lodge above. Follow along on a brief tour of ritual First, a prayer to the Masonic deity for the candidate of the first degree asks “that, by the influence of the pure principles of our Fraternity, he may be better enabled to display the beauties of holiness, to the honor of Thy Holy Name. Amen.”

29. Second, the Mason who wears the Masonic “white lambskin apron” given to him during the first degree is “reminded of that purity of life and conduct so essentially necessary to his gaining admission into the Celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect of the Universe presides.” Third, all Masons are taught to use the symbolism of a “common gavel” “for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting [their] hearts and consciences of the vices and superfluities of life, thereby fitting [their] minds as living stones for that spiritual building—that house not made with hands— eternal in the heavens.”

30. Fourth, continuing our tour of ritual, the third degree candidate plays the Masonic hero Hiram Abif in a dramatic reenactment, wherein he identifies with Hiram in Hiram’s death, burial, and “raising.”11 Christians should reject such practice and teaching because…

31. first, believers should identify with Christ in His death, burial, and raising from the dead (see 1Cor.15:1–4), and second, Christ is in fact the only Savior (John14:6; Acts4:12). No wonder, then, that the preface of early editions of the Kentucky Monitor teaches of savior figures overcoming evil figures, thereby redeeming their followers: “The Hindus called him Krishna; the Chinese, Kioun-tse; the Persians, Sosiosch; the Chaldeans, Dhouvanai; the Egyptians, Horus;…the Christians, Jesus; Masons, Hiram.” This statement (though now expunged from current editions) is expected, given the Masonic teaching of Hiram.

32. Finally, it is not surprising to read in some monitors the following exhortation given to newly “raised” Master Masons: “Then let us imitate the good man [Hiram] in his virtuous and amiable conduct; in his unfeigned piety to God; in his inflexible fidelity to his trust; that we may welcome the grim tyrant Death, and receive him as a kind messenger sent from our Supreme Grand Master, to translate us from this imperfect to that all-perfect, glorious and celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect of the Universe presides.”

33. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

34. Ephesians 5:6-17: “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

35. …But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

36. Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Memory Verse too!)