Buzzardhut
July 18th, 2007, 11:13 PM
I'm not going to pay money for that. I those are convincing in any way I ask you to simply post a genral overview of the contents for us to read.
A member of my family is a freemason, so if your going to attack them, back it up.
The main reason people hate the freemasons is because they are secret, and people naturally fear the unknown.
Freemasonry (http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/masons.htm)
It is religious in that a belief in a Supreme Being and in the immortality of the soul are the two prime requirements for membership, but it is nonsectarian in that no religious test is used.1 The purpose of Freemasonry is to enable men to meet in harmony, to promote friendship, and to be charitable. Its basic ideals are that all persons are the children of one God, that all persons are related to each other, and that the best way to worship God is to be of service to people.
Masonry was originally a means by which people in the occult could practice their "craft" and still remain respectable citizens. The official publication of "The Supreme Council 33" of Scottish Rite Freemasonry is titled New Age. Some church denominations are also led by avowed Masons. For example, a 1991 survey by the Southern Baptist Convention Sunday School Board found that 14% of SBC pastors and 18% of SBC deacon board chairs were Masons; it is also estimated that SBC members comprise 37% of total U.S. lodge membership. (A 2000 updated SBC report found that over 1,000 SBC pastors are Masons.)
Many other secret societies seem to be patterned after the Masons. L. James Rongstad says that Freemasonry "is the 'Granddaddy' of all lodges. Its teachings, rituals, customs and practices, and its secrecy have had an inspirational effect on other similar groups such as the Moose, Eagles, Elks, and the National Grange." Mormon Temple rites are also strikingly similar to Masonic Lodge practices (probably because Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, was also a Mason). Most of the rituals of today's college fraternities are also based more or less directly upon Masonic rituals.
The symbols on the back of the U.S. dollar bill (pyramid, all-seeing eye, the number of feathers on the eagle's spread wings, the stars above the eagle's head in the shape of the Star of David, and the mottos e pluribus unum [out of many one] and novus ordo seclorum [a new order of the ages]) also appear to emanate from Freemasonry; this would not be surprising considering many of America's so-called founding fathers were themselves Masons -- George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Ethan Allen, John Hancock, John Paul Jones, Paul Revere, Robert Livingston, and 35 other lesser known men who were signers of the Declaration of Independence and/or the Constitution. (It should be noted that there were also a number of the founding fathers who condemned masonry: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, James Madison, Millard Fillmore, Daniel Webster, and Charles Sumner.) Other notable men in history who have been Freemasons include Mozart, Henry Ford, Rudyard Kipling, Gerald Ford, Norman Vincent Peale, Douglas MacArthur, and Will Rogers.
Since Masons are involved in so many worthy causes, many are unaware that Masonic leaders readily admit that Freemasonry is actually a religion, not merely a "fraternal, social, civic service organization." Joseph Fort Newton (1880-1950), an Episcopal minister and recognized authority in the Masonic world, said, "Masonry is not a religion but Religion -- not a church but a worship in which men of all religions may unite." In fact, Freemasonry even sees itself as superseding and unifying all religions. (At various times and places, Freemasonry has met religious and political opposition. Religious opponents, especially the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, have traditionally claimed that Freemasonry is a religion and is a secret organization.)
1. Source of Authority. Masons refer to the Bible as the "Volume of the Sacred Law" (V.S.L.), and it is considered an indispensable part of what is called "the furniture" in a Masonic Lodge. But the Bible is used only in a so-called "Christian" lodge -- the Hebrew Pentateuch is used in a Hebrew lodge, the Koran in a Mohammedan lodge, the Vedas in a Brahmin lodge, etc. Jim Shaw, a former 33rd degree Mason, says that Masonry is not based on the Bible (referred to as "The Great Light"), but on the Kabala (Cabala), a medieval book of mysticism and magic. Masonic authority Henry Wilson Coil also admits that the Kabala's teachings can be seen in some of the mystical and philosophical degrees of Masonry. Albert Pike (see next), the man responsible for virtually rewriting the Scottish Rite degrees into their present form, said that the Masonic "search after light" leads directly back to the Kabala, the ultimate source of Masonic beliefs (Morals and Dogma). [HJB]
One of the great authorities on Masonry was Albert Pike (1809-1901), Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Supreme Council of Scottish Right Freemasonry in the USA and "an honorary member of almost every Supreme Council in the world" (Albert G. Mackey, 33rd degree, and Charles T. McClenachan, 33rd degree, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, The Masonic History Company, 1921, rev. ed.; 2:564). Pike authored Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, which was published by its authority. This compendium of official Masonic lore clearly traces Masonry to Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and other Eastern religions. Albert G. Mackey, co-author of Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, is also one of Masonry's highest authorities. In his Manual of the Lodge, he traces Masonic teaching back to "the ancient rites and mysteries practiced in the very bosom of pagan darkness. ..." (Albert G. Mackey, Manual of the Lodge, Macoy and Sickles, 1802, p. 96).
In the final analysis, Masons do not adjust their beliefs to fit the Bible, the Bible is adjusted to fit their beliefs. A Mason's loyalty is never to God but to the Lodge. Coil has concluded that: "The prevailing Masonic opinion is that the Bible is only a symbol of Divine Will, Law, or Revelation, and not that its contents are Divine Law, inspired, or revealed. So far, no responsible authority has held that a Freemason must believe the Bible or any part of it." Masonry's only concern is that each person must swear by the most holy book he knows, so that he will then keep the oaths of Freemasonry. (See Endnote #2 again.)
2. God. Masons require one to believe in God to be a member, but the candidate is never required to say what god he believes in -- "Masonry ... requires merely that you believe in some deity, give him what name you will ... any god will do, so he is your god" (Little Masonic Library, Macoy Publishing, 1977, 4:32). Masons commonly refer to their deity as the "Great Architect of the Universe" (G.A.O.T.U.) or the Supreme Being. God is further described as Grand Artificer, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge Above, Jehovah, Allah, Buddha, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, or Great Geometer. (The "G" in the Masonic ring can refer to God; it can also refer to geometry.) Masons claim that the actual name for God has been lost (cf. Jn. 14:8,9; Phil. 2:9-11; 1 Jn. 5:20) [HJB].
3. Jesus Christ. The name of Christ is seldom referred to in Masonic literature, apparently due to Masons not wanting to offend their non-Christian members. Some Masonic leaders even teach that the Messiah will not be an individual, but "the perfection of the human race." One such leader thinks that the stories about various Messiahs have their origin in the most ancient of religious beliefs -- Solar Worship. Masons, therefore, consider the discussion about the deity of Christ to be an endless, futile argument. When quoting from the Bible, references to Christ are omitted, and prayer is never allowed to be offered (in a "well-ordered" lodge) in the name of Jesus Christ. Masons do not care whether a person privately petitions God or Jehovah, Allah or Buddha, Mohammed or Jesus, the God of Israel or the "Great First Cause," but in the Lodge, the only petition allowed is to the "Great Architect of the Universe." [HJB] Clearly then, Freemasonry does not believe that Jesus Christ is God, nor that salvation is available only through Him (cf. 1 Jn. 4:3). Freemasonry is a religion without a Savior.
At the heart of Masonry is a secret Luciferian doctrine which a Mason only comes to understand as he reaches the higher levels. Manly Palmer Hall, another of the great authorities on Masonry, writes, "When the Mason ... has learned the mystery of his Craft, the seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands. ..." (Manly Palmer Hall, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, p. 48). The Apostle John warned that those who deny that Jesus is the only, all sufficient Christ, and that He came once and for all in the flesh, have embraced the spirit of Antichrist (1 Jn. 4:1-3). That Jesus was not the Christ, but that He had attained to the state of "Christ-consciousness" available to all mankind, is again part of Masonry: "Jesus of Nazareth had attained a level of consciousness, of perfection, that has been called by various names: cosmic consciousness, soul regeneration, philosophic initiation, spiritual illumination, Brahmic Splendor, Christ-consciousness" (Lynn F. Perkins, The Meaning of Masonry, CSA Press, 1971, p. 53).
4. Sin. Sin is seldom referred to in Masonic literature. The reality of sin in the Biblical sense is denied (much like the Christian Scientists); Masons think that any "shortcomings" can be overcome by greater enlightenment. Yet in attaining the degree of Master Mason, the symbolism implies that a person is redeemed from the death of sin and sin's pollution. [HJB]
5. Salvation and Future Life. Masons think that salvation refers to being brought from the material to the spiritual; i.e., when man returns to "his forgotten inherent spirituality." Masons believe that the degree of Master Mason is symbolical of old age, which allows a person to happily reflect on a well-spent life and to "die in the hope of a glorious immortality." Because they deny the reality of sin, Masons see no need of salvation in the Biblical sense. They see salvation as a step-by-step enlightenment, which comes through initiation into the Masonic degrees and their mysteries. [HJB]
In the 19th degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, the initiate is told that attachment to Masonry's "statutes and rules of the order" will make him "deserving of entering the celestial Jerusalem [heaven]." In the 28th degree, he is told that "the true Mason [is one] who raises himself by degrees till he reaches heaven" and that one of his duties is "To divest [him]self of original sin ..." Masons clearly teach a salvation by works, or character development, not a salvation by faith in Christ alone. Even in the 32nd Degree, a Mason never can nor will find the "light" he is looking for.
The foundation of Freemasonry is known as the Blue Lodge. (http://www.ephesians5-11.org/ignore.htm) It consists of three degrees: Entered Apprentice, FellowCraft and Master Mason. After a man completes the Master Mason degree, he is as much of a Mason as he will ever be. Each of the degrees contain teaching which is revealed though ritual. The man being initiated into Masonry takes an active part in the ritual. In the Master Mason degree, the new Master Mason portrays Hiram Abiff. In that portion of the ritual known as the Legend of the Third Degree, Hiram is unjustly killed, buried and then raised from the grave. At the close of the ritual, the following summary of the meaning is spoken:
Then, finally my brethren, let us imitate our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, in his virtuous conduct, his unfeigned piety to God, and his inflexible fidelity to his trust; that, like him, we may welcome the grim tyrant, Death, and receive him as a kind messenger sent by 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.
The meaning of the ritual is clearly explained: Masons are to imitate Hiram Abiff that they may welcome death and be translated into heaven.
Who is Hiram Abiff?
When a man is raised to Master Mason, he is given a small book called a monitor. Monitors are produced for each jurisdiction and are distributed at the direction of the authorities of Freemasonry, the Grand Lodges. The 13th edition of the monitor used by The Grand Lodge of Kentucky, The Kentucky Monitor, reveals the identity of Hiram Abiff in a discussion of various religions:
All believed in a future life, to be attained by purification and trials; in a state or successive states of reward and punishment; and in a Mediator or Redeemer, by whom the Evil Principle was to be overcome and the Supreme Deity reconciled to His creatures. The belief was general that He was to be born of a virgin and suffer a painful death. The Hindus called him Krishna; the Chinese, Kioun-tse; the Persians, Sosiosch; the Chaldeans, Dhouvanai; the Egyptians, Horus; Plato, Love; the Scandinavians, Balder; the Christians, Jesus; Masons, Hiram.
(pages XIV-XV)
The meaning is perfectly clear. Masonry teaches that Jesus is not unique. Jesus is a savior for Christians and Krishna is a savior for Hindus, while Hiram Abiff is a savior for Masons. The Meaning of Masonry, by Lynn Perkins, clarifies the teaching:
Therefore Masonry teaches that redemption and salvation are both the power and the responsibility of the individual Mason. Saviors like Hiram Abiff can and do show the way, but men must always follow and demonstrate, each for himself, his power to save himself, to build his own spiritual fabric in his own time and way. Every man in essence is his own savior and redeemer; for if he does not save himself, he will not be saved. The reader who succeeds in getting back to the real teachings of the masters, including Jesus of Nazareth, will find unanimity of thinking on this matter.
(page 95)
The fact that Masonry teaches redemption and salvation is also documented on page 96 of Manual of the Lodge, by Albert Mackey. Mackey's book has been adopted, virtually without alteration, as the monitor of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina. In monitor form, the book is known as the Ahiman Rezon:
It was the single object of all the ancient rites and mysteries practiced in the very bosom of pagan darkness. . .to teach the immortality of the Soul. This is still the great design of the third degree of Masonry. This is the scope and aim of its ritual. The Master Mason represents man, when youth, manhood, old age, and life itself have passed away as fleeting shadows, yet raised from the grave of iniquity, and quickened into another and better existence. By its legend and all its ritual, it is implied that we have been redeemed from the death of sin and the sepulchre of pollution. . . .and the conclusion we arrive at is, that youth, properly directed, leads us to honorable and virtuous maturity, and that the life of man, regulated by morality, faith, and justice, will be rewarded at its closing hour by the prospect of eternal bliss. . . The important design of the degree is to symbolize the great doctrines of the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul; and hence it has been remarked by a learned writer of our Order, that the Master Mason represents a man saved from the grave of iniquity, and raised to the faith of salvation.
(pages 141-2, 1947 Ed. Ahiman Rezon)
Mackey's words are reproduced in the monitors of many states. The 1993 edition of the Indiana Monitor and Freemason's Guide contains most of the passage explaining the meaning of the Legend of the Third Degree on page 154. The Indiana Monitor confirms the universality of the Hiramic Legend in Masonry:
The Legend of the Third Degree. This is the most important and significant of the legendary symbols of Freemasonry. It has descended from age to age by oral tradition, and has been preserved in every Masonic rite, practiced in any country or language, with no essential alteration.
(page 41)
The Hiramic Legend is the glory of Freemasonry. . .
(page 158)
Freemasonry has a savior named Hiram Abiff. Freemasonry teaches that Master Masons have been redeemed from the death of sin and represent those raised to the faith of salvation. Each Mason has portrayed Hiram Abiff in a ritual in which he was killed, buried and raised from the grave. That ritual mocks the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The ritual of the third degree directly states that by imitating Hiram Abiff, Master Masons may get into heaven.
The situation in the church is as follows:
* Freemasons have infiltrated the church, claiming to be Christians.
* Active Masons within the church are meeting in secret to teach salvation on the basis of another savior. Inactive Masons have portrayed Hiram Abiff in ritual, yet they defend Masonry as being compatible with Christianity.
* The false gospel of Freemasonry will result in many souls being cast into hell.
* Unless we directly and publicly take issue with the false gospel of Masonry, additional sons, grandsons, husbands and brothers will become ensnared.
* Masonry is using the church as a cover, just as organized crime uses legitimate businesses. The Lodge points to Masons who are church members to support their claim that Freemasonry is compatible with Christianity.
* By allowing Masonry to utilize a congregation as a cover, that congregation is allowing the world to believe that there is nothing in the teachings of Freemasonry with which they strongly disagree.
Those who oppose Freemasonry are justifiably intolerant.
They are insistent upon total separation between the church and the lodge. Many others in the church feel that Masons are doing no harm: Masons do not promote imitation of Hiram Abiff as a way to salvation publicly, but only in secret. Those who are against actively opposing the false gospel of Freemasonry say that if we take a stand against Freemasonry, few Masons will renounce and some in their families will stand with them, following emotions rather than the Spirit of Truth. Some fear it will destroy the peace and unity of the church and result in division.
Is division always bad?
Could division ever be God’s Will? Consider the words of Jesus:
Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.
(Luke 12:51-53)
The gospel of our Lord and Savior is divisive and the presence of Masonry within the church has resulted in a strong difference of opinion. Some are firm in their belief that Masons who will not renounce Freemasonry and repent should be denied membership in the church. Others feel that we should avoid dealing with the issue in order to maintain unity.
Some claim that it is impossible to know what a man believes. They claim that we cannot know that a man has accepted the teachings of Freemasonry, simply because he is a member of the Lodge. What we can know is that any man who remains a Mason after being confronted with the teachings of Freemasonry has not rejected those teachings, as would a Christian.
Why are there different opinions?
Paul spoke to differences which existed between members of the church at Corinth:
In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.
(1 Corinthians 11:18-1)
A. W. Tozer, a contemporary leader said:
Division is not bad. To know what to divide - and to know what to unite - is the key.
The desirable outcome is separation of all church members from the Masonic Lodge. It is not God's will for any to perish. Realistically, some Masons have not and will not accept Jesus as their savior, although they may claim that they have.
The fundamental question remains:
Should we ignore their secret savior to maintain unity in Christ’s church?
Only those on one side of this issue have God’s approval. Your voice may be the one which causes a Mason to repent and accept Jesus. By not taking a side in this battle, a person is choosing to ignore the secret savior and the peril of lost souls. Can there be unity in the church while some follow a false savior? Is peace with the world and the appearance of unity so important that the church should tolerate another savior?
Buzzardhut
July 18th, 2007, 11:22 PM
Links for Knights Templar (http://www.bilderberg.org/masons.htm)
Free Masonry (http://www.bcrevolution.ca/freemasons.htm)
Secrets of Masons (http://www.trosch.org/for/masonic-sym.html)
Masonic Initiations (http://www.gaiaguys.net/masonic-degrees.htm)
The Study of Freemasonry (http://www.cuttingedge.org/fmcorner.html)
Masonic Icons (http://freemasonrywatch.org/secrets.html)
Freemasonry Watch (http://freemasonrywatch.org/)
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c5/buzzardhut/Masonry.jpg
Morals and Dogma, 28th Degree (http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/masonph.htm), called Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept, by Albert Pike 33rd Degree, Supreme Pontiff of the Northwest District, circa 1894, Page771-772. This book which is the definitive doctrine of Freemasonry, is found in virtually EVERY Masonic Library.
NIGHT OF THE SUN, OR PRINCE ADEPT-- 28th Degree
Albert Pike writes: [ Editor's notes in brackets. ]
Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two. The human unity is made complete by the right and left. The primitive man was of both sexes. The Divinity, one in its essence, has two essential conditions as fundamental bases of its existence--Necessity and Liberty.
The laws of the Supreme Reason necessitate and regulate liberty in God, who is necessarily reasonable and wise.
Knowledge supposes the binary. An object known is indispensable to the being that knows.
The binary is the generator of Society and the law. It is also the number of the gnosis, a word adopted in lieu of Science and expressing only the idea of cognizance by intuition. It is Unity, multiplying itself by itself to create; and therefore it is that the Sacred Symbols make Eve issue from the very chest of Adam.
Adam is the human Tetragram, which is summed up in the mysterious Yod of the Kabalah, image of the Kabalistic Phallus. Add to this Yod [ Phallus ], the ternary name of Eve, and you form the name of Jehovah, the Divine Tetragramn, the transcendent Kabalistic and magical word: [ What follows is ALL sexual foolish talk. ]
Thus it is that Unity, complete in the fecundity of the Ternary, forms, with it, the Quaternary, which is the key of all numbers, movements, and forms.
The Square, turning upon itself, produces the circle equal to itself, and the circular movement of four equal angles turning around one point, is the quadrature of the circle.
The Binary serves as a measure for Unity; and the relation of equality between the Above and the Below, forms with them the Ternary.
To us, Creation is Mechanism: to the Ancients it was Generation. The world-producing egg figures in all cosmogonies; and modern science has discovered that all animal production is oviparous. From this idea of generation came the reverence everywhere paid the image of generative power [ sexual reproduction ], which formed the Stauros [ male organ ] of the Gnostics, and the philosophical Cross of the Masons. [ Thus, the cross of Freemasonry is the male organ. ]
Aleph is the man; Beth is the woman; One is the Principle. Two is the Word. A.'. is the Active; B.'. is the Passive. Unity is Boaz, and the Binary is Jachin. [ This is pure filth, Pike makes Jehovah "One" and the male phallus, and he makes Jesus "Two" and the female vagina, by implication.]
The two columns, Boaz and Jachin, explain in the Kabalah all the mysteries of natural, political and religious antagonism.
[ These two columns are found in all Masonic temples, at the front, on either side of the throne where the "Worshipful Master" sits and receives the initiate.]
Woman is man's creation; and universal creation is the female of the First Principle. [ This is Pike's Jesus Christ. ] When the Principle of Existence made Himself Creator, He produced by emanation an ideal Yod [ male organ ]; and to make room for it in the plenitude of the uncreated Light, He had to hollow out a pit [ vagina ] of shadow, equal to the dimension determined by His creative desire [ divine phallus ]; and attributed by Him to the ideal Yod of radiating Light.
The nature of the Active Principle [ name for Jehovah ] is to diffuse: of the Passive Principle, to collect and make fruitful. [Thus, the male sperm goes from Jehovah to Jesus Christ. It's hard to imagine mature adult men taking this seriously. The fact is most Masons are ignorant of this drivel.]
Creation is the habitation of the Creator-Word. To create, the Generative Power and Productive Capacity must unite, the Binary become Unity again by the conjunction [sexual intercourse ]. The WORD [Jesus Christ ] is the First BEGOTTEN, not the first created Son of God.
SANCTA SANCTIS, we repeat again; the Holy things to the Holy, and to him who is so, the mysteries of the Kabalah will be holy. [This implies that if you see anything here that is sensual foolishness, YOU are unclean.] Seek and ye shall find, say the Scriptures: knock and it shall be opened unto you. If you desire to find and to gain admission to the Sanctuary, we have said enough to show you the way. If you do not, it is useless for us to say more, as it has been useless to say so much.
The Hermetic philosophers also drew their doctrines from the Kabalah [written by pagan Babylonian Jews]; and more particularly from the Treatise Beth Alolzim or Domus Dei, known as the Prtezrmatica Kabalistica, of Rabbi Abraham Cohen Irira, and the Treatise De Revolutionibus Animarum of Rabbi Jitz-chak Lorja.
This philosophy was concealed by the Alchemists [Medieval witchcraft which is still with us ] under their Symbols, and in the jargon of a rude Chemistry, --a jargon incomprehensible and absurd except to the Initiates; but the key to which is within your reach; and the philosophy, it may be, worth studying. [Pike is encouraging occult witchcraft to the Freemason.] The labors of the human intellect are always interesting and instructive.
To be always rich, always young, and never to die: such has been in all times the dream of the Alchemists.
To change into gold, lead, mercury, and all the other metals; to possess the universal medicine and elixir of life; such is the problem to be resolved . . . [If so, Jesus Christ's crucifixion on Calvary was a waste of time and effort.]
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