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Freemasonry is a Religion
Masonry is not a religion in any sense of
the word.... Church membership is not a requirement, yet membership in any
church is no bar to admission. There is nothing in the requirements of
Masonry to prevent a Catholic, a Mohammedan, a Jew, a Buddhist, a
Protestant, a Mormon, or any member of any religion from becoming a
member (emphasis in original).(1) According to Silas H. Shepherd,
"There is nothing better understood among Masons than that [Masonry]
is not a religion...."(2) Such is the
usual response that will be given by most Masons when the Lodge is
questioned by concerned friends and relatives or subjected to criticism by
churches or other Christian organizations. However, the fact that
Freemasonry is in fact a religious institution can be thoroughly
documented from the writings of the most respected Masonic authorities
themselves. Below are given only a few of the many quotes that are
available on this subject from the published works of the Lodge:
Every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion; and its
teachings are instructions in religion.(3)
As
Masons we are taught never to commence any great or important
undertaking without first invoking the blessing and protection of Deity,
and this is because Masonry is a religious institution.(4)
The
most important article of furniture in a Lodge room is undoubtedly the
altar.... It is a sacred utensil of religion, intended, like the altars
of the ancient temples, for religious uses, and thus identifying
Masonry, by its necessary existence in our Lodges, as a religious
institution. Its presence should also lead the contemplative Mason to
view the ceremonies in which it is employed with solemn reverence, as
being part of a really religious worship.(5)
There
has been a needless expenditure of ingenuity and talent, by a large
number of Mason orators and essayists, in the endeavor to prove that
Masonry is not religion.... On the contrary, I contend, without any sort
of hesitation, that Masonry is, in every sense of the word... an
eminently religious institution -- that it is indebted solely to the
religious element which it contains for its origin and for its continued
existence, and that without this religious element it would scarcely be
worthy of cultivation by the wise and good.... Like any religion, Freemasonry claims to
be of divine origin, and therefore it seeks "to establish the true
religion of the most high God."(7)
Furthermore, while pretending to be the friend of all religions, the
ultimate goal of Freemasonry is actually to destroy their basic belief
systems and to replace them with its own "morals and dogma." The
promise made to Entered Apprentices that Freemasonry will not interfere or
contradict the individual’s personal convictions is very misleading, for
the true goal of the Lodge is to "strip from all religions their
orthodox tenets, legends, allegories and dogmas,"(8)
for "there is but one true religion, one dogma, one legitimate
belief."(9) According to J. Blanchard:
[W]hatever may be the religious forms imposed upon
you by superstition at a period of your life when you were incapable of
discerning truth from falsehood, we do not even require you to
relinquish them. Time and study alone can enlighten you. But remember
that you will never be a true Mason unless you repudiate forever all
superstition and prejudices.(10) As stated by Blanchard, the various
religions of man, among which the Lodge classifies Christianity, are
viewed by Freemasonry as "superstition." It is therefore
necessary to note that a Mason must swear to "strive unceasingly
for... the propagation of light [the teachings of Freemasonry] and for the
overthrow of superstition."(11) Thus,
while believing the lie that Freemasonry respects and upholds his
religious beliefs, the individual Mason is deceived into swearing an oath
to assist in the overthrow of those very same beliefs.
Occultism in the Lodge
"Freemasonry is not Christianity.... It does not
meddle with sectarian creeds or doctrines, but teaches fundamental
religious truth."(12) Having seen
from Masonic sources themselves that Freemasonry is indeed a religion, one
further question remains to be asked: If not Christianity, what religious
worldview does it advocate, and from what source does it derive its
doctrines? Although one Masonic monitor claimed that "the Holy Bible
is given us as the rule and guide for our faith and practice,"(13)
other Masonic sources are more honest: ...Blue Lodge Masonry has nothing whatever to do with
the Bible. It is not founded on the Bible. If it were, it would not be
Masonry.(14)
The
Bible is an indispensable part of the furniture of a Christian Lodge,
only because it is the sacred book of the Christian religion. The Hebrew
Pentateuch in a Hebrew Lodge, and Koran in a Mohammedan one, belong on
the Altar.... The obligation of the candidate is always to be taken on
the sacred book or books of his religion, that he may deem it more
solemn and binding; and therefore it was that you were asked of what
religion you were. We have no other concern with your religious creed.(15)
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.(16) Thus, the Lodge’s use of the Bible, or
any other "holy book," is merely to exploit the respect that
entering candidates have for it and to thus bind their consciences more
securely to their Masonic obligations. In this way, professing Christians
can be deceived into swearing allegiance to a religious system that will
ultimately lead them to reject the God of the Bible and accept the very
things which Scripture clearly condemns. This is why the Bible can only
act as a "symbol" in a "Christian Lodge," for if study
of its contents were really encouraged by Freemasonry as claimed, no true
Christian could in good conscience remain a Mason. 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 secrecy -- during the late Middle
Ages, and even into the after-Reformation times. Chief among these were
the Rosicrucians and the Knights Templar.(17) Another acknowledged source of the
Masonic worldview is the ancient occult textbook of Jewish mysticism and
witchcraft known as the Kabalah, which in Hebrew means
"received tradition." Albert Pike wrote, "Masonry is a
search after light. That search leads us directly back to the Kabalah. In
that ancient medley of absurdity and philosophy, the Initiate will find
the source of many [Masonic] doctrines."(18)
From the Kabalah are derived such Masonic teachings as the
eternal pre-mortal existence of the individual soul as part of the
"Universal Soul," from which it has fallen and to which it may
be reunited by realizing its inherent divinity. This very closely
resembles the Hindu doctrine of reincarnation, or the transmigration of
souls, which has been popularized in the West by the New Age Movement.
Other teachings and beliefs of the Lodge include astrology, the veneration
of Egyptian deities such as Isis and Osiris, as well as an unmistakable
identity with the phallic worship of the ancient pagan fertility cults.
These teachings, which will be extensively documented in this book, are
thoroughly entrenched in occultism, and are, for that reason, to be
shunned by the Christian. Endnotes 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
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