Chapter Six
The Masonic Doctrine of Salvation

Salvation Through Masonic Morality

Masonry confronts the fact of death with the greater fact of faith in the immortality of the soul. Masons believe sincerely that when life on earth comes to a close, the soul is translated from the imperfections of this mortal sphere, to that all perfect, glorious and celestial lodge above, where God, the Grand Architect of the Universe, presides.⁽¹⁾

         To achieve [salvation] the Mason must first attain a solid conviction, founded upon reason, that he hath within him a spiritual nature, a soul that is not to die when the body is dissolved, but is to continue to exist and to advance toward perfection through all the ages of eternity....⁽²⁾

We now come to the third doctrine of the Lodge -- the immortality of the soul. A common argument is that Freemasonry cannot be considered a religion because it offers no plan of salvation to its adherents, but merely teaches men how to be happy in this life. This, again, is completely false. The Masonic Lodge does indeed present a very clear salvific formula, which is, as will be shown, in direct conflict with that of the Bible.
         According to Albert Pike, "Step by step men must advance toward Perfection; and each Masonic Degree is meant to be one of these steps."⁽³⁾ As we have seen, the individual soul is viewed by the Mason as "a spark of universal deity" that has been separated from its source by the darkness of ignorance. Thus, Masonry is described by its own authorities as "a system of morality," by which, if strictly obeyed by the initiate, will ensure his advancement into the "celestial Lodge above." Salvation, then, according to Freemasonry, is available only to those who have lived upright and moral lives.
         However, the question needs to be asked, What is morality? Although Masonry claims to be a system of morality, it fails to adequately define the term, and instead leaves it up to the individual Mason to decide for himself what constitutes an acceptable moral code:

What is moral to one man may be immoral to another. Each man must decide for himself what the word encompasses, taking into account the moral standards of the society in which he lives.... He must set his own standards, his own principles. It can be dangerous to apply his standards in judging another person.⁽⁴⁾

         Human experience, both individual and racial, is the one final authority in morals.... Wrong is whatever helps human life, and tends to sustain or increase human happiness. There is but one way to learn what it is that hurts or helps and that is by experience.... Acts are not right or wrong intrinsically, but according as their effects are hurtful or helpful. The purpose of right living is not in order to render obedience to some code, or to some supposed authority, but to enable a man to live richly, healthfully, happily.⁽⁵⁾

Thus, a Mason is "saved" by adhering to the standards that he sets for himself according to what his own experience tells him is "hurtful" or "helpful." In such a system, who can be lost? Who can ever criticize the behavior of another as being evil if nothing is "right or wrong intrinsically"? If morality is merely defined as that which is "helpful" to either oneself or others, then atrocities such as the Jewish Holocaust can be justified because they were supposedly committed with the "good" of the German people in mind. Adolf Hitler believed that the Jews were preventing the Aryan race from advancing into godhood, and he therefore concocted his "Final Solution" to rid Europe of the hated "race defilers." What was "hurtful" to an estimated six million Jews was supposedly "helpful" to a far greater number of Germans, and indeed, the entire Aryan race. Can the Mason be consistent with his own "system of morality" by condemning the actions of Hitler and the Nazis? Indeed, he cannot be.
         This kind of approach to morality is the underlying cause of the rampant spread of homosexuality and abortion in America. No true Mason can condemn either of these things as long as homosexuals are "happy" engaging in sodomy, and abortions are performed to prevent the "inconvenience" that an unwanted child would bring to its mother.

God’s Law, The Christian Basis for Morality

In Matthew 5:17-18, the Lord Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am come not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Til heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Those who have been redeemed by Christ and have therefore lived in obedience to the Law through the empowerment of the indwelling Holy Spirit, will receive the gift of eternal life in the presence of God. However, every man who has not lived in subjection to the Law, but has done "that which is right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6), will be condemned by God’s holy standard and will suffer eternal separation from His Kingdom.
         Masons, who claim Jesus Christ as one of their "exemplars" (without mentioning His Name, of course), nevertheless betray themselves to be His enemies when they completely reject the Law which He executed (the Old Testament) because of its "narrow limits" and, in its stead, embrace the "law of nature."⁽⁶⁾ The latter is defined in Masonic terms as "simply the natural inclination of human nature acting without let or hindrance."⁽⁷⁾
         Like every other form of humanism, Freemasonry teaches the "self-actualization" of man. In other words, since each man is inherently good and knows right from wrong instinctively, he should be free from all moral restraint to act according to his own good nature:

There comes a time in the individual growth of every living thing when it realizes with dawning consciousness that it is a prisoner. While apparently free to move and have its being, the struggling life cognizes through ever greater vehicles its own limitation. It is at this point that man cries out with ever greater power to be liberated from the binding ties which, though invisible to mortal eyes, still chain him with bonds far more terrible than those of a physical prison.⁽⁸⁾

Manly Hall was simply giving expression here to the inward lament of every unregenerate heart. Fallen men have ever conspired amongst themselves to overthrow the sovereignty of the True and Living God and the reign of His Son, Jesus Christ, saying, "Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us" (Psalm 2:3). Despite the declaration of Scripture that each man will be judged according to his deeds (Romans 2:5-10; Revelation 20:12-13), the Mason is instructed that he "can refuse to believe in a capricious Deity that metes out favors and punishments according to rules and regulations."⁽⁹⁾ The Mason is also taught, from the first degree onward, to strive to liberate himself from the "binding ties" of biblical Law, which Hall described as "far more terrible than those of a physical prison." This struggle is symbolized by the cable tow which is fastened around the neck (Entered Apprentice), the right arm (Fellowcraft), and the waist (Master Mason) of the candidate during the initiation ritual of each degree of the Blue Lodge, and which is only removed when he receives each degree and has thereby joined the company of the "enlightened." At this point, the Mason "no longer follows the direction of others," but "is inspired by the Divine within himself" and becomes "a Priest-King after the Order of Melchizedek, who is above the law."⁽¹⁰⁾
         However, having freed himself from the alleged tyranny of God’s revealed Law, the Mason will soon find himself in bondage to the very real tyranny of the Worshipful Master, who, as the vicegerent of the sun-god (Satan), rules the Lodge with the power "of an absolute monarch,"⁽¹¹⁾ as well as to the cruel slavery of his own sinful nature (Romans 6:16-23). According to the Bible, the heart of man is the fountain of "evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matthew 15:19), and is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). There is no freedom in the rejection of God’s written instructions for mankind, but only misery for the individual and turmoil and ultimate destruction for society. Freemasonry falls under the condemnation of Romans 13:2, for it leads its members to despise biblical Law and thus to subvert biblical government and attempt to replace it with the anarchy of moral subjectivism:

The ethics of Masonry when the veil is removed, is decidedly immoral, and subversive of the divine order.... If these principles were to animate mankind, the state, the family and the church, and all the moral relations, ties and duties now universally recognized as right and proper would be overthrown and broken down, and society again would wallow in the styles of paganism.⁽¹²⁾

Masonic Salvation by Human Effort

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:4-9).

Nothing is more essential to the Christian Gospel than the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. According to the Scriptures, the plan of salvation consists of the Father’s sovereign election of His people (Ephesians 1:3-4), the Son’s redemptive work in their behalf (verse 7), and the Spirit’s sanctification and preservation of the same (verses 13-14). Salvation from sin is "the gift of God" from start to finish. Though all men are responsible to repent and believe the Gospel, the Bible teaches that even the repentance and faith of the elect are graciously given to them by God. Therefore, to teach that man contributes anything, even merely the exercise of "free will," to his own salvation is to teach contrary to the Scriptures, and to bring down upon oneself the condemnation of God for receiving "another gospel" (Galatians 1:6-9).
         Freemasonry, on the other hand, claims that it knows better than the Scriptures, for it teaches that it is up to each and every man to "divest [himself] of original sin,"⁽¹³⁾ and to diligently obey "the statutes and rules of the [Masonic] order, which in the end will make them deserving of entering the celestial Jerusalem."⁽¹⁴⁾ According to one Mason:

Freemasonry has been teaching for centuries... the capabilities of man to reach a higher level of perfection through education and training.... The philosophy of Freemasonry is to make man the master of his own destiny, to show him that there also is an immortality on earth brought by his actions; that he can, through his own efforts... inscribe his name in the "Book of Life."⁽¹⁵⁾

We can also see this philosophy expressed in the following prayer of the Thirteenth Degree of the Scottish Rite: "We beseech thee that our thoughts may be engaged in the grand work of our perfection, which when attained will be an ample reward for our labor.... Grant that all our proceedings may tend to our glory.... Bless and prosper our works, O Lord."
         One of the most important pieces of Masonic regalia is the lambskin apron. This attire is worn by all Masons to remind them of "that purity of life and conduct which is necessary to obtain admittance into the Celestial Lodge above...."⁽¹⁶⁾ Every Mason is buried with his apron, for without this "badge of Masonry,"⁽¹⁷⁾ he cannot enter the "Celestial Lodge." The reader will remember that the Masonic god is really nothing more than a personification of the "generative principle" of nature, or the glorification of the male sex organ. It is therefore important to note that the lambskin apron covers the loins of each Mason. This is a clear indication that the Mason strives throughout his life to become morally acceptable to nothing more than a pagan idol, which, strangely enough, is his own sexuality.
         Though Masons consider their good works "deserving of divine approval,"⁽¹⁸⁾ the Bible upon which many of them have sworn allegiance to the Lodge says quite the opposite. Freemasons believe that "by a pure and blameless life... [God] will be pleased to pronounce [them] just and upright Masons,"⁽¹⁹⁾ but the Scriptures teach otherwise: "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away" (Isaiah 64:6).
         Whereas Christians cling to the redemption which Christ purchased for them with His own Blood and to His righteousness which has been imputed to them, Masons look forward to the day when they will "receive their reward by being conducted to a throne at the right hand of the All Puissant, having been purified by washing their robes in their own blood."⁽²⁰⁾ It is indeed true that "none but the pure of heart can be admitted to the Holy Tabernacle in the heavens,"⁽²¹⁾ but the question needs to be asked of the Mason, Who is pure of heart? Let us allow the Bible to answer that question:

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3:10-18).

If unregenerate man has, as the Bible teaches, "no hope, and [is] without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12), then upon what grounds may the Mason possibly hope to be saved if he rejects the only Name "under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12)? According to Henry Wilson Coil, "Freemasonry has religious service to commit the body of a deceased brother to the dust whence it came, and to speed the liberated spirit back to the Great Source of Light. Many Freemasons make this flight with no other guarantee of a safe landing than their belief in the religion of Freemasonry."⁽²²⁾ This statement is a sad commentary on the spiritual plight of every devoted Mason, for that upon which he depends for his salvation, will ultimately earn him damnation and eternal separation from God. It is ironic indeed that Masonic authorities claim that the Lodge commands "each of its votaries that he diligently study [the Bible] to learn the way to everlasting life."⁽²³⁾ According to the Scriptures, the way to everlasting life is found only in Jesus Christ, not in membership in an occult fraternity (John 14:6). The mercy of God in electing men for salvation through faith in His Son is the only "passport for our admission into the Celestial Lodge above."⁽²⁴⁾
         The warning of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:11 is clear: "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Freemasonry, which worships a pagan god, denies the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as His atoning sacrifice in behalf of His people, and places mankind at the center of the universe, is so contrary to the most basic doctrines of Christianity that no man may rightly claim to be a Christian as long as he is a member of the Masonic Lodge:

Be 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 (2 Corinthians 6:17 18).

Endnotes

1. A Masonic funeral address, quoted by Harris, Invisible Cult, page 135.

2. Pike, Morals and Dogma, page 855.

3. Pike, ibid., page 136.

4. Roberts, The Craft, page 428.

5. Haywood, Great Teachings, pages 38-39.

6. Mackey, Masonic Jurisprudence, page 502. In speaking of "the law of nature," the Mason has in mind natural law rather than the true Law of nature which the Christian faith has historically taught is the knowledge of the law of God inherent in every man’s conscience.

7. Wagner, Interpretation, page 493.

8. Hall, Lost Keys, page 51.

9. Clausen, Commentaries, page 157.

10. Hall, Lost Keys, pages 87-88.

11. Carl H. Claudy, Introduction to Freemasonry (Washington, D.C.: The Temple, 1984), Volume II, page 92.

12. Wagner, Interpretation, page 482.

13. Blanchard, Illustrated, Volume II, page 209.

14. Blanchard, ibid., page 32.

15. Charles Lacquement, article: "Freemasonry and Organized Religion," The Pennsylvania Freemason, February 1989, page 7.

16. Allen, Craftsmen, page 17.

17. Allen, ibid.

18. Henry Clausen, Beyond the Ordinary: Toward a Better, Wiser and Happier World (The Supreme Council, 33^rd Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, 1983), page 7.

19. Duncan, Masonic Ritual, page 132.

20. Blanchard, Illustrated, Volume I, page 453.

21. Blanchard, ibid., Volume II, page 134.

22. Coil, Encyclopedia, page 512.

23. George Simmons and Robert Macoy, Standard Masonic Monitor of the Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason (Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, 1984), page 21.