About 45 miles west of Houston, Texas, there is
a small community named Pine Island. The Pine Island Baptist Church has
been there since the late 1800's. The area was settled by, and the church
was founded by families who left Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi during
the troubled times following the Civil War
In November of 1998 one of the members was to be ordained
as a deacon. The preacher found out that the man was a Mason and refused
to ordain him. There was a meeting of the congregation and they instructed
the preacher to go ahead and ordain the man.
The preacher refused and that Sunday he preached a hellfire sermon
about the devil worshiping Masons. The congregation held another meeting
and ask him to please reconsider. He refused and the congregation held a
vote. The preacher lost by a large majority and was informed that he was
fired.
The preacher had taken this position because he had read a book that
said Masons were devil worshipers. It wasn't something he actually found
or even interpreted from something in the Bible, but a modern book written
by a man with a vendetta against a mason or some particular lodge. He
decided to believe the words of an unknown fanatic author over that of the
men of his congregation who he had known as righteous, upstanding
Christians until he discovered they were Masons.
To me this is a very sad story where everyone looses and there are no
winners. The preacher lost a congregation and church where he was
generally well liked. His wife lost her neighbors and friends and her
projects. His children lost their friends and schoolmates and the
stability of their home. The congregation lost a young dynamic preacher
that fought for his beliefs (right or wrong). The congregation also lost a
few of it's members, even causing a split in a family or two. And, because
of the preacher's beliefs, the Masons lost a little standing with a few
members.
I can think of a lot of ways for a man to prove his foolishness,
but taking everything you read in print as the gospel truth because it is
in print, has to be one of the most foolish, Then to condemn a large part of
our male population with no other evidence then another modern man's
conjectures or desire to get revenge for rejection is almost unbelievable to me.
An Interesting Footnote;
The
preacher informed the church that he was due to receive 2 months pay if he
was fired. Almost all of the congregation was opposed to making the
payment and stated that he would never get an extra 2 months pay from
their church. Three members of the church stood up and tried to convince
the other members that the money was really owed and should be paid. After
the congregation refused to pay the extra money, the 3 men made up the
full amount from "their own pockets" and gave the preacher the money. The
preacher took the 2 months pay without hesitation even though it was made
up by 3 well known Masons.
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Nazis And Fascists And
The Masonic Lodge
Nazi and
Fascist publications leave no doubt of their belief that all evil in the
world, from the high mortality rate among the dinner guests of the Borgias
down to the Versailles Treaty, has been the work of Freemasons, alone or
with the help of Israel. In "Mein Kampf", Hitler merges his twin phobias:
"The general pacifistic paralyzation of the national
instinct of self-preservation, introduced into the circles of the
so-called `intelligentsia' by Freemasonry, is transmitted to the great
masses, but above all to the bourgeoisie, by the activity of the great
press, which today is always Jewish."
In 1917, as one of their acts, the Bolsheviks dissolved all lodges in
Russia. In 1919, when Bela Kun proclaimed the dictatorship of the
proletariat in Hungary, one of his first decrees ordered the dissolution
of Masonic lodges. In 1925, Spain's first dictator of this generation,
General Primo de Rivera, ordered the abolition of Freemasonry in his
country.Benito Mussolini went about the same business more methodically.
Having established his regime, Il Duce proceeded step by step to
exterminate the lodges and the influence of Italian Freemasonry. In the
summer of 1925 Mussolini got around to dissolving Italian Freemasonry. The
Nazis acted more swiftly. Immediately on Hitler's rise to power, the ten
Grand Lodges of Germany were dissolved. Many among the prominent
dignitaries and members of the Order were sent to concentration camps.
Why does this implacable and fanatic hatred of the Order obsess the
totalitarian mind? The answer is in the whole history and temper of
Freemasonry. For more than two centuries its leaders have been
consistently on the side of political freedom and human dignity, reaping a
harvest of persecution at the hands of tyrants.
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Devil Worshipers?
Masonry Seems To Fail That One
- The first requirement for becoming Mason is a belief in God
There is a Supreme Being
Who created the
Universe,
Who has established and revealed a moral law,
And to
Whom we must give account
in a life after this.
- If you don't believe in God then your Masonic oath means nothing
- I wonder how the devil would feel about (his suposed to be followers)
taking an oath to God on the Bible
- The Bible teaches us that the devil is always among us trying to
recruit as many followers as posable. But, no one will ever ask you to
become a Mason.
- Masonic Secrets. There are fewer secrets to Freemasonry than most
non-members imagine; even many Masons are not entirely clear on what is
and is not secret in Masonry. The moral principles of Masonry are the
same as those taught you in Sunday school or at your mother's knee
(sometimes over it!); it is only the exact procedures and words by which
those principles are taught in Masonry that are secret, for it is the
knowledge of those that distinguishes a Mason from those who are not
members. To be entitled to the fellowship peculiar to the Lodge, a Mason
must be able to identify himself, and these secrets provide the means
for doing so.
- My daughter went to the Shrine Hospital for 18 years, sometime 3 or
4 days a week, She had countless operations, braces, special shoes,
walkers and crutches. In all that time, we were never ask for a single
dime or for our insurance policy. This was long before I became a Mason
. If you think Masons are evil, visit the Shrine Crippled Children's
hospital in Houston, The Scottish Rite Hospital For Crippled Children in
Dallas and the Shrine Burn Hospital in Galveston and see the thousands
of children and burn victims being helped with out any request for
payment. Whats that? You didn't know that all Shriners have to be a
Mason first and for as long as they are a Shriner.
- Now for a really good one, many preachers use the above fact as
evidence that Masons are trying to get to heaven by good works. Why
would devil worshipers work so hard trying to get into to heaven???
- Masonary is not a religion, it teaches a way of life that was
embraced by men such as, Presidents George Washington, James Madison,
Thomas Jefferson, James Munroe, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, James
Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore
Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Gerald Ford. It also includes many who
lost likeThomas E. Dewey, Alf Landon, Hubert H. Humphrey, Robert Dole,
George McGovern, Barry Goldwater, Estes Kefauver, George Wallace, Earl
Warren, and John Sparkman as well as Wendell Wilke and Adlai Stevenson.
Even heros like Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale, and John Paul Jones. In
other countries where true democracy is not a reality, even Royalty
belongs to the Order. Both King George VI and the Duke of Kent are
Freemasons; so is the Duke of Windsor. His grandfather, Edward VII, was
the chief of British Masonry, and he was succeeded in the post by the
aged Duke of Connaught. King Gustav V heads the Freemasons of Sweden.
- The United States, the greatest country in the world, was founded,
formed and governed by these men.
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Professional Anti-Masons
And Some Weird Reasoning
Many malicious stories have been told against the Masons over the last couple of
hundred years. 98% of these "Professional Anti-Masons" such as Pat
Robertson (Whose father was a dedicated Mason) and Dr. James L.
Holly, who are preaching the evils of Masonry have never been
Masons and do not know anything about the Masonic Lodge from
personal experence.
The term, "Professional" means that they sell
Anti-Masonic books and pamphlets for profit. What better motive
could they have for condemning the Masonic Lodge then to increase
the sales of their inflammatory written books and booklets,
thereby increasing their profits.
The only people in the world who know the truth about Masonry
are men who have worked their way through the 3 degrees. This means
that every one of those men swore 3 oaths to God with their right
hand on the Bible that they would never reveal anything learned in
the lodge.
WHAT DOES REVEALING ANY "FACTS," AFTER SWEARING AN
OATH, WITH HAND ON THE BIBLE BEFORE GOD, NOT TO REVEAL ANYTHING MASONIC, SAY FOR THEIR CHARACTER AND THE VALUE OF THEIR WORDS.
In truth, many of the so called "experts" were
rejected by the thorough character screening that all applicants
must pass or were voted against by enough members of the lodge who
had reason to reject him. A large part of this harassment is a
form of revenge for this rejection. Then there is another group
who went through 1 or more of the Masonic degrees and later
dropped out because of some imagined slight by a member or members
of the lodge.
Think about this, if the Masons really had evil
intentions, why would they require 3 recommendations from men of
the lodge (that are thoroughly checked), 5 character references
from friends and neighbors (that are thoroughly checked), a
police check, a credit check and a vote of every member present
before anyone petitioning for membership is allowed to join the
lodge. If the Masonic Lodge really had evil intentions, wouldn't
it be better served by recruiting less scrupulous people.???
To point out Dr. Holly's mentality, here is an excerpt from one
of his letters.
"Ninety nine percent of Masons have no concept about
what they are involved in . . . They see it as a good ol' boy
way of doing charitable works and getting away from the wife
awhile, but they don't see how anti-Christian it is."
Does this mean that 99 out of every 100 Church going
Mason who are trying to do good works and live up to the Christian
faith are wrong and God will say "Sorry, you have to go to Hell
for living and doing like I instructed you to."
I guess we would have to compare the 1 evil Mason out of the
100 to the 1 crooked preacher out of 100 who gets on the radio or
TV and swindles the poor and elderly, out of a percentage of their
Social Security and pension checks, in the name of God, to
maintain their mansions, limousines and extravagant life style.
Using Dr. Holly's reasoning all supporters of that preacher's
faith are doing the devil's work no matter how good they were in
life.
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ANTI-MASONRY
Usually anti-Masonry centers around two subjects: Religion “A Christian cannot be a Mason” and Political Conspiracy theories to “Masons want to take over the world”. It is an interesting fact that none of these “Anti-Masonry experts” seem to know that
”Freemasons are forbidden to discuss religion or politics in the Lodge” and yet those are the two subjects they most often used to attack the Fraternity.
A recent e-mail to the Masonic Information Center said: “A friend told me Freemasonry is a cult.” To substantiate this charge was a quote from the book Cults which stated: “The term So Mote It Be is a witchcraft oath.” The use of the term “Worshipful” is often misrepresented, and the accusation is made that so called “bloody oaths” are part of the obligations.
The following attempts to address the above misunderstandings.
Why is a Master addressed as “Worshipful?”
Few Masonic matters are less understood by the non-Masonic public than this. The word “worchyppe” or “worchyp” is Old English, and means “greatly respected.” In the Wycliffe Bible “Honor thy father and thy mother” appears as “Worchyp thy fadir and thy modir.” English and Canadian mayors are still addressed, “Your Worship.” In some of the Old Constitutions of Masonry it the phrase, “Every Mason shall prefer his elder and put him to worship.” “Worshipful,” therefore, in modern Masonry continues an ancient word meaning “greatly respected.” A Grand Master is “Most Worshipful,” that is, “Most greatly respected” (except in Pennsylvania, where the Grand Master is “Right Worshipful,” as are Pennsylvania's and Texas' Past Grand Masters).
Webster's dictionary defines “Worshipful” as “2. Honorable by virtue of position or rank. – Used in titles of respect.”
Why do we use “So Mote It Be” instead of “Amen”?
“So Mote It Be” are the final words in the Regius Poem. “Mote” is old English for “may.” Masons have used the phrase since the beginning of the written history of the craft. Freemasonry includes many other words, now obsolete, which bring the sanctity of age and continuity of ritual from ancient days to modern times.
What Masonic Penalties Are Enforced?
The only penalties known to Freemasonry are reprimand; a limited-term suspension from membership; and permanent expulsion from the Fraternity. To these must be added that intangible penalty which comes to any one who loses all or part of his reputation.
Other penalties suggested in the ritual are wholly symbolic. They are not now and have never been enforced. If they had been, there wouldn't be any ex-freemasons now making a living selling anti-masonry books and pamphlets.
Regarding the ritualistic penalties however, during the middle ages when Freemasonry was being formed those penalties were actually legal punishments in England, designed with special reference to the religious beliefs of that time that an incomplete body could not “rise from the dead”, that a body buried in unconsecrated ground (as between high and low water mark) could not ascend into heaven. Some Grand Lodges now offer an interpretation of the ritualistic penalties, in order to be sure the initiate understands the symbolic character of these otherwise difficult phrases
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