What is known about Mason's? Basic information for someone who knows nothing.?

Answer 1

They are a sect. Look under Freemasonry.

They are a secret Society. I understand many of the founding Fathers were members. Some may have joined because as businessmen they could not do business in some places without joining.

Just FYI here they weren't around in the time of Solomon. They started in the Dark Ages! I know the Catholic Church will excommunicate you for joining.

Answer 2

Masonry is a satanic cult. They have Christian followers, but most do not know that Masonry worships an idol and Lucifer. Freemasons are involved with the Illuminati in taking over the world under the New World Order. Little do these ppl know that they will all be executed after the Illuminati takes over.

Answer 3

Comaradarie group of men who as one of their requirements are to have a god they believe in and they say they are not a church and you can be any religion....they memorize a mason text book and have levels of membership. They eventually reveal that they worship a certain god. It all takes away from the special time we have reading the holy sciptures and being a good steward of a church fellowshipping with local believers. Waste of time. Join bible study instead. Do a google and research it more if your husband is involved.

Answer 4

I am a Freemason of an Order that accepts both WOMEN and men, American Co-Masonry. We are a tad more esoteric, I suppose than our all male Brethren. We do not have alcohol at any meetings and at our Grand Lodge meetings we do not even serve meat in respect to our Brethren who are vegetarian, BTW.

Whatever our true origins are, we do our best to be fitting heirs to the ancient mystery schools of old. We are not a religion, nor are we a cult. We are a system of morality - something some religions seem to have forgotten - in that we teach how best to deal with each other in this world: the Golden Rule. Remember? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

We use the symbols of the ancient stone masons and the symbolism of building Solomon's temple to work to become better people. Not better than everybody else, but better than we once were. We know about hubris.

We perform fairly simple rituals at meetings. The rituals have a slow and profound effect upon the human consciousness. And although many rituals of Freemasonry have been published, we do not encourage our members to read beyond their degree in that we do not wish them to be comparing what they have read to what they are experiencing. Thus we do keep quiet somethings.

Much is made of the Masonic secrets. It is generally not a secret in the United States or England who is a Mason. You can see bumper stickers and rings on most of us. Even Co-Masons, such as myself, wear rings. However, in some countries and some times (Nazi Germany for example), it is death to belong to the Freemasons. Tyrants hate any organization that teaches universal brotherhood of man. Many of the principles written into the US Constitution are the same ones Freemasons brought here to the Colonies.

We accept as candidates for membership women and men who are 21 or older, believe in a Supreme Being, are tolerant of religions other than their own, of all races, are of good moral character, are free not slave (that includes drugs), wish to improve themselves and the world. We check with their families to make sure that becoming a member of the Lodge will not disrupt their family. We meet with the candidate and discuss things to see if there is a good fit between the Lodge and the candidate.

Regarding religion. I have sat in Lodge with Brothers (yes, we call female Masons "Brother" in my Order) who are Luthrens, Latter Day Saints, Baptists, Jews, Buddhists, Wiccans, Deists, Taoists, Hindus, and many I have no earthly idea what they believe. You know what? They are my Brothers! And I would gladly donate a kidney to any of them if they needed one and it would save their lives. Further, I do not care how they vote in the polling place either. Should I? I mean if they vote Republican, Democrat, Green, Socialist, Libertarian or don't vote at all, am I going to first of all know? Second of all, is it going to do anything about how we conduct Lodge? NO! It should be the same way in Boy Scouts or Chamber of Commerce or your place of business. We leave it outside the Lodge.

The masculine only rites differ from us, I believe, only in that we admit women to our Order.

In our Order if the candidate is Initated and then becomes an Entered Apprentice, they attend Lodge once a month and study some to learn basic things. In no way is the candidate embarassed or harassed. This is not a college fraternity. The dues are minimal. I spend more on a good dinner for four than I do on my yearly Lodge dues.

And there are those who may say that my scope is limited. I admit that I am only a Master Mason. However, I attend Grand Lodge and I know all the way up to the top of our Order. These are fine people. Check my profile to see if you think I am easily duped. And yes, we have all had some weird folks in our groups *grin* But we are *Free* Masons, no one dictates dogma, despite that book titled Morals and Dogma. Bro. Albert Pike had "issues" as we say.

So, if I or any of the other Orders of Freemasons (the regular Freemasons like a nice guy named Maboot) can help you more, feel free to write us directly. Or click on the link below to read things from my Order.

Master Mason
Hiram Lodge (Santa Cruz, CA)
Amon Ra Lodge (Los Angeles, CA)
Sapientia Lodge (Larkspur, CO)

Answer 5

it's believed they built Soloman's temple, and many of the other great wonders of the world, and that they run the national government here in America, many Presidents including the current one were/are masons.

Answer 6

Clck the link:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09771a.htm

Answer 7

A good excuse for getting together to drink.

Answer 8

bunch of idiots getting together to be away from the the wives.

Answer 9

you can go to this web site to find out a little bit...

http://www.pagrandlodge.org/2be1ask1.html

or here...

http://www.geocities.com/wduggan/freemasonry.html

Answer 10

The following is a quote from Alice Bailey's book "The Externalization of the Hierarchy". Alice Bailey was an important leader in the New Age Movement and claimed to speak and write the words of her "Spirit Guide" Master D.K.

"the Masonic Fraternity...is...the home of the Mysteries, and the seat of the initiation...It is a far more occult organization than can be realized and is intended to be the training school for the coming advanced occultists..."(p. 511).

Master D.K. goes on to say

"...Mysteries will be restored to outer expression through the medium of the Church and the Masonic Fraternity...When the Great One comes with His disciples and initiates, we shall have the restoration of the Mysteries..."
The roots of Freemasonry extend at least as far back as the Middle Ages. The guildsmen and craftsmen of that time were called Masons. For protection and credibility, these persons formed primitive trade unions (lodges). The content and purpose of this form of Masonry, called operative Masonry, began to change when the lodges were opened up to whoever sought membership.

New members, including politicians, clergymen, and scientists, gradually began to formulate various rituals and doctrines to accompany some of the symbols already in use by the working masons (usually tools of the trade). It was at this point that occultism also began to be brought into the lodges. Eventually the various "grades" workers went through in learning their craft were replaced by degrees of advancement in esoteric knowledge. The eventual result of these changes is modern Masonry - also known as "speculative Masonry" because it speculates as to the true meanings behind the original symbols used in operative Masonry.

The popularity of Freemasonry has made it a model for hundreds of other fraternal societies. As far back as 1927, for instance, nearly all of the 800 fraternal orders of that time had adopted Masonic-like symbols, signs, passwords, rituals, oaths, obligations and degrees. The temple ordinances of the Mormon temple ceremony are also suspiciously close to the ceremony used in Freemasonry. Signs, grips, oaths and tokens used in Mormonism are so close it's almost certain that Joseph Smith borrowed these Masonic practices from Freemasonry. Not that surprising considering Smith was a Mason himself (Documentary History of the Church 4:550-551). In fact the first three presidents of the Mormon Church were all Masons. The Salt Lake City Temple also displays designs peculiar to Masonry, including the All-Seeing Eye, the inverted five-pointed star (known as the eastern star), and the clasped hands or grip.

The Masons, like so many false religions, hold as a core belief one of Satan's biggest lies. That being that all faiths and all scriptures lead to the same God. Freemasonry teaches that there is one God and men of all religions worship that one God using a variety of different names. In a Masonic Lodge, all join in corporate prayer to the Great Architect of the Universe, (GAOTU) and embrace the scripture of any and all religions. The following quote is taken from the Masonic Belief Statement:

"...by the very honor which Masonry pays to the Bible, it teaches us to revere every book of faith by which men find help for today and hope for the morrow, joining hands with the man of Islam as he takes oath on the Koran, and with the Hindu as he makes covenant with God upon the book that he loves best".

The seven volume History of Freemasonry, by Albert Mackey, discusses various pagan gods and the people who worshiped them. Among those pagan deities featured in drawings included with the text are Ashtaroth, Abraxas, Vishnu, Dagon, Nergal and Baal. The text states:

They were all Characters of human origin in the Mythologic ages designed as the Saviors of Men, each one emphatically the representative Christos, or Christ of his particular Nation; and the religious system designed to restore the lost and fallen race of Man. (p. 1721, vol VI)

The paragraph concludes, speaking of the men who worshipped those false gods:

Now as Masons we decide not between these, but take all in as our Brethren, and the One God as our Heavenly Father, revealed to us as such in the Great Light of Masonry.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob makes it very clear that the Bible is the only Word of God and warns us to stay away from those who would teach otherwise.

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds (2 John 9-11)

It is not true that all those who profess a belief in a higher being are worshipping the one true God. The worshippers of Baal learned this truth on Mt. Carmel. In Matthew God has an answer for those who worship gods other than the God of the Bible.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:21-23

FREEMSONRY'S HISTORY

Modern Freemasonry dates to 1717, when several members of four lodges met at London's Goose and Gridiron Tavern to form the first Grand Lodge. By 1723 the organization had adopted James Anderson's Constitution as a guide. Anderson's work clearly reflected a divergence from the Old Charges of operative Masonry, which had been in use since the fourteenth century. The Old Charges were distinctively Christian in tone and, according to Fraternal Organizations by Alvin J. Schmidt, dealt primarily with God and religion, the craft of masonry, and regal duty. The Constitutions, however, omitted the Trinitarian formula and "spoke of a 'religion in which all men agree'" (Fraternal Organizations, p. 121)

In 1738 Anderson produced another accepted document titled "The Old Charges of the Free and Accepted Masons." By that year, operative Masonry had evolved into accepted Masonry. It continued to evolve until, by the second half of the eighteenth centruy it had become speculative Masonry, which interpreted "the symbols and artifacts of operative masonry in an allegorical, religious manner". For example, whereas operative Masons built stone edifices, speculative Masons seek to build spiritual edifices.

The first Masonic Lodge was established in the United States on April 13, 1733. In the United States it yielded great influence. In fact, many scholars believe that Freemasonry helped inspire the American Revolution (Revolution and Freemasonry, 1680 to 1800 by Bernard Fay). There is also evidence that Freemasonry was influential in the formation of the U.S. Constitution. It has even been theorized that the designs on the back of American currency can be linked to Masonic signs and symbols (Fraternal Organizations, p.122).