Who knows anything about Freemasonry?

Question

Are they REALLY "devil worshippers"?

Answer 1

I'm a Freemason. It is one of the oldest fraternities in the world. Its origins are obscure. But they are thought to date back to the building of King Solomons temple in Jeruselem. Back then it was operative masonry. They used tools to do their work. Down through the ages they were free to travel across lands and they are responsible for building much of the beautiful gothic cathedrals that still stand today.

Sometime during the age of enlightenment and down toward the 17th and 18 centuries Freemasonry went from being operative to speculative. By this I mean that the use of tools became symbolic and allegorical. The square and compass is a popular symbol in masonry. Take the square for example. We use the square as a reminder to ourselves that we are to square our actions with all of mankind.

Freemasonry has gotten a bad rap from alot of different sources. We do have peculiar initiation ceremonies, but if it was satanic or anything even close in nature why then would so many great men have allowed themselves to be led astray? Don't believe it. We are a society with secrets, not a secret society. And unless your a part of it and know something about it, don't judge it.

Freemasonry is not a religion, albeit promotes you in the religion in which you belong. Your religious and political beliefs are not interfered with in any way whatsoever. You are required to believe in a Supreme Being. Freemasonry is a fraternal organization. Plain and simple. Its sole purpose and real secret is to take good men and make them better. We believe in brotherly love, relief, charity, hope and truth. We are also heavily involved in the community in philanthropic projects. Since I joined, it has been quite an experience. It is something I have not regretted nor do I think I ever will. I'm proud to call myself a Freemason, to be in the same company of some of the greatest men in history. Thank you for inquiring about it.

Below I posted some additional links that may be helpful:

http://www.askafreemason.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCnp1_SybR4

Answer 2

The primary reason for the Church's opposition to Freemasonry is that Freemasonry promotes indifferentism. Indifferentism is the heretical belief that all religions are equally legitimate paths to God. Freemasonry promotes indifferentism in many ways, such as by inviting all religious writings to take an equal place on the Masonic altar with the Sacred Scriptures, and promoting a common religious worship through esoteric ritual. The other reason why Masonry is incompatible with the Christian faith concerns Masonry's requirement that its members swear oaths of self-donation to the organization and its principles under symbolic, blood-curdling penalties of self-mutilation and death. I can elaborate on these reasons of indifferentism and false oaths if you would like.

From my perspective, Masonry is appealing to some men because of what is lacking in their own lives. Masonry provides them with a new family of men who have sworn the same oaths and have gone through the same secret rituals that they have gone through. It provides them with respect and esteem that they do not otherwise enjoy in their jobs or families. It also fills a spiritual void that is so prevalent among the men of Masonry. In my experience, most Masons were not practicing any religious faith; Masonry was all the religion they needed.

However, there is no "light" in the lodge room. Masonry teaches about an eternal life for all men based on virtue and good works, but deliberately omits Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, from its teachings and rituals. This leaves the Masonic lodge and its members in darkness.

written by John Salza a former mason

Answer 3

Lyle Larrigan
FREEMASONRY IN A NUTSHELL
A Christian frequently must render a decision about supporting or joining various organizations that exist in the community. In some cases it may be a service club, a charitable organization or a secret society such as one of the lodges. In all cases, the Christian should carefully examine the articles or constitutional principles that the organization is based upon.
In the case of the lodges, that is somewhat difficult to do, especially as lodge members are under oath not to divulge the nature of the foundational principles or the ceremonies that are carried out in the temples. However most comprehensive public libraries have copies of some official lodge publications and books written by Masons, ex-Masons, and non-Masons available for anyone who wishes to find out details of lodge rituals and beliefs.
While some Masons deny that Freemasonry is a religion, there are some like Coil, the author of "Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia" who would agree that it is a religion. When one considers that the lodge meeting places are called "temples", prayer is directed to a supreme deity called "The Great (or Grand) Architect of the Universe" at the opening and closing of all meetings and the Bible is considered a "piece" of lodge furniture and is referred to in some of the rituals, it becomes quite apparent that Freemasonry can be and is considered a religion by most people who have done research into its workings.
In his 1984 book titled "The Brotherhood", Stephen Knight, a journalist and author attempted to take as objective a point-of-view as he could in deciding whether or not Masonry was guilty of devil worship as many had charged, and whether or not it was compatible with Christianity. He decided that the matter did not require a great deal of knowledge of theology. On page 231 of his book we find:
"One does not have to be a theologian - nor even a Freemason or a Christian - to recognize that Christians and Freemasons would have to worship the same God for the two to be compatible. The question simply, then, is do they?
If Freemasonry were found, despite its protestations to the contrary, to be a quasi-religion and to have a different god from the Christian God, then the two would naturally be incompatible."
On pages 235 and 236, Knight goes on to reveal the
"ineffable" name of the G.A.O.T.U. which is deliberately hidden from the candidates and lower degree Masons.
"In fact the Masonic god - cloaked under the description Great Architect - has a specific name and a particular nature, which has nothing to do with Christ, Vishnu, Buddha, Mohammed or any other being recognized by the great faiths of the modern world."
"Two-thirds of Freemasons never realize the untruth of the line they are fed as to the identity of the Great Architect, because it is deliberately kept hidden from them. It is no overstatement to say that most Freemasons, even those without strong religious convictions would never have joined the Brotherhood if they had not been the victims of this subtle trick".
"The true name, although not the nature of the Masonic god, is revealed only to those Third Degree Masons who elect to be "exalted" to the Holy Royal Arch.""In the ritual of exaltation, the name of the Great Architect of the Universe is revealed as JAH-BUL-ON - not a general umbrella term open to any interpretation an individual Freemason might choose but a precise designation that describes a specific supernatural being - a compound deity composed of three separate personalities fused into one. Each syllable of the "ineffable name" represents one personality of this trinity:
JAH = Jahweh, the God of the Hebrew.
BUL = Baal, the ancient Canaanite fertility god associated with "licentious rites of imitative magic".
"ON = Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god of the underworld
Coil records this in his Encyclopedia on page 516 as,
"Jah, Bel, and On appear in the American ritual of the Royal Arch degree on the supposition that Jah was the Syriac name of God, Bel (Baal) the Chaldean, and On, the Egyptian."
Anyone with a reasonable amount of Sunday School training will recall the great difficulties that the nation of Israel experienced whenever they became caught in the practice of Baal worship. 1 Kings, chapter 18 records the showdown between Elijah, the true prophet, the 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of the grove. Verse 24 of chapter 18 says,
"And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God."
The account goes on to tell us that Baal did not, indeed, could not answer the 450 prophets, while God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob answered Elijah and consumed not only the offering, but also the wet wood and the trench full of water around the offering. Subsequently, the prophets of Baal were executed as they were false and had led the people of Israel into false idolatry.

Answer 4

They are not devil worshipers. They are a secret society and the believe in God. I'm not one but did attend a funeral for a friend who was one. There was prayer, and blessings not like a Catholic or Jewish funeral but no devil worship. Do a Google for Freemason and you'll get allot of good information on their history and beliefs. Some are still not known outside of the organization though. They still have allot of secrets.

Answer 5

Its a fraternity.

Their ritual is pretty easy to find even though it is supposed to be secrete. Just Google it and you can find it. They are basically Deists as a group, but it doesn't exclude any religion that has a creator.

Answer 6

I was going to ask the same question. Supposedly many of our founding fathers were Masons.

Answer 7

No. They're monotheistic, they worship one god who they see as "the great Architect" of the universe.

Answer 8

I know they expect members to give a tith, a strong tith.

Answer 9

If I told you I'd have to kill you.

j/k.