Hey Mormons: Why did Joseph Smith join the Masons 3 years before his death?

Question

Surely the leader of the one true church on Planet Earth would not need to join the pagan Masons to gain enlightenment. Joseph already was getting direct revelations from god , why join a cult that uses Luciferian symbols like Pentagrams amd All-Seeing Eyes in its temple worship. Joseph even carried over many of their symbols and temple rituals to the one true church on Planet Earth. Are we to assume that the LDS church endorses the Masons as true? If so, they must be greater than the one true church on Planet Earth because they have been around a lot longer and have influenced the Temple rites and archetecture .

YES , YES MANY OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF AMERIKA WERE MASONS , I REALIZE THAT!
They were also some of the biggest war criminals in the history of mankind.
Slavery
The Genocide of the Red Indian.
Has anyone done a body count on that one?
Dont get self righteous with me.
Amerikans are no different than anyone else. All peoples seem to have a lot of baggage so dont preach to me that Amerikan hands are somehow clean of innocent blood, LED BY MASONS!

Answer 1

Joseph Smith like his successor Brigham Young were high ranking warlocks!

Answer 2

To answer your question properly would require me to re-educate you on both Mormons and Masons, and I think that would take too much time. However, I will point out a few things to you.
First of all, Freemasonry is not this Satanic organization that you make it out to be. I think people imagine that it is because they are an unfamiliar brotherhood that is "secretive" about some things they do. Does that automatically make them evil? Just because they hold some of their traditions to be so important that they don't want to share them with the whole world doesn't mean that they are evil. They believe that their traditions are handed down from ancient times and they need to keep them sacred.
In Joseph Smith's time, Freemasonry was very popular and accepted in American society. Think of some of the famous people who were also masons:
Presidents Washington (and many of the Founding Fathers), Munroe, Buchanan, Jackson, Roosevelt (both), Taft, Harding, Johnson, and Ford. Truman was actually a Grand Master in Missouri before becoming President.
Other famous masons you've probably heard of include: Davey Crockett, Bill Cody, Cecil B. DeMille, Clark Gable, John Wayne, and Peter Sellars.
Freemasonry is a brotherhood that has been very popular in the past and has NO ties to Satan worship. Although it uses some religious symbolism and lore, it actually has no ties to any religion--you could be Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist or Muslim and be a good mason.
Joseph Smith did not need to join the Masons to get enlightenment. I think he joined them out of curiosity and to be a part of the community. He already had family members that were masons, and the whole area there in Illinois was joining them. Most of Joseph's family, friends, and followers had become Masons before him. As a prominent figure in the community, I think everyone expected him to join the Lodge as well. Joseph did become a mason and passed through the different ranks available. He apparently didn't attend too many meetings, however, being busy with his religious and civic responsibilities. Again, I want to impress upon you that there is nothing sinister or unusual about being involved with Freemasonry, especially at that time. The perception of Masons as sinister is a more recent development.
It is true that Joseph and his successors did use masonic symbols in/on their temples afterwards. However, these symbols are not exclusive to masonry, but are ancient religious symbols. They are certainly not Satanic. I don't have time here to do the subject justice. The pentagram, or five pointed star (inverted or not) was never a Satanic symbol until the late 1800s. It symbolized the Morning Star and was used extensively by early Christians to represent Christ, who called himself the "morning star" (Rev. 22:16). It was not until a defrocked Catholic priest in the late 1800s wrote about the pentagram being compared to, or looking like, the head of goat (a popular Satanic image), did people start to connect the two. Take a look at the US Medal of Honor--its got the most clear pentagram on it I've ever seen. The Mormons used the five-pointed inverted star to represent Christ and God's communication with mankind.
On the All-Seeing Eye--that's not Satanic at all. That is a very ancient symbol used by many cultures and religions. You can see it on many old Christian cathedrals in Europe. You can even see it on our dollar, for Pete's sake. It doesn't come from Masonry, they just used it. Mormons used it to signify the fact that God is omniscient and can see all.
Joseph Smith didn't copy masonry. He used some of the ancient symbols that masonry had and incorporated them into the system that God had revealed to him--a system that is much more ancient than masonry, which masonry tried to hold on to.
The LDS church does not necessarily endorse the Masons, nor does it condemn them. The LDS church has no ties to Freemasonry. The Church is a restoration of the ancient Church, and as such is much more ancient than Freemasonry.

Answer 3

About the same time Joseph Smith was arrested for glass looking in New York, a William Morgan "disappeared" near Ft Niagra, NY. His disappearance was blamed on the Masons, who have always wanted to keep their rites secret, and Morgan had threatened to reveal them.

At that time, Masons had also accused of the occult, witchcraft and magic (things Joseph was attracted to), and an anti-Masonic movement rose up in American Politics, even though it was initiated primarily by the 'religous right" of that period.

By the time Joseph joined the Masons, they had been more associated with "discontentment with the existing political environment", and being ever the 'hippy', Smith became one. By the late 1830's Smith and his followers had already been chased out of NY and Ohio, and had issues with governments at every level.

If god would have just told him, "Go to Mongolia", most of the problems with mormonism would have vanished - Just change a few words in the Book, and he'd be spot on!

Answer 4

It has been assumed and speculated Joseph Smith was a mason because some of the masonic temple rituals are very similar to LDS temple rituals. I have an interesting explanation for this if you're interested.

Answer 5

The fact is, that there were many important Americans who were Masons, and Joseph SMith was hoping that, by becoming a Mason, that they would somehow protect him from the mobs and persecution that was going on. Masons, among other things, promise to come to the aid of any Masonic brother in distress, especially if he mason makes he Masonic cry of distress.

when he was shot, Joseph Smith's last words were "Oh Lord My God!". It is unknown if he was calling to the Lord in prayer, or starting to make the Masonic cry of distress (which is, I gather, "Oh Lord my God is there no help for the widow's son?". Any Mason, on hearing this, is supposed to rush at once to the aid of his brother Mason, if it is physically possible to do so.

Answer 6

First...learn how to spell. it's AMERICANS! WITH A 'C'! second the Masonic fraternity doesn't worship lucifer and they're not pagan. try doing some actual research for once in your life...And, I seriously doubt that God actually talked to Joseph Smith. He joined the Masons because he wanted to...You Mormons are crazy.

Answer 7

I don't know where people get the idea that the masons are a pagan org. except that someone just made that up one day and the rumor got around. What do you know about the masons? Have you ever been to a meating?

Edit: seriously! does anyone have one shred of evidence that the masons adhere to paganism beside some silly little show done by some guy who has also never been to a mason meeting? I'm sorry, but I need evidence to believe something. I can't just assume it because everyone says it.

Answer 8

It really doesn't matter, does it? But I'm curious: By what knowledge or information that you have makes it clear that the Masonic Order is pagan?

The Church has no ruling against Mormons being Masons. It seems to me that what you have heard about both Mormons and Masons are malicious mistruths and you relish in the fact of spreading such to all that would believe. You have joined the ranks of the Adversary and his desires to dispell the Mormon Church.

Answer 9

The Book of Mormon that Smith published in 1830, is filled with attacks against secret combinations. Yet in 1840 or 1841 he joins one. Just one more evidence that he changed Mormon doctrine as he wished to support his our will. He did the same thing with marriage. The Book of Mormon condemns the practice of polygamy but in the 132 section of the D&C he makes it a requirement for exaltation. Is this the order that God put in the one true church?.. Jim

Answer 10

Freemasonry is a fraternal organization with millions of members.[1] It exists in various forms worldwide, with shared moral and metaphysical ideals and in most of its branches requires a constitutional declaration of belief in a Supreme Being.[2]

Freemasons define Freemasonry as "a system of morality", using the metaphors of operative stonemasons' tools and implements, against the allegorical backdrop of the building of King Solomon's Temple, to convey what is most generally defined as "a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols."[3]
While Freemasonry has often been called a "secret society", it is more correct to say that it is an esoteric society, in that certain aspects are private.[4] From many quarters, Freemasons have stated that Freemasonry has, in the 21st century, become less a secret society and more of a "society with secrets."[5] The private aspects of modern Freemasonry are the modes of recognition amongst members and particular elements within the ritual.[6]

There have been many disclosures and exposés dating as far back as the eighteenth century. These often lack the proper context for true understanding of the content,[7] may be outdated for various reasons,[8] or could be outright hoaxes on the part of the author, as in the case of the Taxil hoax.[9]

The fraternity is widely involved in charity and community service activities. In contemporary times, money is collected only from the membership, and is to be devoted to charitable purposes. Freemasonry worldwide disburses substantial charitable amounts to non-Masonic charities, locally, nationally and internationally. In earlier centuries, however, charitable funds were collected more on the basis of a Provident or Friendly Society, and there were elaborate regulations to determine a petitioner's eligibility for consideration for charity, according to strictly Masonic criteria.

Some examples of Masonic charities include:

Homes[37] that provide sheltered housing or nursing care.
Education with both educational grants[38] or residential education[39] which are open to all and not limited to the families of Freemasons.
Medical assistance.[40]

Sounds like a horrible society to be apart of to me. (note sarcasm.)

Answer 11

I am a 4th generation of Masons and they are good people not any diffirent from any other fraternity