Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Masonry Teaches Toleration

One of the more rabid anti-Masonic writers claims that this toleration is the blackest sin of Masonry., he says, " toleration springs from the pits of hell and from the father of lies, Lucifer."

Well, the writer is partially right, Masonry really do believe in toleration. Freemasonry does not condemn anyone for their beliefs, even rabid anti-Masons. When we consider what intolerance has produced in this world -- the Inquisition, the massacre of the inhabitants of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, the burning of Protestants at the stake, the horrors of Hitler, the mass murders of Stalin, the "killing fields" of Cambodia, The 200,000 people shot and gassed by Saddam Hussein -- it is hard to believe that toleration springs from the devil.

Freemasonry only teaches that every member should follow the religion of his choice and practice the teaching of that religion. In other words, each man should think for himself and not to blindly follow the words of one self-proclaimed expert on what Christ really meant. Consider what John said, “1Jo 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world”.

You should ask yourselves, did God only give the truth to one “preacher” in a little town in Kansas so he could make a living selling hate against one group of men who teach Love and worship God in your own way, including with the anti-Masons if that is your choice.

It’s very easy for some very self-righteous “Christians” (and I use the title “Christians” very lightly for them) to pick out words and phrases from the Holy Bible to back up their hate filled messages. But, if you will take note, the following Bible Verses are some that anti-Masons never quote or read or probably even understood their meaning. OR, they purposely ignore these messages and commandments from Christ so they can sell their own versions of hatred for profit in books, pamphlets and videos, OR in an attempt to completely control their followers thinking. (Having completely control of your followers thinking, hey, that’s the definition of a sect isn’t it.)

Mark Left Us A Commandment That Anti-Masons Would Do Well To Heed;
Mar 12:31 "And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."
And Paul Added;
Gal 5:15 "But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another."
Christ did not say, ”Only love your fellow Christians.” or “Only love your fellow Baptists.” He said “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” It really does appear that Christ said Love Freemasons and Jews and Arabs and the rest of mankind.

But Luke Said It Best;
Luk 6:37 "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:"
And Paul also advised the Romans,
Rom 14:13 "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way."
And a man’s Works may not be important to anti-Masons, but in Revelations, Christ said every man will be judged by our works.
Rev 22:11 "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

The Morgan Affair - Justification To Condemn Millions?


The following quotes are a summary of a couple of paragraphs in the book, “The Character, Claims And Practical Workings Of Freemasonry” 1869 by Rev. C. G. Finney - Chapter II - "THE MURDER OF WILLIAM MORGAN, CONFESSED BY THE MAN WHO, WITH HIS OWN HANDS, PUSHED HIM OUT OF THE BOAT INTO NIAGARA RIVER. The entire book may be read at,
http://www.gospeltruth.net/1869Freemasonry/indexfreemasonry.htm


Chapter II. "THE MURDER OF WILLIAM MORGAN, CONFESSED BY THE MAN WHO, WITH HIS OWN HANDS, PUSHED HIM OUT OF THE BOAT INTO NIAGARA RIVER!


"The following account of that tragical scene is taken from a pamphlet entitled, 'Confession of the murder of William Morgan, as taken down by Dr. John L. Emery, of Racine County, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1848, and now (1849) first given to the public:'. . .”


"This 'Confession' was taken down as related by Henry L. Valance, who acknowledges himself to have been one of the three who were selected to make a final disposition of the ill-fated victim of Masonic vengeance. . . “


"He proceeds with an interesting narrative of the proceedings of the fraternity in reference to Morgan. . . Three of their number were to be selected by ballot to execute the deed. 'Eight pieces of paper were procured, five of which were to remain blank, while the letter D was written on the others. These pieces of paper were placed in a large box, from which each man was to draw one at the same moment. After drawing we were all to separate, without looking at the paper that each held in his hand. So soon as we had arrived at certain distances from the place of rendezvous, the tickets were to be examined, and those who held blanks were to return instantly to their homes; and those who should hold marked tickets were to proceed to the fort [Fort Niagara] at midnight, and there put Morgan to death, in such a manner as should seem to themselves most fitting. . .


“Arrangements were made immediately for executing the sentence passed upon their prisoner, which was to sink him in the river with weights; in hope, says Mr. Valance, 'that he and our crime alike would thus be buried beneath the waves.' His part was to proceed to the magazine where Morgan was confined, and announce to him his fate--theirs was to procure a boat and weights with which to sink him. . . Morgan being placed in the bow with myself, along side of him. My comrades took the oars, and the boat was rapidly forced out into the river. The night was pitch dark, we could scarcely see a yard before us, and therefore was the time admirably adapted to our hellish purpose. . . Morgan was standing with his back toward me, I approached him, and gave him a strong push with both my hands, which were placed on the middle of his back. He fell forward, carrying the weights with him, and the waters closed over the mass. We remained quiet for two or three minutes, when my companions, without saying a word, resumed their places, and rowed the boat to the place from which they had taken it.'"


I would never argue with a man’s death bed confession. If Brother Valance actually did, what it was clamed that he confessed to, he deserves any punishment he gets for the crime of murder. It was a terrible thing for anyone to have done. It is surely something that any modern Mason would condemn and I am sure that every man responsible for such a reprehensible act will be judged accordingly on judgment day by a just God.


However, should millions of God fearing Freemasons who live in peace 150 years latter, later be held accountable for the deplorable acts of 3 men who were Freemasons. It serves the Christian anti-Masons purpose much greater to say, “Freemasons murdered a man” then to say “Three evil men murdered a man.


Would all of you who feel that Freemasonry should be held responsible for the deplorable acts of 3 men even 150 years latter, please raise your hand.


Thank you, I am so glad you raised your hand. You are the ones who need an object lesson.

I am sure that as fair and just Christian men you realize that a just rule as all encompassing as “holding the organization responsible for the actions of a few” must also apply to other historical events.

Let us look a little further back in history to the period roughly between 1184 and 1230. That era was commonly called the Inquisition. That is the almost 50 year period in history when the “CHRISTIAN CHURCH” horrifically tortured and murdered thousands of innocent human beings, whose only crime was that they did not agree with the Christian Church.

Now, I can hear our good anti-Mason Baptist brothers loudly protesting, “It wasn’t us, it was them Catholic Christians.” That is the same argument the Freemasons from every other state could use, “It wasn’t us, it was them New York Masons,” But regardless, it was still the Christian Catholic Church and it’s Priests who terrorized the world at that time. And, it is also a historical fact that at that time, the Catholic Church (including the Eastern Orthodox) was the only Christian denomination in the world. So, it was Christians who committed torture and mass murders, in the name of God, for forty years.

If millions of men in the Masonic Fraternity must be held responsible for the murder of one man, that was committed by 3 radicals who were Freemasons, then it is equally just that all Christians (including myself) must be held responsible for the torture and murder of thousands of humans that was committed by Christians.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Masonry, Is It Practiced As We Swore We Would, Or As It Suits Us?



"I don't see no Jews or Muslims in here! We ain't gotta worry about that!"

I was messing around on the internet the other morning about 3:00 A.M.(It happens when you are in your late 70’s) and wandered into a blog site entitled the “Burning Taper” created by a young college educated Mason living in a small rural Georgia town. One of the posts was titled “Small Town Freemasonry” which of course caught my eye. Another thing I noticed was that it was in 4 parts and very long (including viewer’s posted comments). As I sometime do on the really long ones, is to temporally “copy and paste” into a Word file so I can read it at my leisure. Including comments, it was 49 pages long. The next thing that caught my eye was the statement above.

The post was written By the ex-Junior Warden of a Lodge in a small Georgia town. As the Junior Warden “law giver”, he was making a short talk that stated that according to the Georgia Grand Lodge law, anything pertaining to religion or politics could not be mentioned during a meeting of the Lodge. Grand Lodge also provides the proper non-sectarian prayers to be used in meetings in the “Monitor” book.

"Brethren, that means, technically, that we should not be closing our prayers 'in Jesus’ name', but rather simply direct our prayers to God."

You would have thought I'd asked everyone to disrobe, kill a virgin and sing Sympathy for the Devil or something! You've never seen a bunch of bored old fish-fry Masons come to life so quickly!

I lost the floor immediately in a torrent of unhappy and unpleasant comments, most of which came from Past Masters who you'd think that, if they didn't know better about the context, at least would know better about the decorum of jumping down my throat.”

"You ain't puttin' no other book on that altar!"
"We can pray any way WE want!"
You're talking about idols! They worship idols!"
"I don't see no Jews or Muslims in here! We ain't gotta worry about that!"
[my favorite] "I thought you had to be a Christian to be a Mason!"

At the next election, the Junior Warden lost the election for the Senior Warden’s seat by an almost unanimous vote of the Lodge.


Do our brothers in the deep south really still react that way, I thought as I read? Then I remembered a couple of years ago when we were to confer the EA degree on a Jewish man, whose grandfather had been a charter member, in the Hempstead Masonic Lodge where I was Secretary. I ask during a meeting, if we shouldn’t have the candidate bring the Holy Book of the Jewish faith so he could take his oath on it rather then the Christian Bible because the Christian Bible would mean nothing to him and his oath would not be binding in his belief in God.

“No way,” A Past Master jumped up and hollered, “if he’s gonna join my Lodge, he’s gonna use my Bible.”


[The last half of this post, regarding the Grand Lodge of Texas moving forward by including the Prince Hall Grand Lodges of California and Connecticut in the book “2005 LIST OF LODGES MASONIC”, has been deleted. The deleted section was based on confusing information in the book.

At the bottom of the 2005 edition’s front cover, there is the printed notation, "This Book to be kept in each Lodge for reference in Receiving Visitors and on Applications for Affiliation." On the inside front cover it is printed, “Fifty-one Grand Lodges of the United States - Two Prince Hall Grand Lodges Of U.S.A. On page 26 the “Prince Hall Grand Lodge Of California F & AM” is listed and on page 29 the “Prince Hall Grand Lodge Of Connecticut F & AM” is listed.

After a suggestion, in a comment posted by Brother Ashok Mahbubani, I went back and read the 4 lines of tiny print, at the bottom of a list of active Texas Lodges on page 104. The last two lines state,

“The Grand Lodge Of Texas does not recognize the following: Brazil: Mato Grosso; Mexico: Valle de; Prince Hall Grand Lodges of California and Connecticut.”

This of course, meant the deleted half of the post was based on incorrect information due to being confusing and easily misinterpreted.]

Corky


Saturday, October 07, 2006

Freemasonry Must Be The World’s Biggest Failure?

At 78 years old and after holding just about every chair in the blue Lodge, I have finally realized what a failure Masonry has been. Yes, I am still a Mason, a lodge officer and am very proud of it.

Let me explain. Every anti-Masonic “preacher” that you hear in the pulpit, every anti-Masonic brochure or book you see, every anti-Masonic web site you read on the internet, or every anti-Masonic program you see on the television loudly tells us how Freemasonry’s main purpose to take over and rule the world.

Freemasons has been out in the open and not hidden from anyone for 289 years and they are no closer to ruling the world now then they were when the first Grand Lodge was organized in London in 1717. If world domination has ever been Masonry’s goal, they haven’t even made a tiny dent in the program. If I was the most rabid anti-Mason preacher in the country, I don’t think I would worry about the Masons ruling the world.

I would worry a whole lot more about my followers discovering that the Freemasons have proven to be a benign organization trying to do good for mankind and I would lose a major source of income from selling hate filled brochures, hate filled pamphlets, hate filled Videos, hate filled CDs and even hate filled comic strips.

Speaking of people or groups who want to destroy the U.S. and take over the world, how many have there been? The current contenders are Usama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah Khomeini, the Taliban, Al-Zarqawi and al-Qaeda, the P.L.O., Hizbullah, Hamas and Iran and Muammar Qaddafi

In the generation before there was Nikita Khrushchev and the Communist Soviet Union, The war against North Korea and China and of course, the war against Ho Chi Minh and North Vietnam.

Then in the WWII era there was Adolph Hitler and Germany, Benito Mussolini and Italy, Emperor Hirohito and Japan and Fransisco Franco and Spain and shortly after the war Joseph Stalin and the Communist Soviet Union. And then, even back through Kaiser Wilhelm II and Germany of WWI.

All of the men governments and terrorist organizations listed above worked for the same goal, destroy America and rule the world.

The funny thing about that is that not one of these hundreds of thousands of people were Freemasons and every single one of those dictators and leaders outlawed Freemasonry, arrested, imprisoned and executed Masons just for being a Freemason. Kind of like so many of them did with the Christians. But millions of Freemasons fought and were wounded and died fighting against anyone who wanted to rule the world.

It is interesting that many of our, so called Christian leaders, have joined forces with the likes of Usama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah Khomeini, Al-Zarqawi, Muammar Qaddafi, Nikita Khrushchev, Ho Chi Minh, Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Emperor Hirohito, Fransisco Franco, Joseph Stalin and Kaiser Wilhelm II in trying to wipe out Freemasonry, so they alone can control the thoughts of their people and their leadership can never be questioned.

With a group of despots, like those listed above, against Freemasonry their must be something good about it. Maybe being a failure at some things isn’t so bad after all.

I almost forgot to mention, many of the rabid anti-Masonry Christian leaders link Freemasonry with the Jews in trying to rule the world. Now take a look at the Jewish nation. After thousand of years, the Jews once again rule their ancient homeland, the country of Israel with a total area of 20,770 sq km, a country that is slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey. Now, that is really a failure at ruling the world.

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