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The Claims of Freemasons vs. the Hidden Truth of Freemasonry
Is Freemasonry simply the world’s largest benevolent fraternal order or are Freemasons members of a satanic secret society conspiring to rule the world?
Freemasonry is the largest and most widely established fraternal order in the world. The masons’ guilds were originally restricted to stonecutters, but with the completion of the building of the cathedrals in the 17th century, and especially in England during the Reformation, they admitted as members men of wealth or social status.
As a result of the patronage of the order by members of the nobility, the rising British mercantile class looked upon Freemasonry as an adjunct to social success, and the order became popular. The purported Masonic ideals of religious toleration and the basic equality of all people were in keeping with the growing spirit of liberalism during the 18th century. One of the supposed basic tenets of the Masonic orders throughout the English-speaking world has been that religion is the concern solely of the individual. Opposition on the part of the Roman Catholic Church has been chiefly on the grounds that Freemasonry, with its binding principles and religious nature, has usurped the prerogatives of the church. As a result, the Freemasons have never been permitted in some strictly Roman Catholic countries, such as Spain. In France, however, following the rebellion and atheistic trend of the French Revolution, the order flourished.
Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at over 6,000,000 Masons worldwide (about 200,000 in Canada, 4,000,000 in the United States around 480,000 in England, Scotland and Ireland). There are about 33,000 lodges worldwide.
According to the Freemasonry.org web site, “Freemasonry is the oldest and largest worldwide fraternity dedicated to the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of a Supreme Being.” The official statement goes on to publically claim, “Although of a religious nature, Freemasonry is not a religion. It urges its members, however, to be faithful and devoted to their own religious beliefs.”
The fraternity is administratively organized into Grand Lodges (or sometimes Grand Orients), each of which governs its own jurisdiction, which consists of subordinate (or constituent) Lodges. Grand Lodges recognize each other through a process of landmarks and regularity. Regularity is a constitutional mechanism whereby Grand Lodges or Grand Orients give one another mutual recognition. This recognition allows formal interaction at the Grand Lodge level, and gives individual Freemasons the opportunity to attend Lodge meetings in other recognized jurisdictions. Masonic Landmarks are a set of principles that many Freemasons claim to be “both ancient and unchangeable precepts of Masonry.”
Every Masonic Lodge elects certain officers to execute the necessary functions of the lodge's work. The Worshipful Master (interesting title for an organization which is not a religion) is always an elected officer. Most jurisdictions will also elect the Senior and Junior Wardens (Vice Presidents), the Secretary and the Treasurer. All lodges will have a Tyler, or Tiler, (who guards the door to the lodge room while the lodge is in session), sometimes elected and sometimes appointed by the Master. In addition to these elected officers, lodges will have various appointed officers – such as Deacons, Stewards, and a Chaplain (appointed to lead a non-denominational prayer at the convocation of meetings or activities – also interesting titles for an organization which is not a religion). The specific offices and their functions vary between jurisdictions.
There are two Masonic systems called the York Rite and the Scottish Rite. Neither has any connection, historically or otherwise, with York, England, or Scotland. The York Rite was formed in the late 18th century. Its first step is called Capitular and the members Royal Arch Masons (4 degrees); the next step is Cryptic and the members Royal and Select Masons (3 degrees); and the final step is Chivalric and the members Knights Templar (3 orders). The Scottish Rite was formed in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1801 and has 33 degrees including three Symbolic Lodge Degrees.
Masons conduct their meetings using a ritualized format. All Masonic ritual makes use of the architectural symbolism of the tools of the medieval operative stonemason. Freemasons, as speculative masons (meaning philosophical building rather than actual building), claim that they use this symbolism to teach moral and ethical lessons of the principles of "Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth" – or as related in France: "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity".
Symbolic tools always found in a Lodge are the square and compasses. Some Lodges and rituals explain these tools as lessons in conduct: for example, that Masons should "square their actions by the square of virtue" and to learn to "circumscribe their desires and keep their passions within due bounds toward all mankind". These moral lessons are communicated in performance of allegorical ritual. A candidate progresses through degrees gaining knowledge and understanding of himself, his relationship with others and his relationship with the Supreme Being (as per his own interpretation). In the ritual, the Supreme Being is referred to as the Great Architect of the Universe, which alludes to the use of architectural symbolism within Freemasonry
Down through the ages there have been many secret societies and conspiratorial movements that had as their goals absolute rule of the world, overthrow of all existing governments, and the final destruction of all religion; for example, the early anti-Christian mysticism of the Gnostics and the apostate Order of the Knights Templar. From the 13th through the 17th centuries such groups as the Luciferians and Rosicrucians continued the war against Christianity that had begun in Europe with the Templars.
By the middle of the 18th century, remnants and parallels of various destructive movements began to associate under a central group which was to create a continuing organizational structure that would someday, its founders hoped, rule the world after all existing religions and governments had been destroyed. The intellectual base for this movement was laid in the mid-18th century by Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and other members of the Paris Academy. This fraternity, which sought the destruction of Christian-style civilization, referred to itself grandly as the “Philosophes.”
Voltaire’s influence over King Frederick of Prussia and the publication of Diderot’s Encyclopédie, beginning in 1751, testified of the Philosophes’ early success. The conspirators hoped that the Encyclopédie would become a standard reference source wherein every literate person would seek knowledge on all subjects and thus receive propaganda against civil order and the Christian religion. Its publication caused the influence of this group to grow rapidly.
Voltaire bore an implacable hatred of all religions, of all monarchs, and of all morality derived from religious belief. He was obsessed with a fiendish desire for the total destruction of all three. He ended all his letters with the battle cry, “Let us crush the wretch! Crush the wretch!” The “wretch” to whom he referred, of course, is Christ and His Church. Christians, said Voltaire, are “beings exceedingly injurious, fanatics, thieves, dupes, imposters … enemies of the human race.” In the war against Christianity, according to Voltaire, “It is necessary to lie like a devil, not timidly and for a time, but boldly and always.”
Dr. Adam Weishaupt was the son of a Jewish rabbi. When his father died in 1753, he was converted to Catholicism by Baron Johann Adam Ickstatt, who turned the early training of the boy over to the Jesuits. Although Weishaupt later became a priest, he developed a distinct hatred for the Jesuits, and became an atheist. Inspired by the radical Philosophes and instructed by a mysterious occultist named Kölmer, Adam Weishaupt, a professor of Canon Law at the University of Ingolstadt (in Bavaria, Germany) established a continuing organizational structure to direct the worldwide attack on religion and monarchy — a structure which would, he hoped, eventually rule the world. The organization Weishaupt founded on May 1, 1776 was called the “Order of the Illuminati.” He wanted to replace Christianity with a religion of reason. Illuminati means enlightened ones.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15
And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Weishaupt planned for the Order to maintain publicly the image of a charitable and philanthropic organization. It was this “image” which attracted so many German educators and Protestant clergymen to the Order. When they joined they were convinced that the goal of the Order was the purest form of Christianity, to make of all mankind “one happy and prosperous family.” Once enlisted as novices or “Minervals” in the Order, those who were prepared for deeper commitment were allowed to advance to the rank of Illuminatus Minor, where they were told that the only obstruction to the Order’s goal of universal happiness was the power being held by the religious and governmental institutions of the world. Accordingly, the leaders of these institutions — monarchs (or future monarchs) and clergymen — had either to be brought under the control of the Order or destroyed. If such a prospect frightened the new Illuminatus Minor, he was kept inactive at this level until his ethical concepts were altered.
As Weishaupt stated, “These [ruling] powers are despots when they do not conduct themselves by its [the Order’s] principles; and it is therefore our duty to surround them with its members, so that the profane may have no access to them. Thus we are able most powerfully to promote its [the Order’s] interests. If any person is more disposed to listen to Princes than to the Order, he is not fit for it, and must rise no higher. We must do our utmost to procure the advancement of Illuminati into all important civil offices.”
After the candidate had proven his absolute devotion to the secrets of the Order, he was allowed to enter the top-level circle of initiates as an Illuminatus Major, just below the position of Rex (Man-God) held by Weishaupt. By now, all conventional idealism had been purged from the candidate and he was told about the real objectives of the Order: rule of the world, to be accomplished after the destruction of all existing governments and religions. He was now required to take an oath which bound his every thought and action, and his fate, to the administration of his superiors in the Order.
But Weishaupt did not simply rely on the sincerity of his disciples. He set up an elaborate spy network so that all members would constantly be checking on the loyalty of each other. The secret police of the Order killed anyone who tried to inform the authorities about the conspiracy. This band was known as the “Insinuating Brethren” and had as its insignia an all-seeing eye. This is the same symbol that appears on the U.S. one dollar bill known as the Great Seal above an unfinished pyramid – another Masonic symbol. Of course the inscription below Novus Ordo Seclorum is Latin for “A New Order of the Ages.”
As a reward for selling himself totally to the Order of the Illuminati, the top-level Illuminatus (of which there were few) was granted all the material and sensual benefits that could possibly be obtained. Weishaupt intended that “the power of the Order must be turned to the advantage of its members. All must be assisted. They must be preferred to all persons otherwise of equal merit. Money, services, honor, goods, and blood must be expended for the fully proved Brethren.”
This intricate conspiratorial structure among the economic, social, political, and cultural elite in Bavaria was tremendously successful: Within two years after the founding of the Order, all but two of the professorial chairs at the University of Ingolstadt were held by members of the Order. Furthermore, it is estimated that before 1789 there were at least 2,000 members of the Order in the German-speaking lands. Many of these were ministers, lawyers, doctors, and even a few princes. None were members of the lower classes, the agricultural working masses, or the serfs. The influence of the Order on German education and the German clergy was devastating. By 1800 many German ministers no longer believed the most basic tenets of Christian doctrine. They had been converted to the worship of “reason.”
The original writings of the Order included detailed instructions for fomenting hatred and bloodshed between different racial, religious, and ethnic groups — and even between the sexes. The idea of promoting hatred between children and their parents was introduced. There were even instructions about the kinds of buildings to be burned in urban insurrections. In short, virtually every tactic employed by 20th-century subversives was planned and written down by Adam Weishaupt over 200 years ago.
It was not until the summer of 1782 that the Order really began to grow in power and influence outside Bavaria. Having already contemplated the possibility of infiltrating the freemasonic bodies of Western Europe and then taking control of them, Weishaupt and his brilliant disciple, Baron Adolf von Knigge (Philo), at last had their chance. During that summer, leaders and delegates of the continental European freemasonic bodies met in a congress held in Wilhelmsbad. Acting as Weishaupt’s agent, von Knigge joined them and offered enticing promises of the secrets that the Illuminati had to offer. Von Knigge persuaded many of the German and French delegates to join Weishaupt’s movement, and they extended the influence of the Order into their individual lodges. The two leaders of German freemasonry, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick and Prince Karl of Hesse, joined the Order, thus bringing the whole of German freemasonry under the control of the Illuminati.
Another important new disciple was the French Count Honoré Gabriel Mirabeau, who was brought into the Order while in Germany and who was chosen to take Weishaupt’s system to France. The Duke of Orléans, leader of the Grand Orient Lodge in Paris, was a key Illuminatus. Through the Grand Orient lodges, the Illuminati created and controlled the Jacobin Club houses in Paris, through which the most violent and subversive revolutionaries were mobilized in anticipation of the French revolution.
The French Revolution was not a spontaneous uprising of the oppressed masses. In France, the ten years prior to 1789 had seen the development of greater social and political reform by the monarchy than ever before. The lot of the common people had steadily improved and there was no visible discontent due to economic misery. The upheaval was not a chance event, but an orchestrated effort to create a new political order.
Not surprisingly, the clergy was singled out as an object of relentless persecution and eventual extermination. Churches were profaned and prostitutes were worshiped on their altars. The campaign to de-Christianize France included even the creation of a new calendar stripped of religious significance. Assaults were mounted against religious education, and the first conscription for military service was put into effect. The rule of civil government and authority in Paris dropped to an unprecedented low during the Reign of Terror which began in 1794. The Terror also claimed the lives of many Illuminists as mob violence spun out of control.
Just before his execution in 1794, the Illuminist Robespierre, who had presided over much of the Terror, advocated the systematic extermination of 15 million Frenchmen so that the remaining food supplies would be adequate. Although this prototype ecological “depopulation” program was not fully implemented, the Terror did extinguish the lives of at least 300,000 Frenchmen — 297,000 of whom were members of the middle and lower agricultural and working classes. As always, the “people’s revolution” primarily victimized its alleged beneficiaries.
In 1788, after the suppression of Illuminism in Bavaria, Karl Bahrdt and Baron von Knigge attempted to revive it under the name of the German Union, which soon came to control the book selling and publishing business in the German lands; this assured that only those books on religion, philosophy, and politics which were acceptable to the Order would be available and read by the public. However, it was not until 1810 that the Order was revived in what is now Germany, this time under the name of the Tugendbund.
By 1815, Weishaupt’s ambassadors had begun to extend their influence into many parts of the world beyond Bavaria and France. Among the personages and organizations responsible for extending the Illuminati’s infiltration and power throughout Europe were Filippo Michele Buonarroti and his Sublimes Maitres Parfaits (Sublime Perfect Masters), and Louis Auguste Blanqui and the Société des Saisons (Society of the Seasons). Those two branches of the Illuminati formed the source of the League of the Just, which commissioned Karl Marx to write the Communist Manifesto in 1848. Following publication of the Manifesto, the League of the Just changed its name to the Communist League. The Illuminists provided the unseen hand behind the staged communist revolts of 1848, which convulsed France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. This inaugurated the era of communist subversion, infiltration, and control of governments across the globe — an era which has not ended.
The Masonic lodge was established in 1729 in the United States, while the lodge started in Canada during 1745.
The most popular definition of Freemasonry states that it is “a unique system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols”.
In 1871, General Albert Pike, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite in Washington D.C., in a work called “Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry,” wrote the following:
“Masonry, like all the Religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled ...”
“The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple; part of the symbols is displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them. Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry.”
An Entered Apprentice is deceived from the beginning. The rites and rituals of Freemasonry are directly derived from ancient occult mysteries. Anton LaVey wrote the following in his book, “The Satanic Rituals — Companion to the Satanic Bible”:
“Satanic Ritual is a blend of Gnostic, Cabbalistic, Hermetic, and Masonic elements, incorporating nomenclature and vibratory words of power from virtually every mythos .... Masonic orders have contained the most influential men in many governments, and virtually every occult order has many Masonic roots.”
“Freemasonry is a fraternity within a fraternity — an outer organization concealing an inner brotherhood of the elect. Freemasonry has the outward appearance of a men’s club devoted to charitable ventures. But this philanthropic image is for the benefit of lower initiates and the general public to conceal its occult nature and true goals of destroying all existing governments and abolition of all religions so that the Luciferian ideology of a totalitarian elite may be imposed on mankind.
How is someone initiated? When a member is initiated into the lodge, he starts in what is referred to as the Blue Lodge. There are three levels at this stage. Level 1 is the "Entered Apprentice,” level 2 is the "Fellow Craft" and level 3 is the "Master Mason". The vast majority of Masons (at least 90 percent) never go beyond this third degree. After becoming a third degree Mason, if you choose to go further, you have the choice of entering either the Scottish or the York rites. The York rite has 43 degrees while the Scottish rite has 33 degrees (with the 33rd degree being honorary). There are at least 90 hidden degrees in Masonry. Every degree costs up to $100.00 or more with dues, memberships, etc. to be paid as well, so there is a great deal of money to be made throughout this organization. Most who decide to proceed into the higher degrees go through the Scottish rite. Once you have completed all the degrees of the Scottish rite or the York rite you are now to be sworn in to the highest degrees of Freemasonry. This "highest degree graduate" of the Scottish rite can then enter, “the Ancient and Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.” Or in short he is now officially a "Shriner".
“The symbol of the Order is a crescent moon, made from the claws of a Bengal tiger, engraved with a pyramid, an urn and a pentagram. The crescent is suspended from a scimitar and in the Order is a representation of the Universal Mother worshipped in ancient times as Isis.
What about the Shriners and their costumes? Where did the red Fez with the Islamic sword and crescent come from? Understand, that in order to become a Shriner you must swear allegiance to Allah, the God of Islam. In the early 8th century Muslims were conquering the northern continent of Africa. When they got to Fez, Morocco they found 50,000 Christians who would not bow down to Allah so they massacred them. The streets ran thick with their blood, and then the Muslims dipped their hats into the blood to celebrate the victory. Shriners wear the red Fez in order to celebrate the defeat of Christianity.
Shriners are well known for their “Shriner Circus” where they claim to raise money for their burn hospitals. In June, 1986, a daily newspaper in Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reported that less than 2% of the circus money raised actually went to the hospitals and that, by 1982, the Shriners had become the richest charity in America, amassing $1.2 billion in assets. Of the $17.5 million raised in 1984, $17.3 million went into their own pockets while only $182,051 went to support the hospitals! The Shriner hospitals are a “front” appealing to compassionate hearts in order to accumulate great wealth for the Shriners themselves!
As of September 30, 2004, Forbes reports that the Shriners had assets of $8.62 billion. Of the $948 million raised, the Shriners retained $412 million with only a slight more than half, $505 million going to charitable services! Top Shriner, Ralph Semb, was paid over $400,000 in salaries. As of December 31, 2006, Forbes magazine reports the Shriners have amassed a $9.54 billion empire retaining $636 million of the money raised that same year. Top Shriner, James Full, collected over $1,200,000 in salaries.
During each of the first three degrees, the initiate must first have his jacket, tie and money removed. His right shoe is removed and replaced with a slipper. His shirt is opened to show his left breast and his left trouser is rolled up over his knee. He is then blindfolded and a noose is placed around his neck. He is led to the outer door of the sanctuary and told he is in darkness and only Masons have the light of the world. A sword or knife is placed to the left breast of the initiate and while he is blindfolded he is led to the “worshipful master” of the lodge. The initiate is required to bow down before the “worshipful master” and is required to state that he is “lost in darkness and needs the light of Freemasonry”. He is told never to reveal the secrets of the lodge, as he is about to learn them or else bear the consequences. Then with his hand or thumb to his neck he is required to recite an oath part of which says, “...binding myself to no less penalty than having my throat cut across and my tongue torn out by its roots and buried in the rough sands of the sea”.
The second degree requires the following recital; “...binding myself under no less penalty than having my left breast torn open and having my heart plucked out and given as prey to the wild beasts of the field and the fowl of the air”.
The third degree requires the following recital; “...binding myself under no less penalty than having my body severed in twain, my bowels taken from hence and burned in ashes”. One of the Templar's oaths which is done before a human skull states, “as the sins of the whole world were once visited upon the head of our Saviour, so may all the sins of the person whose skull this once was, in addition to my own be heaped upon my head, and may this libation appear in judgment against me, should I ever knowingly or willingly violate my most solemn vow of a Knight Templar, so help me God...”.
These oaths are supposedly made to protect the secret handshakes, passwords, etc. as well as the lost name of God. After three degrees the initiate is supposed to receive the lost name of God, but instead they are given “Mah-Hah-Bone”, and are told that they must go higher to receive the name of God.
Every level is another act of deception. At level 13 you get the name “Jah-Bul-On” as the name of God, which refers to a three headed God made up of Jehovah, Baal and On (another name for Osiris). Masons claim this is a trinity of Gods which they worship and when three Masons greet themselves together they are required to chant this name and hold all their hands together in the shape of three sixes (666) while doing this.
The 17th level name of God is Abaddon who is described in Rev. 9:11 as the angel with the keys to the abyss. In each degree the Mason is deliberately deceived and also required to swear allegiance to a different god.
Those who obtain the highest degrees of Freemasonry, the 30th degree and above, are encouraged to maintain the purity of Luciferian doctrine. They claim that, “If Lucifer were not god, would Adonay (Jesus) whose deeds prove his cruelty, perfidy, and hatred of man, barbarism and repulsion for science, would Adonay and his priests calumniate (spread false statements about) him?...Yes Lucifer is God, and unfortunately Adonay is also god. For the eternal law is that there is no light without shade, no beauty without ugliness, no white without black, for the absolute can only exist as two gods: darkness being necessary for light to serve as its foil as the pedestal is necessary to the state... and the true and pure philosophical religion is the belief in Lucifer, the equal of Adonay; but Lucifer, God of Light and God of Good, is struggling for humanity against Adonay, the God of Darkness and Evil."
Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
President Obama, his cabinet, many Senators, top military brass, the heads of the richest corporations, the media elite and the wealthiest bankers are associated with the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations. These groups, many whose members are Freemasons, wish to destroy national sovereignty and control the masses. According to biblical prophecy their goal to create a one world government and establish a one world monetary system will soon be fulfilled.
I believe that many sincere Christians have spent time, energy and money trying to put out fires such as “The Hates Crime Bill” and “The Fairness Doctrine” believing that they can influence their politicians into stopping antichristian legislation or hoping that the government will take action against such important issues as illegal immigration or the economic crisis. But the “shadow government” of the Illuminati intentionally created those crises. We no longer have a representative form of government because the president and the legislature owe their allegiance to the rich lobbyists and the liberal media. Our hope is not in our government but in our God. We are strangers and aliens in this world. It is not our home. We are citizens of heaven and ambassadors of Christ. We have been distracted from our purpose which is to fulfill the Great Commission.
Now is the time to pray hard for revival and share the Gospel!
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