Scottish Rite Masonry and Religion--Pt.2

How are so many people deceived by Masonry and why do they seek it out in the first place? 


People want to be accepted and beyond that to feel special. Masonry uses secrecy to draw these people in. Their vanity is stoked because they are chosen to be a member of a group that others are not admitted to. Then they use symbols and analogy to indoctrinate them.

You know that apples and oranges are not the same thing. But if you are told persistently that an orange is just another symbol which represents the apple, you might begin to look at apples and oranges in a different light. Suppose you originally had a preference for apples. You could be deceived to believe that it made no difference which one you ate if not that they were one and the same. Over a period of time, you could be convinced that oranges were preferable.

The teaching methods used by Masons teach those who have a particular faith that it is the same as Masonry. Masonry also teaches those that have no particular belief that they should have one. Then gradually a man's beliefs are replaced by Luciferianism. Sometimes the man still believes that he has retained his original faith, but has now gained a greater understanding of it through Masonry, because Masonry claims to teach things that God doesn't set down for all Christians, Muslims or Jews. This knowledge is only for a select few.

The following is some of what Masonic writers themselves say about their teachings:

"Freed of limitations of creed and sect he [the Mason] stands master of all faiths. Freemasonry...is not a creed or doctrine but a universal expression of Divine Wisdom...a very secret and sacred philosophy that has existed for all time, and has been the inspiration of the great saints and sages of all ages; i.e., the perfect wisdom of God, revealing itself through a secret hierarchy of illumined minds."

---Manly P. Hall

Reading between the lines, Hall was saying several troubling things. First he is saying, Masonry is above and superior to all faiths. Despite the fact that the larger religions believe they are divinely inspired, Masons believe that for some reason they are in possession of wisdom that has existed since the beginning of the world. The problem with that is it makes it necessary to believe that God still found it necessary to establish religion for the rest of us that they [Masons] do not have to follow. This would mean he has a preference for them. But the Bible says, God is not a respecter of persons.

You would also have to believe that God expects us to behave in a certain way, but hid the rules among the Masons or that God is afraid that we really can become gods and that is why he hid the knowledge from us. It really doesn't matter whether we are speaking of the Judeo-Christian God, who the Muslims call Allah or if we are referring to their god, Lucifer; because apparently, Lucifer doesn't want too many of us becoming gods either, or he is aware that it is a deception and knows that if too many people are privy to the secrets, the deception will come to light.

Whether or not you believe that Lucifer or Yahweh is the superior god, it is not logical to believe that he is the all knowing creator of the universe, which requires an orderly system, and then to think that he wants the majority of the world to be mislead as to what truth actually is.

Another thing that Hall is saying is that all other religions of the world are based on Masonry. This contradicts another Masonic writer, Colin F.W. Dyer, who says that Masonry takes its traditions from other religions. "There is one fact which must always be borne in mind...as time passes, men...weave new legends round old customs, or import them from another school of belief. This tendency can be traced in Masonry in many ways. More than one meaning lies hidden in our silent emblems, and the ostensible explanation given in the ceremony is usually neither the original nor the most profound meaning attached to it."

Albert Pike also claimed that Masonic teachings are superior to Christianity. If this were true, why would they encourage Christians to study the Bible, believing it to be inferior?

"Christianity taught the doctrine of fraternity; but repudiated that of political equality, by continually inculcating obedience to Caesar, and to those lawfully in authority. Masonry was the first apostle of equality."

In actuality, Christians are told to obey Caesar in some things and God in others, because we are not supposed to be making worldly things our priority. Christians are told to follow their conscience when they which to obey, God or government. The Bible also teaches that God does not hold one man more important than another and that men who under the government of other men, are still their equals. God does not determine equality by worldly means.

Why do so many men, who believe themselves to be faithful adherents of their religion, join an organization that believes it's teachings are superior to religion? Some understanding of this can be found in their writings.

Colin F. W. Dyer wrote, "It is possible to give a Christian interpretation to the whole of Craft Masonry, including all its symbols,...and no one can deny the correctness of that interpretation. But before Christianity existed systems similar to our own were known and venerated, and some of their symbolism and teaching has undoubtedly linked up with Freemasonry. It is therefore natural that a non-Christian interpretation should also exist, and be just as correct."

He also said, "The First Degree of Masonry teaches [the candidate] that his actions must be squared by the precepts contained in the Holy Bible, the constant study of which is strongly recommended."

"The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Part of the symbols are 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 explanation is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry."

Obviously, Masons want recruits that have already exhibited a tendency toward higher morals, not because they support those morals, but because in order to adopt these morals, those men have to be intelligent, ingenious persons. They also had to have been willing to allow themselves to be led at some point in their life in order to adopt those morals. They want to belong and are not unsociable loners who have any tendency toward individualism. They recruit followers. They would not like a Mark Twain, who said, "I would not belong to any organization that have me as a member."

Unless you were diligently resistant to being led astray, if you were willing to be led to a moral life, you could easily be led to change your course. This is why it is generally better to seek out truth on your own and develop an understanding of it on your own rather than have it brought to to you. You don't have to contend with the possible ulterior motives of the messenger that way.

Once they have recruited the sort of man that they look for, they consider then a resource that can be drawn upon for the accomplishment of their ultimate goals.

"Though the whole extent and origin of the plan was known only to an initiate few, members of the outer order were subjected to a selective system by which they could attain to numerous degrees and proportionately receive deeper insight into the work. This in turn spurred them to a greater effort and endeavor in their various occupations and stations in life, and made them useful instruments."

---Marie Bauer Hall

Luciferianism or Satanism In English Freemasonry:

An Essay, by L. Fouquet, O.M.I. 1898

"Bro. J. Hogg, 13 Paternoster Row, London, published in 1888, the third edition of what we call a BLUE tract for Masonic propogandism. It clearly points out the distinction between the esoteric and exoteric doctrines of the Craft. Under the heading "Symbolical Teaching and Secret Doctrines of Freemasonry", it says as follows:--"The members of the Craft WHO CAN DISCERN the "secret meaningof the symbolical teaching of the Lodge, need not be told that when we assert Masonry to be a science embracing things human and divine, we simply state an indisputable fact, gladly as we would prove it to other members, yet in these pages addressed to the general reader as well, we dare not do so;

but this we will say that to understand THE DEEPEST SECRETS OF NATURE,the only was is to search the meaning HIDDEN under Masonic symbols, the ESOTERIC DOCTRINES of Masonic teaching. The JEWELS are significant of IMPORTANT VERITIES, its SIGNS are pertinent monitions and the affectionate expression of fraternal solicitude; its PASSWORDS are carefully selected words conveying to those WHO COMPREHEND THEM much of valuable thought and of wisdom derived from ancient times. Its badges are implements of industry. A few explanations will make the matter more clear. What follows may be termed EXOTERIC teaching,but there lies in it a FAR DEEPER ESOTERIC meaning."

"The SQUARE is an emblem of our duty to God and man indicated by the two limbs, the greater and the lesser. It teaches duty by reminding us that all our actions should be guided by the strict rules of rectitude."

"The COMPASS as the implement by which we describe a circle which is confined within the boundary of its circumference, reminds us we should at all times keep our desires within due "bounds".

"Both the SQUARE and COMPASS are also emblematical of themathematical sciences and useful arts."

...."A great Masonic work by 80 Luminaries of the craft gives it clearly enough[the esoteric meanings]where they speak of the Divine plan:--

"SQUARE of Reason and Virtue, Monad; COMPASS of Mercy and Faith, Duad, The junction of the Monad with the Duad constitutes UNION, and GENERATION results."

This is obviously meaning that there is a phallic symbolism to the square and compass, and fertility symbolism as well.

"The G so conspicuously prominent in the Temples of the Great Architect of the Universe, means God to the eyes of the Christians who are Masons, and Geometry to the more advanced craftsmen who do not care in what sort of a God they believe. The Regius M.S. in the Royal Library British Museum (No. 17 AI) is a very ancient Constitution of the English Freemasonry; it tells them": "At these Lords' prayer they counterfeited Geometry,And gave it the name of Masonry,For the most honest craft of all."

"The G which the Freemasons place in the center of the Blazing Star signifies Gnosis or Generation, the two sacred words of the Ancient Kabala. It also means the Great Architect, for the Pentagram (Blazing Star) on whatever side we view it represents an A. (See ch. SVI)"

"The Masonic Eagle is also double faced, double headed.

The EIGHTY modern Luminaries of the English craft teach the same double faced doctrine;"

"The survey or observation of Nature, shows us that all objects within our immediate knowledge belong to one or other of the three natural kingdoms--mineral, vegetable, animal."

"When in the beginning by the fiat of the Great Creator matter was called to existence, the elements of these three kingdoms were CREATED or existed FROM ALL ETERNITY. Man belongs to the animal kingdom."

This is basically saying that Masons can choose whether to believe God created the Universe or to believe that the Universe always existed, and since it did not need to be created, then God is not necessary.

The majority of the Christian word is familiar with the initials I.N.R.I. We know that it stands for Jesus Nazareus Rex Judeoru, Jesu of Nazareth King of the Jews. But Masons teach it as Igni Natura Renovatur Integra--By fire Nature is Renewed in its integrity. This regenerating fire is also Phallic symbolism.

Gould's History, VOL. I, page 25:

"By those authors who attempt to prove that all secret fraternities from but the successive links of an unbroken chain, it is alleged that the ESOTERIC doctrines which in Egypt, in Persia, and in Greece, preserved the speculations of the wise from the ears and tongues of an ILLITERATE Multitude,passed, with slight modification, into the possession of the early Christian heretics; from the Gnostic schools of Syria and Egypt to their successors, the Manicheans, and that from these through the Paulicans,

Albigenses and Templars they have been bequeathed to the modern Freemasons."

"Gnosticism was the earliest attempt to construct a philosophical system of faith. It was a speculative system, and excercised little influence upon the masses of the people. The Gnostics were imperceptibly divided into more than fifty particularsects, of whom the most celebrated appear to have been the Basildeans, the Valentinians, the Marcionites,and, in a still later period, the Manicheans--Gnosticism was an attempt to solve the great problems of theology by combining the elements of Pagan Mysticism with the Jewish and Christian traditions."

"From the fact that many genuine Gnostic symbols have come down to us, or reappear in speculative Masonry, it has been contended, that whereas Gnosis, in its last and greater manifestation, the Composite Religion of Manes, absorbed within itself the relics of the Mithraic faith, so in turn the Manichean Talismans and Amulets have kept an unbroken existence through the sectaries of the Lebanon, the Soofees of Persia, the Templars, and the Brethren of the Rosy Cross. Von Hammer lends the weight of his authority in support of the Templar link; which however, he believes to have been forged at a very early period of the Gnostic heresy, and that it connected the Soldiers of the Cross with the 'OPHITES, and not the MANACHEANS,their far later successors.--

"According to Mackey, an instance of the TRANSMUTATION of Gnostic Talismans into Masonic symbols, by a gradual transmission through Alchemy, Rosicrucianism and Medieval Architechture, is afforded by a Plate in the"AZOTH PHILOSOPHORUM of Basil Valentine, the Hermetic Philosopher, who flourished in the seventeenth century.This Plate, which is Hermetic in its design, but is full of Masonic symbolism, represents a winged globe inscribed with a triangle within a square and on it reposes a dragon. On the latter stands a human figure of two hands and two heads surrounded by the sun, moon, five stars, representing the seven planets. One of the heads is that of a male, the other of a female. The hands attached to the male part of the figure hold THE COMPASSES, that to a female a SQUARE. The Square and Compasses thus distributed appear to have convinced Dr. Mackey that originally a PHALLIC meaning was attached to these symbols, as there was to the point within the circle, which in this Plate also appears in the centre of the globe. "The Compasses held by the male figure would represent the male generative principle, and the Square held by the female, the female

productive principle. The subsequent interpretation given to the combined Square and Compasses was the transmutation from the Hermetic Talisman to the Masonic Symbol."

R.F. Gould, History V.II, p. 67

"The proscription of the old pagan cultus and the bitter and continual persecution of all professors of secret and magical arts, which took place in the reign of the INFAMOUS Emperor Constantine, and was continued by Valentinian, Theodosius, and other shining lights of imperial Christianity, did not eradicate polytheism or destroy the adepts. The old religion and the old theurgic art took refuge in remote places; they were practised in stealth and in silence, and thus were presumably originated many of those mysterious secret societies which perpetuated the traditions of the Magi through the whole period of the Middle Ages,and in numerous magical rituals betray their connection with Neo-Platonism."

"The proscription of the magic and paganism was eventually followed by the proscription and persecution of the Jews, who, in like manner, were reduced to practice their religious rites in secret, and whose Oriental vindictiveness was frequently roused to frenzy by their intolerable sufferings and humiliations. Professors of Kabbalistic arts, firm believers in the virtues of invocations and verbal formulae, and addicted from time immemorial to every species of superstitious practices,

they directed their mystic machinery to do injury totheir enemies, and the infernal magic of the Middle Ages,with its profanation of Christian mysteries, ITS BLACK MASSES and impious invocations, is, in part at least, their creation."

"Thus Medieval occultism was essentially of a composite character. It borrowed, on the one hand,

from the Rabbinical wisdom of Israel, and on the other,from Pagan sources.The crusades made it subject to Arabic influence, which was definitely increased by the spread of alchemical notions from east to west, while from the debris of every vanished cultus which in barbaric times had ever flourished among the Teutonic and Celtic nations was built up the mythology of "nature spirits, the elfin world, and the strange doctrines concerning elementary intelligences."