Correction!

masonic god  (little g)

  Love-n-Grace

saintsalive.com    is a good resource for the masons. audio/ print dl avaiable.

Dear MartyMarie, ~three hours post meridian, sixteenth of may, 2008, "Friday"

 

Hehe, yeah, masons basically have a devotion to one another and a respect that should be given to God alone.  If to protect one of their own, they have to infringe on the commandments of the Living God, there is not much concern in their organization about that...so there is lots of death.

 

As far as the term "pagan" as it is used now, the attempt to renew the worship centered around self, this too can have some similar ending.

 

My experience in some wonderfully respectful and caring contemporary pagan's rooms was very educational, but ultimately of grave danger to my soul, since they tend to center (as a general rule) on sensuality and the dark elements. The root word for the british version is the same as the term for the kings of the east that came to worship Jesus in Bethlehem a couple of years after Jesus was born. Magi ("big" or "great ones of the earth" similar in word meaning to "Wicca", a common name for an earth-based nature devotional that has some of the same struggles as most other Non-Creator based connections to some diety.)

 

Lots of pagans are sincere in their worship, but realize that there is something lacking in their souls, that devotion to self just can't satisfy the joys of life eternal on that "old path",  "That Good way" that the Prince of Life has to offer. They don't yet realize that the old and Good way is that way of honoring God and His government and His Law, for the most part, but they are much more (as a whole) respectful of nature, which we as a movement of sorts (Seventh-day Adventist movement), could really learn from! Too often in my experience, we "civilized" aspects of the SDA church honour human traditions much more than we honour the Living God and nature has lots to teach us about life! This is where my respect for many of the contemporary pagans really rises!  "The love of money is the root of all evil."

 

An excellent analysis of the two (pagan vs Christian) came early on in the developement of The Way when Demetrius the silver-smith was instrumental in creating a disturbance, as you can read about in the New Testament. Here, the civil magistrate realized that this Way of Christ was not in conflict with any right law. We must remember that civil laws are in place to insure the freedoms of each member of society. If we infringe on the freedoms of others to worship whom they choose, when they are not harming us, than we are in the wrong.... in my humble perspective, the basic "Wiccan Rede" (counsel of those who are great in the knowledge of nature and or earthly knowledge) "Do what you will. Harm none." has merit. Paul the Apostle to the gentiles declares "Love does no harm to its neighbor, therefore, Love is the fulfilling of the law."

The devotion to images and other "curious arts", such as secret societies (ie Masons) are wont to do, limits the potential of humanity to be conformed to the Divine Image.

 

So, basically, don't go to the oracles of darkness (like one king in the Old Testament attempted to do, by sending someone to appeal to the god of  Ekron, Beelzebub/Beelzebul) when we have the opportunity to "Walk in the light as He is in the light, that we might become children of the light."  Those who seek to be led by some power of darkness will receive the wages of unrighteousness viz Saul the son of  Kis/Cis/Kish and Balaam the son of Beor/Bosor : and that is death.

 

Of course there are those who have never seen the light, but all three of those humans listed in the previous paragraph, had some awareness of the living God, they just desired to talk with some one else... May the true, the Living God spare us from destroying ourselves and others in that manner!

 

God has set before us in the Bible the way of life and the other way, and we can choose which way we will go! Why not choose life? Why not love Jesus and obey Him? Why not learn how to honour Him and His Father, rather than the pitiful elemental powers that will perish from under the heavens?

 

The main trouble with Christianity and secret societies such as masons

is that Jesus said that His followers have One Master, even Christ (according to my memory of a certain N. T. quotation of Jesus of  Nazareth, the King of the Jews) and all ye are brothers!

 

To have too many masters defeats the purpose of discipleship.

 

The concept of levels and castes and such are so foreign to my reading of Jesus basic principles (which is why the concept of popery is so out of place as well) that they just don't and can't be made to accommodate to each other.

 

Of course there is a book on "Free Methodism" that helped me a whole lot.

Some of the Methodists recognized that there members who also belonged to masons were basically defeating the unity that should be the key indicator of Christ's body.

 

To allow a professing Christian to address a fellow erring mortal with the title of "Worshipful Master", when even the unfallen angels refused to accept worship of fallen humanity, so seriously degenerates the great freedom that exists in blood-bought and redeemed humanity, so as to disobey the command of another passage in scripture. "Ye were bought with a price, do not become slaves of men."

 

Also, placing a creature (be it even a parent or of course, Satan, who readily accepts worship, even to the point of commanding it!) is a breach of the first and/or second of the basic ten words or commands that God gave to enlighten fallen humanity (and the unfallen worlds) as to what His character is.

 

In the old testament, if a man was a servant for a time (usually limited to seven years) and chose to leave after the time. He became a free man again (this was in Moses law, before the monarchy was established in Israel.) If, for some reason, he desired to remain with that household after his servitude was endend, he was deformed of a purpose and became a slave for life!

 

God desires humanity to achieve great things. When us humans voluntarily choose to be under some other power than God (or a husband, in this fallen world, where the male aspect of that mystical fleshly bond was ordained of God to be in the headship position of the family,) we are limiting our potential.  If we seek to be under our own authority (rejecting God's plan of salvation for us by being conformed to the divine image as it is in Jesus, our perfect example) we likewise will loose much and miss the blessings of obedience.  Jesus is to be the focus of the professing Christian, and as Paul shared "Follow me as I follow Christ" we can see God's image in the works of those who are accepted in the Beloved.  Christ Jesus identifies with those who have entered the path of conformity to the divine image by Baptism (the first pillar of Christianity).  As we continue in fellowshipping with one another and in the other pillar of Christianity, the ordinances instituted at the last supper ("Holy Communion" being the service of humility : footwashing, and partaking of the emblems of Christ body (unleavened bread (His broken and bruised body, with out sin) and the unfermented wine (His blood (His LIFE) shed for the remission of sins) we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

Yeah, we have a big contingency of masons at our local lodge.

 

I used to know a few, but they seemed to have died and currently there are none (that I know of) in my connection group.

 

I sure enjoy the little "Order of the Eastern Star" bibles. They are of such a suitable size when size (or the lack of it) matters.

 

They show up in after markets, and, though my collection is small (only two)

They are among my treasured books!

 

Humanity was designed to be a social system. Having a place in this world is part of our heritage.  Some of us find a place where we can relate with others.

 

On my way into town ai found a little flyer on some family fraternity type social group that used the word "Moose".

 

Some go to church.

 

Some seek to learn of some teacher and follow those principles laid down.

 

Some go to libraries.

 

Some make work their religion.

 

What ever we do, we have certain instincts and certain moral faculties that we use to discern some way for ourselves, (our families, if we are priviledged to have such an intimate social structure as such) and our things (if we happen to have any.)

 

Some use groups and chats and forums and what ever.

 

Social structures used to be involved with eating.

Lot's of primative (or basic) social units still revolve around that.

 

In many of our civilized areas of the world, eating together has become less of a family activity.

 

Eating together has a tendency to bind persons together, hence the importance attributed to food and such.

 

Even animals have this trait.

 

 

Well, my father's side of the family were Masons.  My aunts were, and are, all members of the Eastern Star.  Yes, I even had the opportunity to join Job's Daughters as a young girl.  Everything we did was sworn to secrecy, so it's not like you can "just ask" anyone and they'll tell you.  Doesn't work like that. 

When you join, you're sworn to secrecy.  But they don't use that wording to little girls as "supreme being".  They did, back in the 60's and 70's REQUIRE that you had a relative.  There was no such thing as "sponsors".  If you MUST know about the wording, the word God was used.  And since I no longer belong to that group, I don't necessarily think that they were referring to God in heaven, mind you.  When you're young and impressionable, you think of "God" as God in heaven, because most of the people who are Mason approach you from church.  So you really don't think about it. Now, I have no loyalty to Masons.

It's also a very sexist organization, so women only go so far in the organization. My father's side of the family were Baptists--not Adventists, so you get the picture.  And what we did at the meetings? You really want to know?  We did work for charities.  Honestly, that's all I remember.  Sometimes we played games, did crafts.

Masons have been around since the beginning of time, even in Egypt, the Rosicrucian Society is one of the oldest.  I believe they are very sinister organizations, but there were other sects that were dead-set against the Catholic church and I can't necessarily fault them for that, considering how much horror the Catholic church inflicted on those who would not convert.

If you look at the Mormon Temples, they fashion exactly down to a "t" the architectural design of a Masonic Temple.  That goes for the "watchtower" crowd also known as the Jehovah Witnesses.  Higher levels of Masons are demonic, so yes, I believe the organizations themselves, just like the higher levels of the Catholic church, are demonic.  Just my opinion.

If anyone wants to do research, there are so many books out there.  There are also books by Father Malachi Martin, who defied the Catholic church before he died.  His book, The Windswept House, is a great example of evil in the high rankings of the Catholic church.

But I wouldn't get to bogged down with all that.  Honestly, we can delve into this stuff and lose sight of God completely.  Yes, it's good to know, but don't obsess over it to the point you stop focusing on your faith and prayer.  Just my experience.