Friday, June 23, 2006

Freemasonry and Southern Baptists

I want to spend some posts addressing the issue of Freemasonry. If you want to get attention right away just say the word "Mason" in public. Just what is it with Masons in a conservative, Bible-believing church anyway? How can these people stay and pretend to worship our great God? How can they listen to expository sermons from the Word of God week after week and not be convicted of their sins? Are they present in the church to really seek God or are they there to lead others astray? Yes, obviously there are some questions that I have about the Religion. I am sure that most of you know that it is listed in the cult books, so I am going to refer to it as a false religion. I am not suggesting that I have all the answers about Masons and I am not claiming to be an expert. I have done some research of my own on it in my five years of ministry in my present SBC church. In fact, I had the Masons in an uproar my first few months here. I thought they were going to force me out; praise God that there are not many in my church. Yes, it is a problem here and just about everywhere you go in the USA. From the things that I have found out about this false religion, I really wonder if a person can be saved and secure in Jesus Christ and be an active Mason? MAYBE and that is a stretch, a big one! I would think the conviction of the Holy Spirit of God would be so overwhelming that a person in this situation would have to renounce Freemasonry. A man told me one time why he renounced Freemasonry he said, "If Jesus Christ is not in the name I do not want anything to do with it." That leds me to a question, just what God are the Masons serving? Another young man told me that they initiated him into the false religion by chanting words over him blind-folded with a dagger over his heart. Later he told his wife that he did not want anything to do with the Masons again. He did not ever want to be known as one even after he died. Stories like these from born-again Christians having to leave the Masons are frightening to me! Why did they have to leave the false religion? Because it is incompatible with the work of the Holy Spirit of God.

Here is another question that I have; what is it with Freemasonry and the Southern Baptist Convention? Are there some mysterious ties? When my wife and I attended the SBC in St. Louis a few years back a motion was made for them to take a stand against Freemasonry and the motion did not pass. It died for a lack of a second. Shame on them to be so silent! The Convention has been encouraged many times to take a stand against againt Freemasonary, but yet they have shut their mouths. At the SBC stories rang out on the floor into microphones from men that had been involved in masonary and later renounced it. We heard some of the horror stories of what they had to do at the 32nd degree mark like drink wine from a skull head and other things. They spared us alot of the horror stories. Brothers and Sisters there are other things that go on behind those closed doors in the Lodge that no one knows about; I mean no one, but God and fellow Mason brothers.

I am disturbed that the SBC has not passed a motion against Freemasonry; this is really something more than a big-boys club despite what some active Masons may say in the SBC and America. The SBC needs to get on the ball and stop debating petty issues not drawn-out in the Bible and pass a law against Freemasonry. I just wonder if some in the SBC have to many ties and friends that are currently involved in Masonic cultish practices to pass such a motion. This is a grave sin, I do believe, in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Here is a potential reason why the SBC won't touch this issue.
Masonry was originally a means by which people in the occult could practice their "craft" and still remain respectable citizens. The official publication of "The Supreme Council 33" of Scottish Rite Freemasonry is titled New Age. Some church denominations are also led by avowed Masons. For example, a 1991 survey by the Southern Baptist Convention Sunday School Board found that 14% of SBC pastors and 18% of SBC deacon board chairs were Masons; it is also estimated that SBC members comprise 37% of total U.S. lodge membership. (A 2000 updated SBC report found that over 1,000 SBC pastors are Masons.)

For the full article that this excerpt came from click here.

6 comments:

Justice said...

It seems time would be so much better spent on this issue then on drinking.

This is something debatable that could help our SBC churches. Freemasonry is a false religion. I once attended a funeral of a mason and was digusted at their liturgy -- all in the alleged name of God.

Ryan, thanks for this post, I look forward to the rest.

Nick

Anonymous said...

This is a hot-button issue Nick, hopefully many will take heed to these links.

Josh Buice said...

We as SBC members should take a strong stand against Freemasonry! I posted an article on my blog last July titled, "Freemasonry in Christianity --- Is there room on the pew?" Since last July, the post has received over 500 comments. I revisited the issue recently with another post - "The Road of Freemasonry -- Social, Religious, or Cultish?"

At the end of my latest article on Freemasonry - I have posted a letter to all SBC members. It is my prayer that we can stand against Freemasonry because Freemasonry stands against Christ!

Rev. Josh Buice
Practicial Theology Discussions
http://www.joshbuice.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

That Brother Josh about your comments about Masonry.

Anonymous said...

I think that you are getting drawn into a dangerous thought. Free Masons are not working together as a coalition to stop Christianity. I am a Mason and I've been a Christian for several years and a pastor for 2. I attended Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary so i don't consider myself ignorant on the subject.
Free Masons operate in different ways according to their respective rite and lodge. So what may be true about some freemasons i.e. devil worship, chanting, etc. are not necessarily true of others. The same can be said for SBC churches. They are autonomous bodies although they adhere to an overall creed (The Baptist Faith and Message). Freemasonry is not a religion. It is a fraternity of brothers not unlike any other fraternity with secret handshakes and passwords and ciphers. During the initiation, which I myself have been through, they hold a sharp object to your left breast for only a moment. They chant nothing. Chanting is repetetive. They speak clear complete sentences all from a traditional ceremony that has been performed countless times. Everything that occurs while you have the blindfold and rope on are explained to you after the ceremony in what is called the lecture. Everything that happens in these meetings is common information and can be found easily on the internet. I would admonish you as a brother in Christ to research more and study the specific lodges in your area before you attack the whole group. Call me a heretic but you could try joining yourself. you can walk away at anytime. No one will force you to stay.

Richard said...

im a 4th gen freemason.Freemasonary is NOT a religein.u MUST confess a belief in GOD(Jesus)2 bcome a mason.People fear us because we have acient scereats.All based on the BIBLE!We r not a secret society,we r a society with secretes.We take good men & make them better.NONE! of my brothers r evil do'ers,no hidden agenda.i am a man of God,i wouldnt b a mason if it conflicted with the Bible.PERIOD!those who slander us r under-informed about the brotherhood.I dont blindly follow dad,grand-dad or greatgrand-dad.I saw they r great men with a strong belief in God,Jesus...The fear of unknown is the basis 4 this ongoing paranoia.We r under attack by the devil because we r men of God who have foundation based on the freewill God has given us,we choose 2 exercise that right 2 do good in all aspects of life,in an evil world.Dont,as men,attack what u dont understand.Im not saying"join the Masons",just give us the right 2 do good works as we see fit.Richard Long