Masonic Lodge

There are two people in my church that are 3rd dregree masons who have no problem with being in it. The SBC permits each person to decide this issue for himself. I know that there's a big difference between a 3rd and 32nd degree, but I jusdt thought I'd toss the observation out there.

 

I once left a Baptist Church, because of the Pastor's weak stance on this issue.

An interesting link to a good book on the subject:

Link

Main Site

Enjoy...

MH

 

Let me throw this bone out to gnaw on for a while...would you agree or disagree to allowing a Mason to serve in the role of Elder or Deacon?

 

Disagree. I wouldn't even allow a Mason as a member of my Church.

 

The OP has requested that this not be a thread to debate the issue of freemasonery. He's asked about other peoples' experiences with being in the lodge.

We should respect the OP's intent and limit it to that topic.

 

I was in the lodge before I joined the church..working my way through and even serving as president of the local shriners club. Once I was saved however, I didn't feel I could remain a Mason. After about a year of debating with myself, I demitted from the lodge.

 

I was a member of the Masonic Lodge for 10 years. I was also a 32nd degree Mason, and a Shriner.

After I was saved in 1986, I also, couldn't reconcile the teachings of the Masonic Lodge with Christianity. I demitted from all the Masonic Bodies that I belonged to.

I completely agree about the prohibition of belonging to "secret societies", and the reasons for the prohibition.

 

My father was in a Masonic Lodge and when I was 18, he became extremely angry that I refused to join. I didn't know much about it, but I knew enough to know that I couldn't be a mason and have a clean conscience about it.

 

One of the stained glass windows in my childhood church had the mesonic emblem in it.

 

WOW.
If you made it to the 32nd degree, you were pretty serious about Masonry. I cannot imagine the culture shock of leaving it completely. I applaud you for the courage of your convictions. After 35 years, that could not have been easy.

The same goes for you, Friend of God.


Hope God is Blessing both of you and your families,
BiR

 

Hello Folks,
Haven't been on BB for a long time but, just my little observation......When I lived in Poughkeepsie, Ar., the ABA Missionary Baptist Church that was right next to my home had a lodge in the rear portion of the church building.

Thanks ------Bart

 

I was surprised one time that I went to a Penecostal Free Will Baptist church for a funeral, and one of the stained-glass windows was of a Masonic symbol.

BIR...believe me, when you leave the lodge after going through the Shriners, etc....you find out real quick who your real friends are!!!

 

My grandfather, a Christian, joined the Masonic lodge because some friends invited him to. When it got to the point where they gave him the "special" apron he bailed. He said that was too much. My grandfather died when I was real young - so I never heard him talk about this himself, but I am real proud of him for not going along with the "secret" stuff.

I greatly respect anyone who was in the lodge and then leaves when they realize that it doesn't fit with Christianity. Thank you for your courage.

(I have another family member who persists in the lodge and claims to be a Christian - but I have doubts about the later. Not because of the lodge, though. He's also very antogonistic about his membership in the lodge - always trying to get a argument about it with my dad, who is against the lodge.)

 

I'm not a Mason but when I was a boy, my step-father went to jail and my mother with her 6 children was left destitute.

The Masons (Shriners) brought us an abundance of food, clothing and toys. especially during the holiday months. One of the wives helped my mother get assistance from the State and medical help or help in times of specially needs.

We also received help from the Salvation Army and the Catholic Church (Saint Vincent DePaul group).

HankD

 

God bless you all for doing what the SBC refused to do. That is look at the issue biblically and then make a stand against the ungodly teachings of the lodge. It is nice to know that there are still some Gideons in the church.

"The SBC permits each person to decide this issue for himself."

Strange language used here John. I have been a SBC pastor for over 25 years and have yet to seek the SBC's permission to do anything. The SBC does not sit over churches, you should know this, our church is autonomous. So in this case we take a stand against freemasonry and do not allow any man involved to serve in any position of leadership and call all men to come out. The day the SBC give mandates to the church is the day our church ceases to be a part of the covention. BTW--the convention clearly bowed to political and economic pressure when it came to standing against freemasonry as it is estimated that as many as 2 million men in SBC churches are freemasons.

Bro Tony

 

I know of a church near where I live that ran off a pastor because he spoke against the ML. Most of the church's deacons wre in ML.

 

buckster

It has become an important question to ask a church before considering becoming their pastor.

Bro Tony

 

I struggled with this issue over the past year (I had become a Master Mason in June of 1982). After much prayer, reflection, and research I finally decided that it was wrong for me to be a Christian while maintaining my membership in a Masonic Lodge (Blue Lodge), (even though I had only sat in lodge once in the past 15 years). I requested an absolute demit and received it last month (November). I also took the step of stating the reasons in writing of why I wanted the demit (that is not a requirement of the Lodge). I wanted my Masonic brothers to know the real reason why I was leaving.

It was a tough decision, made tougher by the ambivalent stance taken by my own convention (SBC) - I couldn't find much to help me there in resolving my struggle. On one hand there is the fact that the Masonic organizations do much good (as already noted in a post above) and the men who are in Masonry are normally very upstanding citizens in the community, churches, civic organizations, etc. They are good people, and claim that Masonry doesn't interfere with your relationship to God.

BUT, I still kept coming back to the fact that in Masonry you must state that you are in search of more light and acknowledge that the only place to find it is from the Master of the Lodge (the Lodge). That conflicts with what I now know of Christ (which I didn't know when I was in my 20's and joined the lodge - I was a Roman Catholic in those days). These verses (I searched them out when agonizing over my decision) clearly show that Christ Jesus is the one and only true Light and is the only source of light we need:

Matthew 4:16 (New International Version)
16the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."

Matthew 5:14 (New International Version)
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Matthew 5:16 (New International Version)
16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Luke 2:30-32 (New International Version)
30For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."

John 1:4-5 (New International Version)
4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

John 1:7-9 (New International Version)
7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

John 3:19-21 (New International Version)
19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

John 8:12 (New International Version)
12When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

John 9:4-5 (New International Version)
4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

John 12:46 (New International Version)
46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

Acts 26:17-18 (New International Version)
17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

2 Corinthians 4:5-6 (New International Version)
5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness", made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:14 (New International Version)
14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (New International Version)
13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 (New International Version)
5You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

 

I found this interesting...

SECRET SINS