Finally, the confessions required of the Christian candidate before he can enter the Lodge for initiation into the first degree of Blue Masonry should prevent the Christian from entering or desiring to enter. The candidate is led with a blindfold over his eyes, called a “hoodwink,” to the lodge door and gives three knocks. The Senior Deacon inside reports “Worshipful Master, there is an alarm at the inner door of our Lodge.” The Master asks him to ascertain the cause of the alarm, and the Junior Deacon speaking for the Candidate responds:
“Mr. ________, who has long been in darkness, and now seeks to be brought to light, and to receive a part in the rights and benefits of this Worshipful Lodge...”
How can a Christian confess that he is in darkness? How can he deny that Jesus Christ has brought the great light of the world to him when he became a Christian? More importantly, how can he acknowledge that the way to “light” is through a lodge rather than that which he has received through Christ? This confession is all the more objectionable when the candidate happens to be an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Convention or in the United Methodist Church of America. These men are supposed to be saved by the blood of Jesus and dedicated to bring His light to the lost and undone. They above all others shouldn’t be standing at a Lodge door, hoodwinked and half-naked, admitting that they are in darkness and are seeking the light of an ancient and mystic religion of an Egypt that has been dead for thousands of years. Shocked? Don’t be, because there are hundreds of ministers in mainline Christian denominations that have gone through this and are active members of the Order. This fact and more concerning the position of certain denominations toward Masonry will be discussed in the conclusion of this work.
Another oath that should offend the Christian Mason is the oath given in the Thirtieth Degree of the Scottish Rite known as the Knight of Kodash Degree. The Grand Pontiff addresses the candidate:
“In all the preceding degrees you must have observed that the object of Scotch Masonry is to overthrow all kinds of superstitions, and that by admitting in her bosom on terms of the strictest equality, the members of all religions, of all creeds and all countries, without any distinction whatever, she has, and indeed can have, but one single object and that is to restore to the Grand Architect of the Universe, to the common father of the human race those who are lost in the maze of impostures, invented for the sole purpose of enslaving them. The Knights Kadosh recognize no particular religion, and for that reason we demand of you nothing more than to worship God. And whatever may be the religious forms imposed upon you by superstition at a period of your life when you were incapable of discerning truth from falsehood, we do not even require you to relinquish them. Time and study alone can enlighten you. But remember that you will never be a true Mason unless you repudiate forever all superstitions and prejudices.”
The candidate then takes the following oath:
“I, ________, solemnly and sincerely promise and swear wholly to devote myself to the emancipation of humanity; to practice toleration, in political and religious matters especially, toward men. To strive unceasingly for the happiness of my fellow human beings, for the propagation of light and for the overthrow of superstition, fanaticism, imposture, and intolerance.”
The Grand Pontiff then instructs the candidate to toss some incense in the fire burning on the altar of perfumes while he prays the following:
“Almighty Father, Holy and Merciful. Oh! Thou of whom we are the beloved children, accept this incense which we offer thee with our hearts, as a token of love and reverence. May thou kingdom come at last, and with it the end of all fanaticism, intolerance, imposture and superstition. Amen.”
In a subsequent mock balloting on the candidate’s worthiness for the degree, one of the Judges reports, “I have voted in the negative, Sovereign Grand Judge.” And then he says:
“I have good reason to believe, nay I know, that the candidate entertains anti-Masonic opinions; that is to say, intolerant and sectarian principles, not only in religious but also in Masonic matters.”
The dissenting Judge asks that the candidate write a testament of his profession of faith in Masonry. The candidate complies with this demand and the written confession of faith in the Masonic doctrine and beliefs is kept on file in the Scottish Rite Cathedral.
Can a Christian accept this degree and the oaths it requires? Should a Christian acknowledge that the religion of his youth, the one that a Christian mother led him to, is nothing more than superstition? As you have just read from the actual ritual and oaths, the main function of the Scottish Rite is to remove the belief that every Christian must possess, and that is, that the only way to salvation is through the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. This belief is intolerant, prejudicial and superstitious according to the Masonic dogma. They emphatically state that you will never be a true Mason until you repudiate the narrow concept you have of men and other religions. They state that only time and study can enlighten you on this flaw in your Masonic walk.
That leads us to the “confession of faith” in Masonry. Can you imagine a Christian minister writing such a confession to be placed in his file in a Masonry “Cathedral?” Faith in what? A Christian should confess but on one faith, and that is faith in God and His only begotten Son. And it need not be in writing!
And lastly, the Knights Kodash degree requires that the candidate be counseled as follows:
“And, finally, keep aloof from uniting yourself with any sectional, political, or sectarian religious organization whose principles can in any way bias your mind or judgment, or in the slightest degree trammel with obligations the vows you have just made.”
This leaves no doubt that the Scottish Rite claims man’s first loyalty. He is told, and promises, to mold his religious beliefs in such a way as not to offend the principles of Masonry in any minute degree. He must throw down, or compromise, any belief that he has that there is only one way to eternal communion with God. That simply means that he must broaden his concept of Christianity, and that, my friend, would be to take Christ out of the New Testament, Isaiah out of the Old, and to take Jehovah off the Throne! That would leave humanity with the Great Architect of the Universe, JABULON!
In the thirty-first degree of Scottish Rite the following statement is rendered by the Advocate in the initiation or conferral ritual:
“We revolt against the law, by which the crooked limbs and diseased organism of the child are the fruits of the father’s vices. We even think that a God, omnipotent and omniscient, ought to have permitted no pain, no poverty, no servitude. Our ideal of justice is more lofty than the actualities of God.”
The ideals and justice of Masonry is greater than God’s? Blasphemy! No true Christian could possibly take this or participate in such a ritual. No one who was converted to Christianity after taking this oath could possibly stay in the Scottish Rite. This speaks of a revolt against God. “We revolt against” is not too secretive or subtle, and certainly is not for a Christian to partake of. This brings to mind Lucifer’s revolt against God when he wanted to be greater. Isn’t this what this is? Again, go back to the Garden of Eden. Surely this sounds familiar! The Masons are offering justice that is more merciful than God’s. Blasphemy!
In the initiation of the Twenty-eight degrees of the Scottish Rite, known as Knight of the Sun or Prince Adept Degree, the President, known as Adam, relates to the candidate:
“Many outsiders have the good fortune to enter our sanctuaries; but few indeed are fortunate enough to come to know the sublime truth [the secret they promise to reveal to him]. If you ask what are the qualities a Mason must have to arrive at the center of true good, it is necessary to have crushed the serpent of mundane ignorance; to have shaken off the yoke of the prejudices of childhood concerning the religion, dominant in the country of his birth... Here is the monster under the, form of a serpent which you must exterminate. It is the faithful pictures of what the vulgar imbecile adores under the name of religion.”
Then you must recall the Ni
neteenth Degree of Scottish Rite, the Grand Pontiff Degree. It is important that the pageant be repeated here to conclude this chapter:
“Amidst darkness and isolation thereafter the officers of the Chapter proclaim the dominion of the beast, the opening of the seven vials of REVELATION and the fall of Babylon. but it is the city of intolerance which has passed, the city of fraud and falsehood. So also when the Candidate is brought into light and is shewn the foursquare city coming out of Heaven, when he hears of the new Heaven and the new earth, the apocalyptic account is reduced so that the city appears to be one of simple theism, governed by principles of good-will, while He who sits upon the throne, though He is called the Lord God Almighty and Redeemer, is not the Christ of St. John.
“The Candidate is anointed with oil, is made and proclaimed a priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek, but the equivalent of this title in the nameless banality of the scheme is Scottish Mason. The New Jerusalem is interpreted as Ancient Masonry.”
I shall not repeat the same obvious discussion of the fact that this is antichrist teachings. I will point out the continued theme of Scottish Rite Masonry to trounce upon the religion of ones’ childhood, which is in this situation changes the interpretation of scriptures in the Christian’s Bible. This is what was referred to in previous discussions as, “bringing the candidate to more light.” This “new” interpretation is supposed to be enlightening and overturning of old superstitions. Again this is blasphemous to the Christian. In this regard I have interviewed several Christians concerning this ritual and most do not recall it. Those that do only said that they were not paying much attention to the words. Others said that they chose the York Rite because they wanted Christian Masonry. Before we discuss the Christianity of the York Rite one other degree of Scottish Rite should be explored because it is often referred to as the Christian degree of Scottish rite.
The eighteenth degree of the Rose Croix is without exception the Christianity degree of the Scottish Rite, or shall I say, it is believed to be so by modern Masons. The Rose Croix candidate passes through three apartments, representing Calvary, the scene of the Ascension, and Hell. The initiate is warned:
“The horrors of Hell which you have just seen are but a faint representation of those you shall suffer if you break through our laws, or infringe the obligation you have taken.”
Needless to say, there is not a lot of Christ in such a threat of destruction as that.
A Christian Mason could easily be deceived by the symbol of the cross used in the ceremony. He sees a cross and understandably associates this with the Christian religion. However, he must be made aware of what the author and creator of the ceremony, Albert Pike, has to say in the Mason’s copy of Pike’s Morals and Dogma on page 290:
“The Cross has been a sacred symbol from the earliest Antiquity. It is found upon all the enduring monuments of the world, Egypt, in Assyria, in Hindostan, in Persia, and on the Buddhist towers of Ireland. Buddha was said to have died upon it. The Druids cut an oak into its shape and held it sacred, and built their temples in that form. Pointing to the four corners of the world, it was the symbol of universal nature. It was on a cruciform tree, that Chrishna was said to have expired, pierced with arrows. It was revered in Mexico. But its peculiar meaning in this degree, is that given by the ancient Egyptians.”
That’s right, the cross that is used in this degree is not the cross of Calvary, but of Egypt! No Scottish Rite Mason can dispute this because Pike is the author and creator of the rite and served as its Grand Commander for 32 years beginning in 1859. He named it and symbolized it for ancient Egypt. Absolutely no one can contradict this horrible fact. Pike was an occultist and a pagan. His works state this and his 861-page commentary on the 33 degrees of Scottish Rite expressly states this. Unfortunately, very few, if any, local Masons have ever read his Morals and Dogma, even though it is available to all members of the Rite.
The next deception of the degree is the Sacred Word. The word is I.N.R.I., and it is believed by all Christian members of the Order to represent the name of Jesus Christ. That is not so! Again, its author, Pike, gives the true meaning on page 291 of the Morals and Dogma:
“To the word INRI, inscribed on the Crux Ansata over the Master’s Seat, many meanings have been assigned. The Christian Initiate reverentially sees in it the initials of the inscription upon the cross on which Christ suffered— Iesus Nazaraenus Rex Iudaeorum. The sages of Antiquity connected with it one of the greatest secrets of Nature, that of universal regeneration. They interpreted it thus, Igne natura renovatur integra (entire nature is renovated by fire): The Alchemical or Hermetic Masons framed for it this aphorism, Igne nitrum rosis invenitur. And the Jesuits are charged with having applied to it this odious axiom, Justum necare reges impios. The four letters are the initials of the Hebrew words that represent the four elements— Iammin, the seas or water; Nour, fire; Rouach, the air, and Iebeschah, the dry earth. How we read it, I need not repeat to you.”
Pike reveals to any Mason that takes the time to read about the meaning of the rituals and symbols of the Scottish Rite, which he created. He is telling them that the word, I.N.R.I., means Nature and universal regeneration. It has nothing to do with the Jesus or the Cross.
Returning to the thirtieth degree, Knight Kadosh, we find a ceremony of extreme bitterness and vengeance against the Roman Catholic that is certainly not Christian and appears to be a satanic ritual. The Thrice Puissant Grand Master charges the candidates:
“Your assistance at this juncture is invaluable, as we have crime to punish and innocence to protect. Persecution and oppression are raging. The religious and political rulers of the world will not render that justice which they have sworn to render, and we cannot endure their encroachments any longer.”
The Grand Master approaches a table which supports three skulls. One skull wears a papal tiara, another a wreath of laurel, and the third a regal crown. The Grand Master stabs the skull with the papal tiara and the candidate repeats, “Down with Imposture! Down with crime!” Both the Grand Master and candidate kneel before the second skull and chorus, “Everlasting glory to the immortal martyr of virtue.” Passing to the third crowned skull, the two repeat, “Down with tyranny! Down with crime!”
Obviously, the first skull represents the Roman Catholic Pope. This was Pike’s way of repaying the Vatican for its denunciation of Freemasonry as evil and against Jesus Christ. Its first denunciation came in 1738 by Pope Clement XII, and culminated on April 20, 1884, with the Encyclical Humanum Genus. This document was written by Pope Leo XIII and contains a full discussion of the position of The Roman Catholic Church towards Freemasonry. In brief, it outlawed Freemasonry to Catholics and labeled it as Satanic and designed to destroy the Church of Jesus Christ. In order that the reader can understand Pike’s venom, I have included a segment of the encyclical:
“At this period, however, the partisans of evil seem to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons. No longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now bodily rising up against God himself. They are planning the destruction of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom, if it were possible, of the blessings obtained for us through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Lamenting these evils, We are constrained by the charity which urges Our heart to cry out often to God: ‘For 1o, thy enemies have made a noise; and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken a malicious counsel against Thy saints. They have said, Come, and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation.’
“At so urgent a crisis, when so fierce and so pressing an onslaught is made upon the Christian name, it is Our office to point out the danger, to mark who are the adversaries, and to the best of Our power to make head against their plans and devices, that those may not perish whose salvation is committed to Us, and that the kingdom of Jesus Christ intrusted to
Our charge may not only stand and remain whole, but may be enlarged by an ever-increasing growth throughout the world... The Roman Pontiffs...were prompt in detecting the presence and the purpose of this capital enemy immediately it spring into the light instead of hiding as a dark conspiracy... For as soon as the constitution and the spirit of the Masonic sect were clearly discovered by manifest signs of its actions...by the publication of its law, and of its rites and ceremonies...this Apostolic See denounced the sect of Freemasons...
“For, from what We have above most clearly shown, that which is their ultimate purpose forces itself into view—namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world which the Christian teaching has produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be drawn from mere ‘Naturalism.’
“Now, the fundamental doctrine of the Naturalists, which they sufficiently make known by their very name, is that human nature and human reason ought in all things to be mistress and guide. Laying this down, they care little for duties to God, or pervert them by erroneous and vague opinions. For they deny that anything has been taught by God; they allow no dogma of religion or truth which cannot be understood by the human intelligence, nor any teacher who ought to be believed by reason of his authority...
“Again, as all who offer themselves are received whatever may be their form of religion, they thereby teach the great error of this age—that a regard for religion should be held as an indifferent matter, and that all religions are alike.
The Gods of the Lodge Page 16