Report on the visit of John J. Robinson, author of "Born In
Blood" and "Dungeon, Fire and Sword." He held the audience's
attention in Long Reach and in San Diego in a manner seldom seen in
a Masonic presentation. He was interrupted by applause and laughter
again and again. He spoke for about 25 minutes and answered
questions for another forty or more. To give you an insight into
the character of this man we'd like to pass along some of his
classic remarks on membership and freedom of religion, not
guaranteed verbatim. Ancl please remember that John is not a
Freemason - yet.

"Here are some free statistics: There are more sons and grand-sons
of Freemasons than there are Freemasons. Just solve that problem,
the problem in your own house, don't solve the problem of the whole
generation. I asked some Masons if they had a son between the ages
of 15 and 25? I stopped when 25 men said yes. I asked the 25 what
they have told their son about Freemasonry. Nineteen of the
twenty-five said they hadn't told them a thing. Well, it's kind of
a secret.

"I went to the Cincinnati Masonic Temple a few weeks ago to meet
with the Deputy Grand Master. I parked in their parking lot and saw
him talking to a young police sergeant, so I walked over and joined
them. At one point the Deputy Grand Master asked him why he was not
Freemason? He said that he didn't know, adding that his
grandfather was a Freemason. I asked him what he told him ahout
Freemasonry and he gave me a meaningful answer. It ought to be on a
banner. He said, 'the subject never came up.'

"Looking at the programs the people are talking about today, I
would like some-body to tell me, when you can't sell the young man
in the adjoining bedroom, how are you going to sell the young man
in Billings, Montana. People seem to feel relaxed that we have a
national program up in the top of the pyramid that will sell people
across the country. The answer to membership is not up at the point
of the pyramid. The responsibility has got to be pulled down to the
basic Lodge.

"In a debate with a Catholic author, he said that Freemasons have
their own resurrection in the Third Degree. I said, 'Professor, you
are out of your mind, you dig a guy up out of one grave, and put
him in another grave, we call that reinternment, we don't call that
resurrection.' He said, 'if it's not resurrection, why is there the
acacia? Why the symbol of immortality if there is no resurrection?'

"Speaking as an outsider, just an observer, I think the whole theme
of the Third Degree ritual is immortality. Not the immortality of
the initiate, not the immortality of the soul, what the ritual is
all about is that the king is dead, long live the king. The Master
has fallen. His work is unfinished. What do we do about that? You
step into the Master's shoes and you are charged to go on with the
work. That's what the ritual is all about. Not the immortality of
the soul, but the immortality of the fraternity. And I would say to
a Master Mason who just went through the degree work, 'On paper,
the card in your wallet, legally you are now a Master Mason, but in
your heart realize that you have just very quickly assumed all that
millions of other men have built for you in the years before. In
your heart don't think that you have fulfilled yourself as a Master
Mason until some time in your Masonic career you find the one good
man who will step into your shoes when you fall. So the task is not
to find a million and a half new members, it's for one man to find
one man in the next five years. Is that too difficult?'

"I am not concerned ahout Freemasons fighting back at
fundamentalists. You can waste an awful lot of time looking for an
opening in a closed mind. What I would like to suggest to you is
that if there are two and a half million Freemasons and we take
their family and friends, we can say, there ought to be eight or
nine million people who think very well of Freemasonry. There will
be eight, nine or ten million people who don't like Freemasonry. In
between those two groups there are about two hundred and thirty
million people who have no opinion at all, because they have no
information upon which to base an opinion. That's the group I'd
work on. One thing that has been clearly established with all these
call-in shows is that people are curious, are willing to listen and
they do have questions to ask. I think one of the minor mysteries
of Freemasonry is that the candidate attests in the petition that
he has already formed a high opinion of Freemasonry. How did he do
that? Nobody tells him anything. I don't know where in the world he
would get that information.

"The biggest contribution of Freemasonry, in my mind, is the
concept of freedom of religion. We should not get the idea that all
religions believe in freedom of religion. If you look at it from
their standpoint, if you think you are right, and you know what God
wants, then God wouldn't want you to tolerate somebody else who's
wrong. We've had experiments with countries that tried to have
democracy and a state religion at the same time and it never works.
If a country is dominated by a church, you don't have freedom of
religion. Without freedom of religion you can't have freedom of
speech, without freedom of speech, you can't have human rights. I
do not believe, for an example, that the fundamentalists believe in
freedom of religion. Their militant elements think everybody should
do what they are doing and listen to them. God is telling me what
he wants me to do, that kind of thing. I say that for this reason.
At the time the Constitution and Bill of Rights were drafted,
there was no role model on the face of the earth for a country that
did not have a state religion. There wasn't one. You may ask,
'where did they turn for this idea? What was the inspiration for
this?' The thirteen colonies did not have freedom of religion or
freedom from state religion. Connecticut was Congregational,
Massachusetts was Puritan, Pennsylvania was Ouaker, Virginia was
Church of Fngland. The laws of Virginia said that any minister
other than the Church of England who dared to preach a sermon to
his followers was to be publicly whipped. Baptist and Methodist
ministers wre hauled into the public square on the Sabbath days,
stripped to the waist and whipped for breaking the law in preaching
a sermon or leading a group in prayer. That's what drove the
Baptists and Methodists out of Virginia into the southeastern
wilderness which is why they are so heavily populated in that area.

"So, if these men decide to form the first national government with
freedom of religion, you've got to ask yourself, where in the world
did this idea come from, that a country would allow any man to
worship God in the way he saw fit. And you look at a group of
people who had nothing in common socially, or financially, or even
geographically; Paul Revere was a silver craftsman, John Paul Jones
was a Scottish seaman, John Hancock was a merchant, Washington was
a wealthy planter and Franklin was a printer. The common bond
that all those men had was their Freemasonry. And the only source
of a philosophy that said that every man has the right to worship
God in his own way was in their Masonic brotherhood. I believe that
Freemasonry was the inspiration for the concept of freedom of
religion, without which democracy is not possible."

His comment on immortality demonstrates the endless possibilities
in our ritual if we but open our minds. Many of his thoughts are
like a breath of fresh air. A lot to think about, you must admit.

              TALL CEDARS OF LEBANON

The December 1991 New Jersey Freemason included a picture of
Richard R. Baringer, Supreme Tall Cedar, presenting a check in the
amount of $569,000 to Jerry Lewis for the Muscular Dystrophy
Telethon. As this Eastern United States and Canada organization
is not well known in the west, thought it proper to obtain this
information for our members.

They have given over six million dollars to the Muscular nystrophy
Fund and in addition volunteer in excess of 10,00 hours per year
to Muscular Dystrophy patients' care and recreation. And patients
are entertained by Tall Cedar Clowns, drill units, bands and
singers.

Their ritual, as you might note if you change the title to "cedars
from the forests of Lebanon," is closely related to that of the
symbolic lodge. And a picture of the ritualists has three regal
figures, clothed as in Riblical times, on a raised dais.

The creed of the Tall Cedars is "fun, frolic and fellowship." What
they are about is best expressed in the preamble to their
constitution: "To provide for social entertainment and innocent
recreation; to promote wider friendship and acquaintance among men
alrady bound by fraternal vows; to perpetuate itself as a fraternal
and social organization." The three Fs bring together all Masons
and further the true fraternal spirit that exists within
Freemasonry.

The history of Cedarism is the history of Freemasonry. Both trace
their heritage to the construction of the Temple of King Solomon
for which the wood of the huge cedar trees of Lebanon was hewn by
the Sidonians. Since 1902, when the first Forest was incorporated
in Trenton, New Jersey, Cedarism has grown and flourished, binding
togetgher the hearts and minds of Master Masons.

Units within the Tall Cedars include:

ROYAL RANGERS - a military-type marching unit
DEGREE TEAM - which brings out the actor in all
SIDONIANS - the Forest stunt team
TUXEDO UNIT - another, more formal, marching unit
CHANTERS, BAND AND DRUM CORPS - to keep music flowing
BOWLING LEAGUES
GOLFERS
CEDARETTES/RANGERETTES

Beginning in 1951, the Tall Cedars of Lehanon became the first
organization to offer continuing financial assistance to the
Muscular nystrophy Association. This support has continued down
through the years.

The Tall Cedar's Room, on the ninth floor of the George Washington
Masonic Memorial, represents King Solomon's Temple and is built
with the same kinds of materials as were used in the original
structure.

You might recall that the SCRL Fraternal Reviews include quotations
from the Emessay Notes of the Masonic Service Association that are
sent to all Grand Lodge Officers and heads of Appendant and
Coordinate Masonic Rodies. The funding of this is by the Tall
Cedars.

The Tall Cedars of Lebanon headquarters and museum is located at
2609 North Front Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17110.


               MORMONISM  AND MASONRY

[This is really a follow up on my letter of last month (8-1-92)
which left open some questions. Taking the natural course I went to
Utah in the same report from the 1892 California Committee on
Correspondence (submitted by Rro. James M. Ellis, for the
Committee) and found the following. - Ralph A. Herbold]

"Bro. Diehl furnishes an elaborate report of the business of his
office. our esteemed brother says his prophecy regarding the
increase and growth of Masonry in that jurisdiction has proven as
false as the prophecies of Brigham Young. For the benefit of Bro.
Diehl we relate what we heard Brigham Young say on that subject:
'The world may dispute my being a prophet, but my people can't
deny that I have been of profit to them.' If you, Bro. Diehl,
have failed in your prophecy to the Masons of Utah, you surely
have been of much profit, and so you are like the prophet, after
all. We are glad that your labors are appreciated, and trust that
your Grand Lodge may ever deal as cleverly by you as you have by
them, and a better Diehl no Masonic Jurisdiction need wish for.

"Bro. Diehl presents the Report on Correspondence, giving a review
of fifty- five Grand Lodges in seventy-eight neatly printed pages
of the proceedings. California for 1889 is cordially noticed. To
the writer the Masonic Grand Lodge of Utah possesses extraordinary
charms. It is with a parental love and fondness that we regard
that Grand Lodge. We had the honor to be the first Master of Mt.
Moriah - the first legally organized Masonic Lodge in that
Territory - and hence we shall be pardoned for our expression of
sincere pleasure at the Masonic eminence Utah has attained and our
ardent wish for her prosperity. With Bro. Diehl as watchman of the
tower, we imagine that we hear him answer 'Tt is still night, but
daylight is dawning;' and Utah ere long will be the mother of ten
times seven Lodges. If we should speak of our dear brother as we
feel, should speak of his zeal as a Masonic writer, his ardent love
for the dissemination of knowledge, his devotion as Librarian -
could add nothing to the laurels he has won as a model Grand
Secretary and able reviewer. We have read every word of his
review, and while we differ somewhat from the views he endorses,
we know it is but an error of the head and not of the heart. our
esteemed brother is on the Wyoming side on the line of reform,
while we believe that anything that is good loses nothing with age.
We have carefully examined your membership for old acquaintances,
and while we find many names unknown to us we recognize some
pioneers who labored with us to lay the Masonic foundation in Utah
and their names carry us back to recollections of our younger and
better days, and many very happy evenings spent in the Lodge-room.
The Masonic Hall you occupied when last we had the pleasure to see
it is a palace to the humble room occupied by us of former days,
yet our attendance was very good then. May the pioneer Masons yet
in your ranks live long to enjoy the good fruit of their early
labors, and Utah Masonry never fail in its due appreciation of
them."

This bears out the premise that some of the most interesting
reading can be found in the reports of the Committees on
Correspondence, usually now designated as Fraternal Reviews. But
in the reviews of that time (1892) in our history the reviewers
gave vent to their feelings in a manner that might not be
appreciated today. You may note reference to the "Wyoming side on
the line of reform." This might be interesting in light of today's
change proposals. To emphasize the possibilities, our- California
reviewer states in his review of Wyoming: "In our salutation we
stated our position - that we are not liberal but strict
constructionist - opposed to changes and reforms. We differ so much
from the views he expresses that we hardly know where to start in."
Sound familiar?

   IS FREEMASONRY A SATANIC RELIGION/CULT THAT WORSHIPS LUCIFER????

Marion O. Reed, P. M., Editor

(In the July 1992 Kentucky Masonic Home Journal)

SURPRISED?  Well, I was! Having heen a Mason for 47 years and a
Baptist for more years than that, I was surprised when informed
that a recommendation would be presented at the 1992 Southern
Baptist Convention to appoint an ad hoc committee "to study the
Masonic Lodge and report hack to the convention in 1993 with a
recommendation for action."

James "Larry" Holly, a physician, of Beaumont, Texas, is said to
have mailed a packet of information condemning Freemasonry to 5000
SBC  (Southern Baptist Convention) leaders and is said to have
distributed 5000 additional copies to Messengers (delegates) at the
convention's annual session at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis,
June 9-11.

A synopsis of the motion is as follows:

James L. Holley (TX) - Motion to direct the President elected hy
the 1992 Southern Raptist Convention to appoint an ad hoc committee
to study all branches of Free Masonry; and to instruct the ad hoc
committee to make their report and recommendations at the 1993
Southern Baptist Convention.

The motion as amended:

Alvin Rowe (FL) moved to amend the motion, referring a study to
the Interfaith Witness Department of the Home Mission Board. The
amendment passed. The amended motion reads: "The Southern Baptist
Convention in annual session June 9-11, 1992, at Indianapolis,
Indiana, directs the Interfaith Witness department of the Home
Mission Board to study the compatibility with Christianity and
Southern Baptist doctrine of the organization known variously as
the Masonic Lodge, Masonry, Freemasonry, and or Ancient and
accepted Right of Freemasonry. The study is to encompass any and
all branches and or lodges thereof. Furthermore, the convention
charges the Home Mission Board with the responsibility of bringing
a report with recommendation to the Convention which is to meet in
Houston, Texas, June 1993." The amended motion passed.

Your Editor; Bros. Joe C. McClanahan, P.G.M., Grand Secretary
F:meritus; Floyd H. Booth, P.G.M.; and Arnold E. Wyatt, P.G.M., as
messengers from their respective Baptist Churches, attended this
Convention. All were prepared to speak against the motion if the
opportunity presented itself. The SBC Committee on Order of
Business scheduled the recommendation to he presented on
Wednesday morning, June 10. When it was presented, and only
fifteen minutes allowed for discussion, both for or against the
recommendation, your Editor was second in line at a microphone to
speak against the motion, if the opportunity came. Before that
could occur, a motion was made to refer it back to the Southern
Baptist Home Mission Board's Interfaith Witness department, with
instructions to act upon it. They had previously, in 1985 and
1991, replied that "a study of Freemasonry is not within the
assigned responsibilities" of the committee. This was declared a
legitimate motion by the convention parliamentarian and a second
was received. The motion carried, ancl the recommendation as
referred to the aforesaid committee, to study and report back to
the Convention in Houston, Texas at the 1993 Annual Meeting.

Traditionally, Freemasonry has refrained from entering into any
discussion or argument with a religious or political body. However,
the enormity and far reaching consequences of this proposed
"study" of Freemasonry, in the opinion of your Editor, makes it
necessary for all Freemasons, especially those who are members of
Southern Baptist Churches, to he made aware of what is taking
place.

A book (58 pages), produced by Mr. Holly, is a lengthy dissertation
on the evils of Freemasonry, calling it a satanic religion and a
cult. He spends many pages and much rhetoric on this subject,
defining the occult, satan worship, ancient societies and their
evil teachings and practices. He then associates Freemasonry with
these as he takes parts of Masonic ritual and tradition, and the
writings of those whom he deems as Masonic authorities, and uses
them for his purpose.

Mr. Holly's book, entitled "The Southern Baptist Convention and
Freemasonry,' designed to appear to be the official position of the
SBC. Even the insertion of the logo of his "Mission and Ministry
to Men, Inc.," which, not surprisingly resembles the SBC logo,
might lead the unsuspecting reader to understand it as actually a
convention publication. This is not true, at this point, but who
knows what may develop during this next year.

What are Freemasons throughout the SBC area to do? Do we sit idly
by while these charges and accusations grow into a full-blown
condemnation by them, or do we stand up and speak up against these
unjust charges?

              *       *       *       *       *       *

Ed. Note: When John J. Robinson, author of "Born in Blood" was here
he mentioned this Southern Baptist Convention.

He said that the Secretary of the Scottish Rite Valley of
Knoxville, Tennessee, Fred McPeake, a Southern Baptist all his
life, wrote asking to be able to speak from the Masonic point of
view on any debate, as did the Grand Master of Tennessee, another
life long Southern Baptist. Neither got a reply. McPeake went to
the convention, said that a Southern Baptist minister approached
bim, pointing to the Shrine pin on his lapel and said, "If you're
going to decorate your body with that kind of symbolism, you
decide, you take it off or you get away from our convention."
McPeake also received a letter telling him to abandon Freemasonry
or abandon the church, he couldn't have both.

Many Masons were upset by one of the points the Executive Council
wanted to address: Many of the Southern Baptist churches were
started and funded by Freemasons, they put up money to build the
churches and had Masonic cornerstone ceremonies, so the Executive
Council was proposing a special church service to drive the satanic
influence out of the cornerstone and the walls of the Building to
purify the church that had been contaminated by the Freemasons.
