
Date: 05-04-96 (18:05)              Number: 7646 of 7650 (Refer# NONE)
  To: ALL
From: cliff@iamerica.net, CLIFF THE PARAMEDIC
Subj: Re: Masonry, My Saviour, and me
Read: (N/A)                         Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE
Conf: alt.freemasonry (2245)     Read Type: GENERAL (+)

From: cliff@iamerica.net (Cliff the Paramedic)
Newsgroups: alt.freemasonry,alt.masonic.members
Organization: iAmerica, Inc.
Message-ID: <cliff.46.0046D6E7@iamerica.net>

In article <4mejp7$aa4@news.icon.net> don@icon.net (Don) writes:
>From: don@icon.net (Don)
>Copyright 1993 by the Christian Research Institute.

Well, I for one would *certainly* be proud to copyright this "research".
Please note sarcasm.

> It may not be altered or edited in any way.  It may
>be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware,"
>without charge.

Oh paaaleeezzzz.  You *don't* think that people are going to
quote the whole tripe in order to respond to parts of it?

>From the TESTIMONY column:
>The personal testimony of Duane Washum.

Okay.  Here we have the claim that this is from Mr. Washum,
who claims to have been a Mason.  Let's look at a couple of
details along the way.

>    Throughout my life, I never knew the Masonic Order to be
>anything but good.

Nice lead-in, don't you think?

>   I was selected by the Worshipful Master of the Lodge to serve
>as Junior Steward and later honored by serving as Chaplain.

Let's assume that Mr. Washum served in BOTH of these duties
during his FIRST YEAR as a MM.

> My studies in ritual and degree work continued as Junior Warden and
>then Senior Warden.

Years TWO and THREE as a MM.  He apparently completes year
THREE as a MM completing the Senior Warden.  Not bad...must be
a pretty small lodge with lots of opportunity for rapid advancement!

> I finally became Worshipful Master of the
>largest Lodge in the state of Nevada.

Huh?  He becomes WM in his FOURTH year as a MM?  In the
"largest Lodge in the state of Nevada"?????  Does *anyone else*
suspect what I suspect?

> I believed myself to be a member of a fraternity that stood for God,
>country, and family.

Continue with the original tie-in to keep the audience interested and
reading.

>    But, after five years of total dedication, I withdrew from the Order.

IF this posting had any grain of truth to it, it would be the fact that
this progress could ONLY have been from "total dedication".  Now,
what caused the withdrawal?

> It didn't happen overnight.

Really?  Not like the claim to have held five (5) offices in five years
(ending with WM)??

>    My first questioning of Freemasonry was in regard to the
>obligation I took when I was initiated.

And just when did this questioning occur?  Surely you don't mean
to suggest that this bothered you but you continued with "total
dedication" for FIVE YEARS?   Surely, Mr. Washum, you aren't
nearly that stupid.

>It was explained that...what I had learned was not public information.

Really?  But, in a moment, you're going to tell us about your trip to
the local bookstore and the books that you discovered.

> I later told him
>that if he used those words in the Lodge room again, I was going
>to file Masonic charges against him. The reaction of the members
>who overheard was very confusing.

Wouldn't be very confusing for me.  You walk up and threaten
someone with Masonic charges?  Didn't you serve as Junior
Warden?  Didn't you learn anything at all from your duties in that
office?  Apparently not.  I suppose you were far too busy with the
so-called "total dedication" to be concerned with the fraternity.

> At first I did not notice that none
>of the prayers are in the name of Jesus Christ.

Did you miss something along the way about our fraternity not
dividing men along religious or political lines?  And yet, here you
are confused about the fraternity not taking YOUR religious line
in total opposition to everyone else?

> I then became aware that there is no mention of Jesus Christ in any
 >  of the prayers or in the ritual book.

Again, no division along religious lines.

>    Both of my confrontations began to consume my thoughts. I was
>morally right...

Yep, Newt would have been proud of you!

>    Despite this, I was able to be elected as the next Worshipful
>Master.

Let me get this straight...this is happening in year THREE or
FOUR.  You've openly threatened someone with "Masonic
charges" if they don't walk and talk like you...you've accused the
sitting Master of the Lodge of "prostituting" his office...and
"despite this" you are elected as the next WM?????   My
ability to suspend disbelief is evaporating rapidly, friend.

> I soon found myself questioning things, including my
>title. Was I really a Worshipful Master? By whose authority? I
>never considered myself to be master over anybody, and I certainly
>wasn't worshipful.

And you don't have a clue as to the origin and use of the terms?  What
in the WORLD have you been doing in these last (very) few years of
"total dedication"?  Apparently not educating yourself in the least on
what you are attacking!

>   I was in a local Christian bookstore and found a book I was
>interested in, _The Kingdom of the Cults_ by Walter Martin.

Aha!  Now we've arrived in the local bookstore for some of that
information that isn't "public"!

>   Every question that had previously troubled me about Masonry
>came back to me. A cold shiver went through me. I began praying to
>God for wisdom to know the truth. I placed a phone call to
>Christian Research Institute, and I told of my concern about
>Freemasonry. They said they would send me a booklet which might be
>helpful, _Freemasonry and Christianity_ by Alva J. McClain.

And just *how*, pray tell, did you decide to call them nice folks at the
Christian Research Institute?  Get a telegram from brother Newt?

>    That night, I shared my concerns with a Christian friend. He
>taught me about blood oaths, secular humanism, and other things.
>    The next two weeks found me in extreme turmoil. I would think
>about the discussions with my Christian friend but then I would
>read from my Masonic Bible.

Your "Masonic Bible"?  I'm assuming that you are referring to a
King James (mine is KJV).  Let's not give the impression that the
fraternity has it's very own bible (which it certainly does NOT).

>   Finally, I went to my knees and once again asked the Lord to
>show me the truth. It roared across my mind. "Blood Oath." I
>recalled my uneasiness with the oath of secrecy, and Jesus'
>admonition to "make no oath at all" (Matthew 5:34).

Five years of "total dedication"...two weeks of "research" via
the CRI and now you've decided to withdraw.  Come now.

>That week the secretary of Vegas Lodge No. 32 received my letter of
>withdrawal.

You know, I'd almost be tempted to write to the Secretary and see if
this guy's "testimony" has even the slightest element of truth to it.
But, on the basis of the rest of the tripe posted, I don't feel like
bothering him.

> Besides, to stay in Masonry would mean
>to deny Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior in my prayers.

Really?  And just where was this required?  I have NEVER denied
Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.  Neither in public
nor in private.  Not in speech, thought or prayer.  And not once, not
one time, have I ever found or felt inconsistency with my faith and
my fraternity in the 22, yes 22, years since I was initiated, passed
and raised.

>    I have prayed for forgiveness...

As indeed you should.  I believe that you are attempting to
foist this tripe as truth.

>The Christian Research Institute (CRI) -- founded in 1960 by the
>late Dr. Walter R. Martin -- is a clearing house for current, in-
>depth information on new religious movements and aberrant
>Christian teachings.

Would you be so kind as to describe (e-mail please...not to
congest the NG) the basis of your faith?  Just how do you
define "aberrant Christian teachings"?  Are they any that disagree
with yours?  (what I suspect)

> We provide well-reasoned, carefully-researched answers to concepts and
>ideas that challenge orthodox Christianity.

Uh...your posting is a counter-example to this claim.

>Did you know that CRI has a wealth of information on various
>topics that is yours for the asking?

Certainly well worth the selling price...especially if this posting
was any indication of value or research.

> Our first-rate research staff will do everything possible to help you.

Really?  Will they tell the truth?

>End of file.

Thank God.  "Don", please don't bother us with this tripe.  Maybe
you should consider elevating your research to some level above
your little "tract" books.


Date: 05-04-96 (22:04)              Number: 7647 of 7650 (Refer# NONE)
  To: ALL
From: don@icon.net, DON
Subj: Baptist and Freemasonry
Read: (N/A)                         Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE
Conf: alt.freemasonry (2245)     Read Type: GENERAL (+)

From: don@icon.net (Don)
Newsgroups: alt.freemasonry,alt.masonic.members
Organization: (ICON) InterConnect Online, Inc.
Message-ID: <4mgka5$afe@news.icon.net>


*Baptist Battle over Freemasonry Erupts Anew*

    For centuries, Christians convinced of the pagan and
universalist assertions of Freemasonry have sought to counter its
influence worldwide.

    In the second half of the last century, Jonathan Blanchard,
first president of the evangelical Wheaton College and a former
Mason himself, debated Masonic thinkers. And as recently as 1985,
Christian Research Institute founder Walter Martin debated Bill
Mankin, a 32 degree Mason and professing Christian, extracting
seeming inconsistencies between Mankin's Christian and Masonic
beliefs.

    Perhaps no debate over the matter has garnered such attention
nationwide, however, as the recent fire set under the Southern
Baptist Convention (SBC) by a medical doctor and layman from
Beaumont, Texas. Last year, James "Larry" Holly requested at the
Indianapolis SBC annual meeting that the convention conduct a
formal study of the compatibility -- or, as he asserted, the lack
thereof -- between Freemasonry and biblical Christianity.

    The result was a whirlwind of controversy and media attention
which did not begin to abate until June of 1993, when the SBC met
for its annual convention in Houston, Texas. By an estimated 80
percent margin the denomination approved a study stating that
Freemasonry's ideals and activities are, in part, compatible and
elsewhere incompatible with Christianity.

    The convention messengers went so far as to say, among other
things, that Freemasonry's use of solemn oaths; its recommendation
of "readings" of "undeniably pagan and/or occultic...writings"; its
implication "that salvation may be attained by one's good works";
and the permeation through Masonic writings of "the heresy of
universalism," are not compatible with Christianity or Southern
Baptist doctrine.

    To the astonishment of many, however, the six-page statement
from the SBC Home Mission Board concludes by saying that
Freemasonry membership should be "a matter of personal conscience,"
"consistent with our denomination's deep convictions regarding the
priesthood of the believer and the autonomy of the local church."

    All in all, the SBC's action was very "naive," said Holly.
While affirming that he has been faithful to the Lord and will not
challenge the matter further, others have told him that they will.
"There is absolutely no question that what the convention did was
short of what they should have done and was, in fact, compromise.
The problem is the convention is always looking over their
shoulder."

    Ironically, in one fell swoop, what started as a
well-intentioned attempt to weed out the effects of Freemasonry
within the denomination has seemingly resulted instead in a
strengthening of allegiance among American Masons. Indeed, Masons
have heralded the SBC statement as ultimately a "positive"
affirmation of their movement.

    "The final report vindicates Freemasonry from the charge of
being a religion or of being anti-Christian," said Fred
Kleinknecht, Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction of
Freemasonry, in the June issue of the Masonic monthly _Scottish
Rite Journal._ "In fact, the report advocates Masonic membership by
Christians as an opportunity to witness in the Lodge for Christ by
their example of Christian living."

    During the controversy, many closet Masons pulled out their
pins and proudly displayed them upon their lapels during services
in local Southern Baptist churches.

    At Parkway Baptist Church in St. Louis, 12-year pastor Stoney
Shaw resigned and the church was thrown into turmoil after
conducting its own investigation of Masonry. Shaw became convicted
of Masonry's "cultic and anti-Christian" stance, but church members
who were Masons rose up and strongly opposed him.

    Holly believes that even though Masons are claiming an
immediate boost from the SBC's outcome, it will not be sustained.
"That kind of emotional response will not sustain the Lodge for
long. Much of what they have published themselves has, in fact,
proved the reality and truth of what we have said."

    *Masonry's Influence.* The truth is that Freemasonry's
membership -- estimated by Scottish Rite representatives at 2.5
million in the United States and six million worldwide -- has been
dropping by two to three percent annually in recent years. The
average age of a Mason is 63, according to the organization's own
estimates.

    Still, Holly estimates there are between 500,000 and 1.3
million Southern Baptist Freemasons alone, with 14 percent of SBC
pastors and 18 percent of deacons being Masons. Masons have claimed
the allegiance of scores of well-known members, which the _Scottish
Rite Journal_ paraded through its pages in the issues preceding the
SBC vote.

    One writer in the _Scottish Rite Journal_ said that calling
Masonry satanic is folly, asserting that "if Dr. James Holly of
Beaumont is right, George Washington, the father of our country,
was a devil worshiper." The writer goes on to mention the names of
13 U.S. presidents who were Masons, including Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and most recently, Gerald Ford. He also
notes the Masonic membership of Irving Berlin and John Wayne.

    Moreover, journal articles were written defending the "gentle
craft" by members Jesse Helms, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and the
presidents of both Baylor and Furman universities. Every president
of the Southern Baptist-run Baylor since its founding has been a
Mason.

    Abner McCall, president emeritus of Baylor, asserted in his
article that "membership and work in the Masonic Lodge and the
Baptist Church have supplemented and supported each other and in no
way supplanted nor subverted each other. They conflict only in the
mind of a person who subscribes to a perverted version of
Freemasonry, the church, or both."

    But if McCall's assertion is true, he has just condemned a
great many of the denominations in the United States and Europe
with whom one might think he would share an affinity. For while the
Southern Baptists balked at taking a strong stand against Masonry,
a large number of other denominations have not hesitated to make
plain their opposition.

    Based on information gathered by a Roman Catholic physician who
prefers to remain anonymous (and printed in a recent book by
Holly), the following denominations are publicly opposed to
Freemasonry: the Roman Catholic Church; the Methodist Church of
England; the Wesleyan Methodist Church; the Russian Orthodox
Church; the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod; the Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Synod; the Synod Anglican Church of England;
the Assemblies of God; the Church of the Nazarene; the Orthodox
Presbyterian Church; the Reformed Presbyterian Church; the
Presbyterian Church in America; the Christian Reformed Church in
America; the Evangelical Mennonite Church; the Church of Scotland;
the Free Church of Scotland; and the Baptist Union of Scotland.

    In statement after statement, the same concerns are listed by
denominations opposed to Freemasonry, virtually all of which are
also found in researchers John Weldon and John Ankerberg's book
_Bowing at Strange Altars: The Masonic Lodge and the Christian
Conscience:_

    * Masons endorse taking secret and bloody oaths, one of which
says, "All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and
swear,...binding myself under no less penalty than that of having
my throat cut from ear to ear, my tongue torn out by its roots, and
buried in the sands of the sea, at low water mark, where the tide
ebbs and flows twice in twenty-five hours, should I, in the least,
knowingly or wittingly violate or transgress this my Entered
Apprentice obligation."

    * Masons teach that heaven can be attained in unbiblical ways.
In official Masonic rituals, initiates are given a "white leather
Apron" symbolizing "that purity of life and conduct, which is
necessary to obtain admittance into the celestial Lodge above,
where the Supreme Architect of the Universe presides." Other
statements indicate salvation by works, critics assert.

    * The Lodge teaches universalism. Perhaps nowhere is this more
clearly seen than in a series of articles written recently by
Masons in defense of Masonry. Furman University president John E.
Johns, in his article defending Masonry in the February 1993
_Scottish Rite Journal,_ says: "Masonry...causes one to think more
about what his religious beliefs really are and what he must do to
obtain salvation through his religion. For [Southern Baptists], it
is to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior."

    Johns also states: "[Masonry] is a fraternity of men who, first
of all, must believe in one God. It is a religious organization in
that it encourages members to support each individual's faith
whether he is a Christian, Muslim, Hebrew, or other monotheistic
believer. Masonic teachings are based largely on Old and New
Testament principles, but also on other religious teachings -- all
honorable....Masonry teaches toleration of others' beliefs."

    * The God of the Masonic Lodge is not the God of the Bible. A
common name Masons use in reference to the Deity is "Supreme
Architect of the Universe." Wrote popular Masonic author Joseph
Fort Newton: "For Masonry knows what so many forget, that religions
are many, but Religion is one...therefore, it [Masonry] invites to
its altar men of all faiths, knowing that, if they use different
names for the nameless one of a hundred names, they are yet praying
to the one God and Father of all."

    According to Ankerberg and Weldon, Masons are also introduced
to such pagan and occultic deities as the Egyptian gods Osiris,
Isis, Horus, and Amun; the Scandinavian deities Odin, Frea, and
Thor; and to Hindu, Greek, and Persian deities, as well as Jewish
Kabbalism.

    *The Bottom Line.*  Since the writings of Freemasonry and its
rituals are difficult to defend as Christian, Masons in recent
months have mostly asserted that, on the contrary, Masonry is not
a religion at all.

    The debate has, by the players' admissions, turned into a game
of semantics, with critics quoting the likes of highly touted Mason
writer Albert Pike in his definitive book, _Morals and Dogma,_
where he says, "Every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion," and,
moreover, "Masonry...is the universal, eternal, immutable
religion."

    Masons have protested that Pike -- who also said somewhere in
the same book, "Masonry is not a religion" -- has never been
considered the sole and definitive defender and creator of Masonic
teaching, nor has anyone else. Ankerberg and Weldon note, however,
that Grand Commander Fred Kleinknecht said himself in 1988 that
Pike's _Morals and Dogma_ is "the most complete exposition of
Scottish Rite philosophy," calling Pike "the master builder of the
Scottish Rite."

    Whatever the case, the evidence presented by Masonry's critics
raises the question: How could a Bible-believing denomination such
as the Southern Baptist Convention confirm such findings in its own
6-page report and yet stop short of thoroughly dissociating itself
with such an organization? According to some critics, the answer
can be traced to the ongoing battle within the SBC between
absolutist inerrantists and more liberal moderates.

-------------

End of document, CRJ0162A.TXT (original CRI file name),
"News Watch"
release A, August 31, 1994
R. Poll, CRI

(A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in
the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.)

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