Freemasonry, The Spirit of Babylon

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="129a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Heart4God Website!"><U><B><IMG SRC="4b55a500.png" border=0 width="90" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin"><U><B>Writings by Date</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin Organized "><U><B>Writings by Topic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm"><U><B>Audio Files</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id690.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Videos"><U><B>Videos</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id323.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings of Others"><U><B>Other Authors</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id339.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions and Answers"><U><B>Q&A</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id328.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart4God Email List"><U><B>Heart4God E-mail List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com"><U><B>Parables Blog</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="File Downloads"><U><B><IMG SRC="2b264140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B>Freemasonry, The Spirit of Babylon</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="c2827160.png" border=0 width="807" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="805" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 429 WIDTH="793"><div> <IMG SRC="9bc86a70.png" border=0 width="390" height="423" ALT="Presentations X3 Drawing" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 3455 WIDTH="793"><div> <B>Introduction</B></div> <bR> <div> I want to begin this look at Freemasonry by declaring that I understand that those who are presently involved with this organization may find it offensive to hear anything critical spoken about it. Many of those associated with Freemasonry, particularly those of the lower degrees, have only known it as a fraternal organization that exists “to make good men better” and to carry out various charitable works.</div> <bR> <div> It is not my intent to offend, but to fulfill the command of Christ and to “speak the truth in love.” If it can be demonstrated that Freemasonry teaches things contrary to sound Christian doctrine, then those who are both thoughtful and spiritual should desire to acquire knowledge of these things.</div> <bR> <div> Neither is it my intent to duplicate what many other men have written on Freemasonry. There are many sound examinations of this matter that have been published by men of great integrity, men of spiritual stature. To name one, Charles Finney, the evangelist used mightily of the Lord in the 1800's wrote a consideration of this topic consisting of some 20 chapters. It is titled “The Character, Claims and Practical Workings of Freemasonry.” This book was published in 1869 and the entirety of the work can be found on the Internet at the following Internet address:</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.gospeltruth.net/1869Freemasonry/indexfreemasonry.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.gospeltruth.net/1869Freemason"><U><U>http://www.gospeltruth.net/1869Freemasonry/indexfreemasonry.htm.</U></U></A></div> <bR> <div> Charles Finney was a Mason before His conversion to Christianity, and immediately found that he could no longer continue his association with this organization. After nearly forty years of ministry he felt compelled to write on the topic when the subject of Freemasonry required his attention in the exercise of his spiritual duties.</div> <bR> <div> Finney wrote in detail of the immoral nature of many of the oaths Masons are induced to speak, of Masonry’s perverse and profane use of the Bible, its false claims of antiquity, and other matters that render it incompatible with a pure devotion to Christ. For those who wish to examine Finney’s objections to Freemasonry, I recommend to them his book.</div> <bR> <div> Like Finney, I would not have addressed this topic if the Lord had not so ordered my steps where I could not avoid it. For years I have known that the area where I reside has for a long period been under a tremendous influence by adherents of Freemasonry. The influence of this organization upon the city where I now live (Macon, Georgia) will be examined, as well as looking at the fruit of Masonry’s influence on this region.</div> <bR> <div> All who would be disciples of Jesus Christ, Yahshua the Messiah, are called to examine all things of this world carefully. A Christian is no longer their own master “for they have been bought with a price” (I Corinthians 6:20, 7:23). The disciple of Jesus Christ is not free to bind himself to organizations, fraternities, or secret societies of his choosing. He is called to do nothing of his own initiative, but is to be conformed to the same pattern observed in the Son of God who said:</div> <bR> <div> John 5:30</div> <div> "<I><B><U>I can do nothing on My own initiative</U></B></I>... I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”</div> <bR> <div> John 8:28</div> <div> So Jesus said, “<I><B><U>I do nothing on My own initiative</U></B></I>, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”</div> <bR> <div> The character of the true disciple of Christ reveals a total surrender to the will of God. The disciple of Christ has died to the desires of his own soul, and is learning to no longer walk by his own will, desires, or emotions, but to come to a new pattern of living whereby he will “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Revelation 14:4). A disciple is not to initiate actions, or to set a course for his life, apart from the direction of the Spirit of God. Joining lodges, fraternities and secret societies certainly falls within the scope of those actions that a disciple of Christ should not embark upon without a clear leading from the Spirit of Christ.</div> <bR> <div> Hebrews 4:9-12</div> <div> So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.  Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.</div> <bR> <div> In the book of Hebrews, chapters 3 and 4, the Christian is exhorted in the strongest language to not fall short of entering into the Sabbath Rest of God. This Sabbath Rest is defined as “ceasing from our own works.” We enter Sabbath Rest when we make a division between those thoughts and desires that arise from our soul and those that arise from the spirit, and then choose to conform ourselves to that which is of the spirit.</div> <bR> <div> Many saints have not been patient in their examination of all things in which they have become involved, and all teachings that they have adopted. As a result they fail to enter into God’s rest. Their decisions are not in accordance with the will of God, but are decisions arrived at by their own initiative. The disciple of Christ advances in spiritual maturity as his senses become trained to discern the difference between the voice of his soul and the voice of the Spirit. His sensitivity to the distinctions between the two is increased as he chooses over and over to die to his own desires and to surrender to the leading of the Spirit of Christ.</div> <bR> <div> Ephesians 4:14-15</div> <div> As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ...</div> <bR> <div> I Corinthians 13:11</div> <div> When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.</div> <bR> <div> There is much in these words of the apostle that have bearing upon the examination of this subject. First we are admonished that “we are no longer to be children.” That is, we are not to be childish, or naive, in our thoughts and actions. A child might be easily misled, for we know how susceptible they are to believe anything an adult might tell them. In this way many children have been led to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, or brought to embrace some other belief that as adults we know are mere fiction.</div> <bR> <div> While a child may believe such fables and we are not alarmed at it, we would be alarmed if we found an adult to still be clinging to the fictions of childhood. As the apostle Paul stated we are not to be <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" >“tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming...”</FONT></div> <bR> <div> A child may believe many false things, but as we approach maturity we are to not accept every doctrine, or be so easily fooled by the trickery of men, nor be caught in the snare of those who are crafty and practice deceitful scheming.</div> <bR> <div> What is it that must change in order for us to leave behind childish things and go on to maturity in Christ?</div> <bR> <div> I Thessalonians 5:21-22</div> <div> But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.</div> <bR> <div> As we come to maturity we are to learn to be discerning. Isn’t this a difference between children and those who are mature, even that children lack discernment, but adults are to acquire discernment as they grow older? A child may not have the patience, or the ability to examine everything carefully, but as mature saints we are to manifest these qualities. As the Scriptures also say:</div> <bR> <div> II Timothy 2:15</div> <div> Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.</div> <bR> <div> I suppose that a large percentage of the present evils of Christianity are due to a failure to obey these instructions. Many saints are carried to and fro by every doctrine and teaching that comes along because they do not examine everything carefully, nor do they approach the study of truth as a workman that needs to labor over that which is before him.</div> <bR> <div> If you value your relationship to Christ ABOVE every earthly relationship, and if your loyalty to Jesus Christ is the highest loyalty that you hold dear, then you will not be adverse to examining Freemasonry. Rather, you will desire to thoroughly examine this organization, its practices and doctrines, to discern whether it in any way is incompatible with a true devotion to the One True God, Yahweh, and His Son Jesus Christ, Yahshua the Messiah.</div> <bR> <div> Proverbs 18:17</div> <div> The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him.</div> <bR> <div> Proverbs 18:13</div> <div> He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.</div> <bR> <div> If you have become involved in Freemasonry as a result of the many positive testimonies of men who have been and are presently involved in it, but have not examined the testimonies of others who have come out of it, and of spiritual men who have renounced it, then you have failed to examine the matter in a mature and Scriptural manner. It is not enough to simply know that many men have expressed objections to Freemasonry, those who wish to walk in truth must carefully examine what has been said for and against it.</div> <bR> <div> Freemasonry claims to revere King Solomon, but if you have not heeded the words of Solomon and listened carefully to arguments both for and against it you are not walking in wisdom. Solomon testifies that to form a judgment before patiently hearing a matter is folly and brings shame.</div> <bR> <div> I ask you, therefore, to be patient with me as I go through this presentation, and even if you feel that you already know all there is that you need to know to make a valid judgment in this matter that you will do as Solomon exhorted and fully examine the matter before you, demonstrating a willingness to hear from another witness.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id547.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Freemasonry Chapter 1"><U>Next Chapter</U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>