* As Sovereign Grand Commander Henry C. Claussen admits, "It must be apparent that the Blue Lodge ... degrees cannot explain the whole of Masonry. They are the foundation...An initiate may imagine he understands the ethics, symbols and enigmas, whereas a true explanation of these is reserved for the more adept" [Claussen's Commentaries on Morals and Dogma ... p. 148]

In Albert G. Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry he states, "All [Masons] unite in declaring it to be a system of morality, by the practice of which its members may advance their spiritual interest, and mount by the theological ladder from the Lodge on earth to the Lodge in heaven. [Vol.I p. 269]

"It is a science which is engaged in the search after Divine Truth, and which employs symbolism as its method of instruction" [Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Vol.I p. 269] "[Masonry is] that religious and mystical society whose aim is moral perfection on the basis of general equality and fraternity" [ibid] "Freemasonry, in its broadest and most comprehensive sense, is a system of morality and social ethics, a primitive religion, and a philosophy of life ... incorporating a broad humanitarianism ... It is a religion without a creed, being of no sect by finding truth in all ... It seeks truth but does not define truth..." [Henry Wilson Coil, A Comprehensive View of Freemasonry, p. 234]

Religion -- a belief in a divine or super human power...to be obeyed and worshipped as the Creator and ruler of the universe; expression of ... this belief in conduct and ritual ... [Webster's New World Dictionary]

"Freemasonry certainly requires a belief in the existence of, and man's dependence upon, a Supreme Being to whom he is responsible. What can a church add to that, except to bring into one fellowship those who have like feelings? ... That is exactly what the Lodge does." [Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 512]

Albert Mackey in Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, the third most recommended author by the Grand Lodges, quotes Webster's definition of religion then comments, "Freemasonry may rightfully claim to be called a religious institution" [Vol. II, p. 847]

He who wears the lambskin as a badge of a Mason is thereby continually reminded of purity of life and conduct which is essentially necessary to his gaining admission into that celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect of the universe presides" [Malcom C. Duncan, Masonic Ritual and Monitor p. 50] [Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. and A.M., Monitor of the Lodge: Monitorial Instructions in the Three Degrees of Symbolic Masonry, p. 88]

"Freemasonry has a religious service to commit the body of a deceased brother to the dust whence it came, and to speed the liberated spirit back to the Great Source of Light. Many Freemasons make this flight with *no other guarantee of a safe landing than their belief in the religion of Freemasonry*" [Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 512]

Some Masons say, along with Masonic apologist Alphonse Cerza, "Freemasonry cannot be a religion because it has not creed; it has not confession of faith; it has not theology, no ritual of worship" [Alphonse Cerza, "Let There Be Light" p. 41]

Webster defines "creed" as: "a statement of belief, principles, or opinions on any subject".

In Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia we find: "Does Freemasonry have a creed ... or tenet ... or dogma ... to which all members must adhere? Does Freemasonry continually teach and insist upon a creed, tenet and dogma? Does it have meetings characterized by the practice of rites and ceremonies in, and by which, its creed tenet and dogma are illustrated, in myth, symbols and allegories? If Freemasonry were not religion, what would have to be done to make it such? Nothing would be necessary, or at least nothing but to add more of the same" [[p. 512]

Coil goes on to admit that not only does Freemasonry have a creed, but it also functions as a church. "That brings us to the real crux of the matter. The difference between a Lodge and a church is one of degree and not kind. Some think because it [the Lodge] is not a strong or highly formalized or highly dogmatized religion, such as the Roman Catholic Church ... it can be no religion at all. But a church of friends (Quakers) exhibits even less formality and ritual then does a Masonic Lodge" [p. 512].

In conclusion, Coil writes, "The fact that Freemasonry is a mild religion does not mean that it is no religion" p. 512].

Does Freemasonry teach its own theology, as a religion does? "For example, Masonry clearly teaches theology during the Royal Arch degree (York Rite), when it tells each candidate that the lost name for God will now be revealed to them. The name that is given is Jahbulon. This is a composite term joining Jehovah with two pagan gods -- the evil Canaanite deity Baal (Jeremiah 19:5; Judges 3:7; 10:6), and the Egyptian god Osiris [Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 516; Malcom C. Duncan, Masonic Ritual and Monitor, p. 226].

The Oxford American Dictionary defines theology as "a system of religion." Webster defines theology as "the study of God and the relation between God and the universe ... A specific form or system ... as expounded by a particular religion or denomination".

Does Masonry fulfill these definitions?

"As Joseph Fort Newton said, "Everything in Masonry has reference to God, implies God, speaks of God, points and leads to God. Not a degree, not a symbol, not an obligation, not a lecture, not a charge but finds its meaning and derives its beauty from God, the Great Architect, in whose temple all Masons are workmen" [The Religion of Freemasonry, An Interpretation, p. 58-59].

Anyone who says the Masonic Lodge does not teach theology is uninformed or just plain lying.

Webster's Dictionary defines "worship" as "a prayer...or other rite showing reverence or devotion for a deity ..." -- for God.

"Masons walk in His [God's] presence constantly...[In ritual the "lights" -- candles] formed a triangle about the altar at which you knelt in reverence. They symbolized the presence of Deity ... The Masonic altar can be said to be one of sacrifice ... You have taken obligations [to God] that have sacrificed your self-interest forevermore" [Allen E. Roberts, The Craft and Its Symbols: Opening The Door to Masonic Symbolism, p. 57, 64]

"Freemasonry's Lodges are erected to God ... Symbolically, to 'erect to God' means to construct something in honor, in worship, in reverence to and for Him. Hardly is the initiate within the West Gate before he is impressed that Freemasonry worships God" [Carl H. Claudy, Foreign Countries: A Gateway t the Interpretation and Development of Certain Symbols of Freemasonry, p. 23].

As Albert Pike admitted in Morals and Dogma, "Masonry is a [system] of worship" p. 526].

"The fact that Freemasonry is a mild religion does not mean that it is no religion" [Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 512]

Is Freemasonry a religion? "We open and close our Lodges with prayer; we invoke the blessing of the Most High upon all our labors; we demand of our neophytes a profession of trusting belief in the existence and superintending care of God; and we teach them to bow with humility and reverence at his sacred name, while his holy law is widely opened upon our altars ... It is impossible that a Freemason can be 'true and trusty' to his order unless he is a respecter of religion and an observer of religious principle" Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Vol. II, p. 847]

"The religion of Freemasonry is not sectarian. It admits men of every creed within its hospitable bosom, rejecting none and approving none for his peculiar faith. It is not Judaism, though there is nothing in it to offend the Jew; it is not Christianity, but there is nothing in it repugnant to the faith of a Christian. Its religion is that general one of nature and primitive revelation handed down to us from some ancient and patriarchal priesthood -- in which all men may agree and in which no men can differ" [Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Vol. II, p. 847-48].

Henry Wilson Coil in his 15,000-word article proving Freemasonry is a religion correctly concludes: Nothing herein is intended to be an argument that Freemasonry ought to be religion. Our purpose is simply to determine what it has become, an is" [Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 513].

During Masonic ceremonies various symbols are employed. Different symbols are used to identify the same idea or teaching -- for example, both the compass and the sprig of the acacia can symbolize immortality [The Craft And Its Symbols: Opening The Door To Masonic Symbolism, p. 62,80].

"To study the symbolism of Masonry is the only way to investigate its philosophy" [The Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 5].

Albert Mackey who held the highest position Masonry has to offer has told us that candidate who seeks to enter the Lodge is seeking divine truth.

"There he stand without [outside] our portals, on the threshold of his new Masonic life, in darkness, helplessness and ignorance. Having been wandering amid the errors and covered over with the pollutions of the outer and profane world, he comes inquiringly to our door, seeking the new birth, and asking a withdrawal of the veil which conceals divine truth from his uninitiated sight" [The Manual of the Lodge, p. 20].

In Henry Wilson Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia he writes, "Light is everywhere the symbol of intelligence, information, knowledge, and truth and is opposed to darkness which symbolizes ignorance and evil. So, in the ceremonies, the candidate is said to be brought from darkness to light" [p. 375].

Masonry teaches that their God, The Great Architect of the Universe must remain undefined.

"Men have to decide whether they want a God like the ancient Hebrew Jahweh, a partisan tribal god, with whom they can talk and argue and from whom they can hide if necessary, or a boundless, eternal, universal, undenominational, and international Divine Spirit, so vastly removed from the speck called man, that he cannot be known, named or approached. So soon as man begins to laud his God and endow him with the most perfect human attributes such as justice, mercy, beneficence, etc., the Divine Essence is depreciated and despoiled ... Monotheism ... violates Masonic principles, for it requires belief in a specific kind of Supreme Deity" [Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 516-17].

"Specifically, the Masonic Lodge teaches its belief in the unity and universality of all men as "one family" accepted by God regardless of race, religion, or creed [The Craft and its Symbols: Opening the Door to Masonic Symbolism, p. 21]

"through these teachings the Mason will put into practice the brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God. In doing so, he will develop his character and personality in the image of the Great Architect of the Universe" [ibid. p. 84]

"Among the most beautiful of Freemasonry's symbols, these express at the very beginning the fundamental principle of Freemasonry: the Fatherhood of God, and the Brotherhood of man" [A Gateway to the Interpretation and Development of Certain Symbols of Freemasonry, p. 24]

"The temple that the Craft is building is the unification and the harmonizing of the entire human family. this is summed up for us in the will known lines: 'God hath made mankind one vast brotherhood, Himself their Master, and the world His Lodge'" [The Spirit of Masonry, p. 110]

As Martin L. Wagner has correctly stated, "This Great Architect as conceived by Freemasons is not identical with the Jehovah of Christianity, but ... is another and distinct entity." He says they "are entirely separate and different, mutually exclusive and no syncretism can harmonize them" [Freemasonry: An Interpretation, p. 321, 300].

"The God of the nineteen-twentieths of the Christian world is only Bel [Baal], Molach, Zeus, or at best Osiris, Mythras or Adonai, under another name, worshipped with the old pagan ceremonies and ritualistic formulas ..." [Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, p. 295-96].

The candidate is clearly instructed in his Masonic manual that the term "Jahbulon" is a composite term for Jehovah (Jah), Baal (Bul or Bel), and Osiris (On, a corruption of Os) [Masonic Ritual and Monitor, p. 226].

"In this compound name an attempt is made to show by a co-ordination of divine names...the unity, identity, and harmony of the Hebrew, Assyrian and Egyptian god-ideas, and the harmony of the Royal Arch religion with these ancient religions. This Masonic 'unity of God' is peculiar. It is the doctrine that the different names of gods as Brahma, Jehovah, Baal, Bel, Om, On, etc., all denote the generative principle, and that all religions are essentially the same in their ideas of the divine" [Freemasonry: An Interpretation, p. 338-39].

Masonry also teaches that God is an amalgamation of all gods: "[The Mason] may name Him [God] as he will, think of Him as he pleases; make Him impersonal law or personal and anthropomorphic; Freemasonry cares not ... God, Great Architect of the Universe, Grand Artificer, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge Above, Jehovah, Allah, Buddha, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, or Great Geometer ..." [Introduction to Freemasonry Vol II:110, by Carl H. Claudy]

But the Bible teaches that the Christian God alone is the one true God

He is not an amalgamation of all gods;

"O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no god like Thee in heaven or on earth ..." 
(2 Chronicles 6:14).

"I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give my glory to another" (Isaiah 42:8).

"Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other." (Deuteronomy 4:39 NIV).

Masonry also denies the biblical teaching on Jesus Christ. Albert Pike taught that Masonry held that Jesus Christ was only a man and not God:

"It reverences all the great reformers. It sees in Moses, the Lawgiver, of the Jews, in Confucius and Zoroaster, in Jesus of Nazareth, and in the Arabian Iconoclast, Great Teachers of Morality, and Eminent Reformers, if no more ..." (Morals and Dogma, p. 525).

The important Masonic Ritual called the Maundy Thursday Ritual of the chapter of Rose Croix states officially, "We meet this day to commemorate the death [of Jesus], not as inspired or divine, for this is not for us to decide. [Henry C. Clausen, Practice and Procedure for the Scottish Rite, Washington DC, The Supreme Council, 33rd, Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Mother Jurisdiction of the World, 1981].

As for Past Master Mason Edmund Ronayne confesses: "The very religious philosophy and false worship which caused Jehovah to destroy His own temple, and banish into captivity His ancient people, are precisely the same philosophy and worship which modern Masons profess shall fit them for the glories of heaven" [E. Ronayne, Chapter Masonry, Chicago, Il, Ezra A. Cook. 1984, p. 126].

"Freemasonry 'carefully excludes' the Lord Jesus Christ from the Lodge and chapter, repudiates his meadiatorship, rejects his atonement, denies and disowns his gospel, frowns upon his religion and his church, ignores the Holy Spirit, and sets up for itself a spiritual empire, a religious theocracy, at the head of which it places the G.A.O.T.U. -- the god of nature -- and from which the one only living and true God is expelled by resolution ... [Edmond Ronayne, The Master's Carpet; or Masonry and Baal-Worship -- Identical, p. 87]

In Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia we read, "The prevailing Masonic opinion is that the Bible is only a symbol of Divine Will, Law, or Revelation, and not that its contents are Divine Law, inspired, or revealed. So far, no responsible authority has held that a Freemason must believe the Bible or any part of it" (p. 520)

The Bibles of other faiths are equally valid for the Mason, Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry states:

"The Bible is used among Freemasons as a symbol of the will of God, however it may be expressed. Therefore, whatever to any people expresses that will [of God] may be used as a substitute for the Bible in a Masonic Lodge. Thus, in a Lodge consisting entirely of Jews, the Old Testament alone may be placed upon the altar, and Turkish Freemasons [Muslims] make use of the Koran. Whether it be the Gospels to the Christian, the Pentateuch to the Israelite, the Koran to the Mussulman, [sic; Muslim] or the Vedas to the Brahman, it everywhere Masonically conveys the same idea -- that of the symbolism of the Divine Will revealed to man" [Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. 1 p. 133].

"Thus, by the very honor which Masonry pays to the Bible, it teaches us to revere every book of faith ... joining hands with the man of Islam as he takes oath on the Koran, and with the Hindu as he makes covenant with God upon the book that he loves best ... [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; knowing, also, that while they read different volumes, they are in fact reading the same vast Book of the Faith of Man as revealed in the struggle and sorrow of the race in its quest of God. [Temple Illustrated Edition of the Holy Bible, by Joseph Fort Newton, p. 3-4]

How can a Christian Mason, who claims to believe that the Bible is the literal Word of God, help promote an organization that denies the Bible is God's Word and denies Jesus' teaching on the Bible? Scripture tells us we are to live "worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory" (1 Thessalonians. 2:12).