Small Town Texas Masons

2010-06-01T07:02:00.000-05:00

It’s been a long time since I’ve been here, but as I have said, I have been working hard on the “Small Town Texas Masons E-magazine” and it has been recognized. The following story from the June 2010 issue tells the story.

If you haven’t been reading the “Small Town Texas Masons E-magazine” please give it a try. It is different. It is at http://www.mastermason.com/STTM-Emag/ on the web.

Corky

The "Masonry At Work" Award - Brother Corky's Night

By John "Corky" Daut

On May 3, 2010, Bro. John “Corky” Daut was given the “Masonry At Work” award for his contributions to Freemasonry through his computer and internet accomplishments in reaching to Masons worldwide with the “Small Town Texas Masons E-magazine” and the online version of the Waller Masonic Lodge newsletter and creating web sites for many Texas Lodges.

The award was presented by DDGM Right Worshipful Robert Podvin for the Grand Master of Texas, Most Worshipful Orville L. O'Neill.

It was also a proud night for Waller Masonic Lodge in Waller Texas when a little over 60 people walked past the new Memorial Garden, through the new front doors, into the completely remodeled and decorated entry hall. Then everyone joined in the newly remodeled kitchen and dining room to share what turned out to be a real feast. Brother “Wes” Mersiovsky and wife Liz and daughters, as the “Chefs”, worked hard and long to prepare the roast pork loin and side dishes. Plus, many of the wives brought home made side dishes and deserts to add to the meal and the kitchen was crowded with volunteers to assist as needed.

Brother “Wes” was beaming a little as he worked, at the many praises overheard about the remodeling work he had done on the building. He has been working for days and even a few nights to get the building ready in time.

After the meal, everyone found seats in the Lodge room where Worshipful Master David Reagan and our D.D.G.M. Right Worshipful “Bob” Podvin began the award ceremony and presented a beautiful plaque to Corky.

Now, a day after, I have to be honest about it, as I heard what an outstanding service I was doing for Freemasonry by producing the “Small Town Texas Masons E-Mag.” I was somewhat embarrassed. All the time, I told everyone that I do it because I just love doing it and I really do enjoy producing the magazine. I love the challenge of searching the internet and other sources to find interesting and educational Masonic stories.

But after a little soul searching, I think, in my own way, I am trying to pay back what I consider a personal debt and make a real contribution to Freemasonry. Maybe that's why I became a Freemason at age 64, worked through the chairs and became a Worshipful Master at 77, then started this magazine 2 years ago at 80.
In my small way, I am trying to repay the Shriners (and Freemasonry) for the fifteen or so years that my oldest daughter Valerie was treated at the Shrine Hospital in Houston.

Sometime after Valerie was born in 1960, she was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, The doctors said she would never be able to walk and probably live a short life in a bed. Cerebral Palsy we thought, wow, we had never even heard of it, What the heck s it? We quickly found out, if you have that condition as a new born baby, it is Cerebral Palsy, but if it happens after you are born you have had a stroke.

After a year or two, my supervisor at work, a Mason, offered to help us get Valerie admitted to the Shrine Hospital for treatment at no cost to us. She had years and years of multiple operations, weeks in the hospital, braces, crutches, special shoes and therapy at absolutely no cost to us.

Valerie was in special education classes in high school when she ask if she could please take some regular classes. They agreed and she did well and after graduating from high school, she enrolled in North Harris County Junior College. After graduating from North Harris County, she enrolled in Sam Houston University in Huntsville where she lived in the dorms and worked on her degree there for 2 years.

So, after what the Shriners did for her, I knew that I owed the Shriners and Freemasonry. It just took me a while to figure out what and now I am still trying to make up for all those lost years.

Come to think of it, maybe I am making a little difference. One of the visiting Brothers told me that he is copying all of the issues of the STTME-mag. and putting them in his Lodge library so the Brothers can read them in the future.

I would like to thank WM Dave Reagan, DDGM Bob Podvin, PM “Wes” Mersiovsky and all of the other Brothers, Wives and Visitors who worked and came to make my award night a very special night that I will long remember. And, also I would like to thank Freemasonry for changing my daughter's life and our family's lives and for giving me the opportunity to repay a debt.

Hello again Brothers

2009-01-04T19:14:00.002-06:00

I started this blog because I had some things that I thought needed saying and as you can see, I got them off my chest. Since I've sounded off on most of my peeves I pretty much dropped out.

However, at almost 81, I still haven't stopped working for Freemasonry. I have been the Secretary for Waller Masonic Lodge #808 AF & AM in Waller, Texas (40 miles west of Houston.) for almost 2 years now., Also, for a couple of years, I have also been writing a 4 page print newsletter and an 8 or 10 page online version for the Waller brothers who have internet access.

This past July I started an online bi-monthly Masonic E-magazine to satisfy my creative urge. It is titled the “Small Town Texas Masonic E-mag” and each issue features a small town Texas Lodge, a Texas Masonic hero and many stories about Masonry in Texas, in the USA and the world.

The July/August issue featured Waller Lodge #808 and Texans Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight . The September/October issued featured Hempstead Lodge #749 and the36 men who were killed with the Mier Expedition and 18 executed from the Dawson Expedition. The November/December issue featured Chalk Mountain #894 and Stephen F. Austin.

Beginning with the January 09 issue the e-mag became a monthly magazine. The January issue features Post Oak Island Lodge #181 and Sam Houston.

If you enjoy reading about Freemasonry, please give it a try at, http://www.mastermason.com/STTM-Emag/.

On another subject, I have been getting comments every once in a while on a posted story that I would like to answer with a personal note. Of course the comments do not include your email address. So if you have a comment or question that needs an answer send an email to me instead of/or in addition to your “comment” to, oldcorky@gmail.com.

Corky Is Back

2007-07-12T04:07:00.000-05:00

Corky is back and some may say, "So what."

Anyway, I hope my extended absence was noticed by some. This last few months have been filled with new adventures for an old man. Like, having all my teeth pulled as a pre-op requirement, having a knee joint replaced and having a month of pain killers and physical therapy. It really has ruined my creative interests for awhile. Thankfully, I have regained an interest in the world and was just installed as Secretary of Waller Masonic Lodge #808 AF & AM..

The Patriot Guard Riders Revisited

2007-07-12T03:52:00.000-05:00

The following was a comment recently added to the Patriot Guard Riders story (and the other side to my story) . I think it deserves to be up front.

I was one of the Patriot Guard Riders who was invited to attend the service for Mr. Rattray. Yes, it Was a very cold and rainy day, but what we went through is nothing compared to what our Soldiers both past and present go through to assure us of the Freedoms we all enjoy today and hopefully tomorrow.

I would like to thank you once again for allowing us the Honor to attend Mr. Rattray's service to show our Respect for him and his service for our Great Country.

Thank you for the kind words about the Patriot Guard Riders and No we won't bite you lol but we Do believe in showing those who have passed and those who have not, that have given us the Freedoms we all enjoy the HONOR and RESPECT each and everyone of them deserve.

Thank you also for the great meal, it kept me warm for my 80 mile ride home (yes it was still cold and raining) but no where near the warmth I get from being able to do what we do!

God Bless America, and may God Bless us one and all!

Kelly Mason aka Hollywood
Senior Ride Captain for the
S.E Texas Patriot Guard Riders

Patriot Guard Riders

2007-04-08T15:59:00.000-05:00

Brothers, this little story is not strictly about Freemasonry, however it is one I think you should read.

“Aw poop” (or something like that), I mumbled as I drove into a parking space in front of the Cannon Funeral Home. It was Saturday morning April 7 and I was there for Brother David M. Rattray’s memorial service. Brother Rattray was a long time member of Waller Masonic Lodge #808 AF & AM. He had been a Mason for 32 years, a 32 degree Scottish Rite, a Shriner, an ex-marine and a member of the Waller Chapter of the VFW.

The temperature was in the 40s and it was drizzling rain, but the circular drive in front of the building was full of motorcycles and a bunch of scruffy looking men dressed in blue denim, black leather jackets and some also wore black leather chaps. Many of them had tattoos, ear rings, bushy beards, full mustaches and white hair and you probably wouldn’t have stopped at a bar where they were congregated. These men were lined up along the circular drive way and the main thing I noticed was that every one of them was holding an 8 foot flagpole with a big American flag. Then I remembered, I had seen them before on TV. They ride with the funerals for the fallen men and women of the U.S. Armed Services

After the service they lined up at attention with their flags on each side as Brother Rattray’s remains were carried from the funeral home and then accompanied them to the Waller cemetery.

By the time everyone got back to Waller Lodge dinning room and a huge table full of some good homemade food I had figured out who they were and why they were there. I made it a point to shake their hands, get to know them a little and personally thank them for what they were doing. I discovered that when requested they do this for fallen service personnel and veterans all over Texas and even into Louisiana

After I got home I looked them up on the internet and found the Patriot Guard Riders Web Site. I think their mission statement tells the whole story;

“The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse amalgamation of riders from across the nation. We have one thing in common besides motorcycles. We have an unwavering respect for those who risk their very lives for America’s freedom and security.

We don’t care what you ride or if you ride, what your political views are, or whether you’re a hawk or a dove. It is not a requirement that you be a veteran. It doesn't matter where you’re from or what your income is; you don’t even have to ride. The only prerequisite is Respect.

Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family.

Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives.

1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities.

2. Shield the mourning family and their friends from interruptions created by any protester or group of protesters.

We accomplish the latter through strictly legal and non-violent means.

To those of you who are currently serving and fighting for the freedoms of others, at home and abroad, please know that we are backing you. We honor and support you with every mission we carry out, and we are praying for a safe return home for all.

I would advise everyone to never say anything detrimental to our troops or unpatriotic in front of them. Everyone of these fellers are some kind of serious patriots and it makes me feel good to know them better.

Are New Approaches A Cure Or A Complication

2007-03-06T16:30:00.000-06:00

I received an email from a friend the other day stating that I hadn’t posted anything in the past 6 weeks and asking if I was OK. A small part of my answer was that I had discussed most of my major pet peeves and my fires had cooled a little.

However, I do still have a little problem with what seems to be frantic attempts by many Lodges and Grand Lodges in the U.S. and England to try almost anything to reverse Freemasonry’s losses in membership.

Anyone who tries to keep up with Masonic news reads more and more articles like the excerpts below.

“Petersfield Freemasons invited the town to an open day as they continue to throw off their cloak of secrecy.”

“…the Masons are giving public tours of the New York Grand Lodge Headquarters.” The lodge also hired a public relations firm to spread the word about its 225th anniversary, which was last month. And the Masons have run advertisements in movie theaters and run one-day classes to award the first three Masonic degrees in a single session”.

“Several jurisdictions, including those in Massachusetts, Ohio, New York, Oklahoma, and Washington, D.C., have greatly streamlined the initiation process. They have introduced one-day programs through which men can perform the necessary rituals to become "Master Masons" in a single day, rather than over several months.”

“In a long-in-the-tooth corner of downtown Dallas, between the Farmers Market and the Stewpot, sits the solid, well-maintained – but largely vacant – Masonic Temple.”

“With lodges now offering tours to the general public (one even asked me to lunch) and the wording of Masonic ceremonies available for anyone to buy, he may be right. But, dare I say, the more like the Rotary Club the Masons become, the less intriguing it all seems.”

Many of us old timers are troubled by the trend to offer inducements and shortcuts to anyone who will join the ranks. The main question they are asking is, is adding hundreds of new members to Freemasonry in one day progress for the fraternity or an progress for the coffers of the local blue Lodges and Grand Lodges.

When you read the article “Freemasonry in France” by Michael L. Segall, it makes you wonder about the new trend to modernize Freemasonry in order to attract the modern man. Is modernization really a cure for Masonries problems are in the long run adding to it’s problems.

According to Brother Segall’s article, Freemasonry in France is more popular then ever and gaining members. It appears that their secret is, that French Freemasonry today is the same as French Freemasonry over a hundred years ago.

For instance, the opening paragraphs in the article state.

“At my grand lodge (France) we are doubling our membership every dozen years or so, and have never simplified nor reduced the ritual to cater to candidates. Actually, it's unchanged since we removed "Long Live .the King!" more than a century ago. We've kept our old obligations and penalties, and if some outsider wants to misinterpret them, it's his problem”.

“Masonic education is at an extremely high level which, I'm afraid, could hardly be imagined elsewhere. Becoming a Mason is a challenge and a sought-after achievement, worth quite a few sacrifices. Our main problem is building enough lodge rooms. Our current ones are filled every day of the week by meeting lodges.”

“We have done for nearly three centuries the opposite of what is currently attempted in the USA, and we've done it with great success. Here is the recipe of the Grand Lodge of France where, it should be added, attendance in lodge is about 70 percent of members at every meeting.”

One of Brother Segall’s main reasons for their success is a problem that many of us here have been concerned about for a long time. I have long maintained that a key cause of dropouts after a man goes through the Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft degree is that he is told, now you are a Mason, except you cannot participate in 95% of the Lodge meetings. It’s like he is in a Masonic Limbo. He’s paid his money (degree fee), went through a ceremony in which he really didn’t understand what was happening or why and still knows nothing about what goes on in the Lodge meeting until after he learns the work for the E.A. degree, passes to the Fellowcraft degree and learns the work for that degree and then raised to the Master Mason Degree.

I still remember my own E.A. and Fellowcraft periods (only 15 years ago when I was 64 years old) and the feelings that I was still an outsider. I had joined a Lodge in another town, where my son was the only member I knew for many months. If it hadn’t made him so happy that I had taken the big step and his constant encouragement, I’m not sure if I would have kept coming back. The French however understood that problem and prevented it from allowing it to be a problem.

“Unlike the USA where, since the Morgan affair, lodges meet in the third degree, our lodges open and do most of their business (except passings and raisings) in the Entered Apprentice degree.”

“This allows entered apprentices to attend lodge from day one. It eliminates any need to hurriedly pass and raise them so they don't disappear before they may attend Lodge.”

Regarding Brother Segall’s claim of 70% attendance at meetings, there is another big difference between the French and English (U.S.) approach that explains the French success while most U.S. Lodge’s have an average attendance of ten to twenty percent of the membership.

“Our obligations include the promise to regularly attend meetings, with rare exceptions (illness, travel, professional, or family obligations), and then a written excuse (or phones to the lodge master) is required. Insofar as ritual is concerned, we do not think there is any need to modify it to suit the changing winds of modernity or political correctness (which is only a minor issue here)~ Those who do not like our penal clauses, rituals, proficiency, Masonic education, customs, or traditions don't have to become Masons.”

“We never have mass initiations or "zoom" degrees, where no one really gets initiated, or degrees performed by professional teams. We make all initiations, passings, and raisings personal warm experiences: of fraternity and brotherly love, performed by the officers of the lodge. We allow, no more than five candidates per ceremony as required by Anderson's Constitutions, so that the new members never forget the experience and its meaning.”

There also appears to be a difference in the basic approach to Freemasonry.

“. . . Selection is very strict, and becoming a Masons is considered a challenge and an achievement for which many applicants well wait months or years and make quite a few sacrifices. Dues are, on the average $350 yearly About a third to half of applicants are refused.”

“We consider that Masonry is the means to make good men, better. All other purposes, developments, and results are simple consequences of this main goal. To this end it is obvious that only men who we consider capable of improving themselves are admitted. We are not interested in numbers but quality.”

I would not try to convince anyone that French Freemasonry is better or worse then English/US Freemasonry. However It does appear that it may be to our advantage to at least study the success.

For instance, it could definitely be to our advantage to make a couple of reasonably small changes in the status of E.A.s and Fellowcrafts. Either open all Lodge meetings in the E.A. degree except passings and raisings.

I think a better alternative would be the one proposed at the Texas Grand Lodge last year. Allow E.A.s and Fellowcrafts to attend Lodges opened in the Master Mason degree except during passings and raisings. However they would be nonvoting members and ineligible to hold an office until they have been raised as Master Masons. This would allow them to be involved with most Lodge activities and partake in day to day affairs.

I remember when my son in law, filled with expectations after months of work and study, was raised and attended his first stated meeting. On the way home, he turned to me and ask, “Is that all we do at Lodge meetings, talk about who’s sick and who died and how much the light bill cost this month.”

I’ll agree it was an exceptionally dull meeting that night, but if he had been attending meetings all those months he would have had a completely different view of Masonry and that meeting wouldn’t have been a let down.

Babies. Bathwater and Freemasonry

2007-01-16T15:19:00.000-06:00

By James T. Moore

You know the routine. Lump all the negative influences in your life together, and then, without bothering to analyze them too critically, throw them all out, because you deem them "detrimental to your well-being." As many may well be.

So it is with the list of bizarre organizations and secret gatherings of like-minded individuals, sometimes called cults. Such as---and these are just a few—the Bohemian Grove, Skull and Bones, Bilderberg Group, Club of Rome, and the Illuminati. The Council of Foreign Relations, and the Tri-Lateral Commission also qualify if secrecy is the predominant criteria

Notice that one, so-called “secret” organization, was not mentioned: Freemasonry. Why was Freemasonry omitted from the list? Because of all the dark and obtuse organizations which I consider the “bath water”, I have a gnawing suspicion that Freemasonry may be the “baby” we are thoughtlessly throwing out with it.

There are good reasons for my thinking so. And if you’ll bear with me, I’ll try to explain.

Unlike, for example, Skull and Bones, an ultra-secret society in which occult traditions, secret oaths, and pagan rituals are the norm--- and in which many prominent families (including the Bushes) send their sons to Yale to become Bonesmen--- Freemasonry is neither pagan, occult, nor elitist. But it IS secret, for an honest and logical reason.

Before we discuss that reason, and the tenets of Freemasonry further, I confess an association with the Masonic Order earlier in my life, and my subsequent resignation from the organization---simply because I soon discovered that I am not an “organization” type person; a “joiner” by nature. Thus, anything further I have to say about Freemasonry is as objective and free of judgment as I can make it.

That Freemasonry has historical ties to Biblical teachings is beyond question, because it is provable. Out of the Dark Ages, both the Bible and Freemasonry emerged in England and Europe when the public weal finally had access to writings which previously could be passed along only by word of mouth.

Calling Freemasonry a “religious” organization, however, is not accurate. It can best be described as specialized physical “work” with deep spiritual overtones.

In the Middle Ages, the word mason was used to denote a builder. That is, one of the many artisans in crafts and trades connected with architectural construction; such as men who worked in stone, bricks and tiles. But there were many grades of craftsmen, and many kinds of special talents. In Gothic construction of cathedrals and other monumental architectural marvels, the work of Master Freemasons, was equal to Greek architecture, but never surpassed.

Eventually these disparate, but related, crafts organized themselves into gilds, or fraternities, each having its own rules, regulations, memberships, trained apprentices, AND a monopoly on its own kind of Masonry. This is important to know, because it is this monopoly, this professional secrecy about the “tricks of their trade” which has given Freemasonry an air of mysticism, occultism, even paganism, however inaccurate and undeserved it may be.

The understandable reticence to give away the “secrets” of their trade exists with professional artisans and craftsmen to this very day. My Uncle Bob, now deceased, was a cabinet maker whose work exemplified what true craftsmanship is all about. I have a chessboard, with squares of oak, maple, and walnut, which Uncle Bob made nearly 70 yeas ago, and it is in my office, still in beautiful condition.

Some accuse Freemasonry of being a black art or a heathen cult. A curious accusation since history shows it to be one of the most respected and honored of the ancient crafts; that Masons were honorable and lawful men, and that their craft had been practiced, honored, or established by such great men as David, Solomon, Euclid, and Pythagoras.

Oddly enough, Biblical elements came into the craft, not directly, but in a roundabout way. And not as history or theology, but as data to show that the great art of architecture had been known and practiced as far back as the prophets and kings of the Old Testament. And although occultism and mysticism flourished back then, and through the Middle Ages, Freemasonry was solely identified as the art of the builder, designer, and engineer, and had no interest in either occultism or mysticism.

Since time immemorial, Freemason philosophy is that work comes from God, for He Himself, as the Sovereign Grand Architect of the Universe, is a worker.

Pretty heady stuff, I admit, but the rationale for that statement is the great equalizer. God so made the world that plants do not grow ready to eat, clothing is not made by sheep, leather is not shoes, and houses do not build themselves.

Work, then, is universal, and a way of life. To be a worker is to be a man, and where idleness is praised, men deteriorate. It is in work that man discovers himself, reaches his stature, and becomes what God created him to be. That’s why Masons never refer to their activities as meetings, occupations, sessions or rituals; it is always referred to as Work.

Moreover each Masonic station, degree, pillar, column, and allusion are all symbolic of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty, and, to put it bluntly, are no less meaningful than Jesus on the dashboard of your car, a candle on the altar in your synagogue, or a cross on the steeple of your church.

So, before you throw out the bath water, it might be wise to make sure that the baby is no longer in it.

Kind permission to reprint “Babies. Bathwater and Freemasonry” was given by the author, James T. Moore. You may read it and many other interesting pieces by him on The American Daily at http://www.americandaily.com/

Brothers, as it says at the top of this BLOG, it’s purpose is not to change anyone’s mind, but to make you think. Judging from the comments, it has served that purpose.

I could post stories here all day long that exactly agrees with your beliefs and mine, however parroting our versions of events over and over does nothing to increase our knowledge or understanding.

It is my belief (right or wrong) that we must listen to other peoples views and thoughts, whether we agree with them or not, in order to increase our own knowledge.

Knowledge Is Power

Freemasonry And Society

2007-01-09T04:58:00.000-06:00

By V. Rev. Keith Jones

[Reprinted with the gracious permission of the author. This was an address presented to a choral evensong for Suffolk Masons at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.]

I am not a Freemason. I therefore speak to you with respect and gratitude from outside. I habitually answer those who are critical of Freemasons that, as a rule, we should judge every organization by the best we find in it, and not the worst.

The best defense of the Masonic tradition is the people whom I have known, loved and respected, who have been Freemasons. They number, for example, an uncle, my loved parish priest, Bishop Edmund Sara, Dean Peter Moore of St Albans, who has just died, among many others.

You cherish long and intricate pedigrees to very ancient foundations in human civilization. The real history of your movement, where it emerges as an important force in British life, strikes me is magnificently 18th century, the age of common humanity and the Rights of Man.

The sort of people who came together to found Lodges were typically middling people. Oliver Goldsmith remarked in the middle of the century that there were so many middling people, neither very grand nor very humble, while on the continent the classes were too polarized.

That some Lodges are very grand indeed does not undermine the fact. The freedom to associate, to combine for the purposes of Lodge activities and charitable purposes, was one of the symptoms of social health in 18th century Suffolk and one of the means whereby the country was maintained in peace.

The Masonic system has made people feel they belonged. It has encouraged friendship, and so overcome the curse of loneliness which stifles so much good in people. The Lodge provides, if I am not mistaken, the place where the lines of W H Auden are shown as true:

Private faces in public places are wiser and nicer Than public faces in private places Then again, the Lodges of 18th century England were godly without being sectarian.

The importance of that can hardly be exaggerated. When we consider the violence of religious quarrel in the 17th century, the century of the Civil War and the struggle of the religious sects, it is amazing that in the Masonic Lodges, dissenter and Church of England men sat down and were brothers together. What was the secret?

It was that in all classes of society, people were coming to believe in common humanity, mankind. They were moved by what people had in common rather than in what history had brought to pass. Now, the idea of human rights and human dignity have become a cliché, so that we forget what a new idea this was in 1730.

But it was in England, influenced by the writings of John Locke, that men and women first felt their liberties and civil decency were no more and no less than merely human. By our standards their world was unbelievably coarse and class-ridden, but the founding of Masonic Lodges was a means whereby they showed how moved they were by these new ideas and ideals. They insisted on good behavior.

In the By-Laws of the Lodge of Antiquity No. 2 (the old Lodge of St Paul’s), printed in 1760, there is the following rule:

If any Brother Curses, Swears or says anything Irreligious, Obscene or Ludicrous, Holds private Committees, Disputes about Religion or Politics, offers to lay Wagers, or is disguised in Liquor during the Lodge hours such offending Brother shall be immediately fined by a private Ballot for each offence … each fine not to be under one shilling nor to exceed Five Shillings.

(It also appeared in the Masonic Quarterly Magazine the official publication of the United Grand Lodge of England in Issue 19, October 2006. http://www.mqmagazine.co.uk/)

A Secret Society?

2006-12-08T07:41:00.001-06:00

I was reading the article, “The Eye in the Pyramid ”, by Brother S. Brent Morris, P.M. that started out by stating,

“Historians must be cautious about many well-known “facts.” George Washington chopped down a cherry tree when a boy and confessed the deed to his father. Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball. Freemasons inserted some of their emblems (chief among them the eye in the pyramid) into the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States. These historical “facts” are widely popular, commonly accepted, and equally false.”

Then I read in James Barron’s article entitled “A Secret Society, Spilling a Few Secrets,” he states in what to me, seems an accusatory manner,

“For more than two centuries, the Freemasons and their grandiose rituals have played a secretive, mysterious role in American life. One of the Masons' symbols looks a lot like the all-seeing eye on the back of every $1 bill. And look whose picture is on the other side.”

If Masons put Masons pictures and Masonic symbols on the money that every citizen in the country handles every day, they aren’t being very secretive are they? If Masons include a Masonic symbol in the street design of the Washington, D.C., they aren’t being very secretive are they?

Yes, the intersections of Massachusetts Ave., Road Island Ave., Connecticut Ave., Vermont Ave. and K Street NW form a five pointed star. It is also true that many of the city’s architects in the nineteenth and early twentieth century were freemasons. From these two facts, and a vivid imagination, many writers have concluded that the city was intentionally planned to promote an occult agenda.

In the first place, the pentagram or five pointed star has never been associated with the Masonic Lodge. And yes, the female organization for relatives of Masons, the Order Of The Eastern Star, uses the five pointed star as their symbol. However, the Eastern Star was founded by Dr. Robert Morris in 1849/50 and the street plan for Washington, D.C. had been designed 60 years earlier in 1791. So, it should be obvious, even to anti-Masons, that the street plan of Washington, D.C. has no connection to the Freemasons.

George Washington, a Freemason, did commission Pierre Charles L'Enfant and approved the street plan drawn up by Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Bannaker who were not freemasons. And, contrarily to anti-Mason claims, there is no indication that Charles L'Enfant was a Freemason and in his obituary, published in the June 25, 1825 edition of the National Intelligencer there was no mention that he was a freemason. Actually. although L'Enfant was hired by George Washington most of his relationship with the goverment went through Thomas Jefferson who drew the original street plan that L'Enfant and company worked from to draw the street plan.

OK, so George Washington was a Freemason and his picture is on the dollar bill. He was probably the foremost leader in gaining independence from England and forming the United States of America that we have now. He was the General who led the Continental Army to defeat the British and win independence for the new country. He turned down the offer to crown him as the King for life and instead served an elected term as the first President.

Doesn’t it stand to reason that the country he helped bring into existence would want to honor him in many ways for his accomplishments? But if you think having a Freemason’s picture on a dollar bill is such a bad thing, Abraham Lincoln’s picture is on the $5.00 bill and Alexander Hamilton’s picture is on the $10 dollar bill and neither of them were Freemasons. Maybe two non-Masons on commonly used bills will cancel out the Masonic influence of George Washington having his image on the dollar bill.

Does that theory sound ridiculous? Of course it does and so does the idea that Washington’s picture being on the dollar bill means that the United States is being run by the Freemasons. George Washington’s life and his writings are ample proof that he was a Christian, so why wouldn’t the United States have been formed by Christians rather then Freemasons.

Regarding the eye in the triangle above the pyramid, the words are the Latin words "Annuit Coeptis." This translates to "He has favored our undertakings." This line is associated with the "Eye of Providence" which has absolutely nothing to do with Freemasonry.

The first known use of an “All Seeing Eye” or “Eye Of Providence” as it is also called, can be traced back to Egyptian mythology and the Eye of Horus. In the 17th-century the Eye of Providence is sometimes shown surrounded by clouds. The later addition of an enclosing triangle is usually seen as a more explicit Trinitarian reference to the God of Christianity.

Could it be that the eye in a triangle on the dollar bill is the Christian symbol rather than a Masonic one? After all, almost all members of the new government were Christians and only a few were Masons. What a blow to the Christian Masonic conspiracy advocates.

The Vietnamese religion Cao Dai, as well as a number of other churches, uses the Eye of Providence (specifically, the left eye) within a triangle is used to represent God. According to some UFO witnesses, there have been several sightings of Men in Black wearing a symbol resembling the Eye in the Pyramid. It was also used as a symbol on Ukrainian 500 Hryvnia bill. In The Lord of the Rings, Sauron is described as having an all-seeing eye.

On Independence Day in 1776 three men, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, along with Pierre Eugene du Simitière as a consultant and artist were formed as a committee to create a great seal for the new government of the United States of America. Only Benjamin Franklin of these four men was a Mason, and he contributed nothing of a Masonic nature to the committee’s proposed design for a seal. Du Simitière, the committee’s consultant and a non-Mason, contributed the ideas of using the shield, the slogan, E Pluribus Unum, the date, MDCCLXXVI, and the eye of providence in a triangle (a Christian symbol).

The Eye on the great seal is positioned above an unfinished pyramid with thirteen steps, representing the original thirteen states and the future growth of the country. The combined implication is that the Eye, or God, favors the prosperity of the United States which has nothing to do with Freemasonry. The first Masonic reference to the Eye of Providence is in “The Freemasons Monitor” by Thomas Smith Webb, published in 1797, some 30 years after the Great Seal was designed and the Masonic use of the Eye has never incorporated a pyramid.

So much for Freemasonry and secret Masonic symbols having an influence on the present form of the United States government.

I would have to close with the thought that if Masonic plan is to rule the government, their plan must be one of the biggest failures in history. After all they have had 230 years to do it.

Masonry, Proven Not A Valid Religion

2006-11-28T12:35:00.000-06:00

From, THE CHARACTER, CLAIMS AND PRACTICAL WORKINGS OF FREEMASONRY
1869 By Rev. C. G. FINNEY - CHAPTER XV. - FREEMASONRY IS A FALSE RELIGION.

“This brings me to the third inquiry: Are the claims that Masonry is a true and saving religion valid? To this question I reply that it is utterly false;”

“The third question proposed for discussion in my last number is: Are the claims of Masonry to be a true and saving institution valid? To this I answer, No.”

“They do, indeed, promise to assist each other in distress, and to help each other's families, provided they fall into poverty. But on what condition do they promise this? Why, that a certain amount is to be paid into their treasury as a fund for this purpose. But this, surely, is not benevolence, but the simple payment of a debt, on the principle of mutual insurance.” [This proves Masonry is not a religion(?). The only money a Mason pays the Lodge is the annual dues, which are used to pay the operating expenses of the Lodge.]

“. . . Again, the motives presented in Freemasonry to secure the course of action to which they are pledged are by no means consistent with the law or the Gospel of God.”

“. . . The motive urged by Masons is, to honor Masonry, to honor the institution, to honor each other. While they are pledged to assist each other in distress; to keep each other's secrets, even if they be crimes; and to aid each other, whether right or wrong, so far as to extricate them from any difficulty in which they are involved; yet they never present the pure motives of the Gospel. They are pledged not to violate the chastity of a brother Mason's wife, sister, daughter, or mother; but they are not pledged by Masonry, as the law and Gospel of God require, to abstain from such conduct with any female whatever. But nothing short of universal benevolence, and universal morality, is acceptable to God.” [Again, the good Rev. C. G. Finney proves Masonry is not a religion.]

“. . . It also professes to be entirely consistent with the Christian religion. And this it does while it embraces as good and acceptable Masons hundreds of thousands who abhor Christianity, and scoff at the Bible and everything that the Bible regards as sacred. In a Christian nation it professes to receive Christianity as a true religion; in Mohammedan countries it receives the Koran as teaching the true religion; in heathen countries it receives their sacred books as of as much authority as that which is claimed in Christian countries for the Bible. In short, Freemasonry in a pagan country is pagan, in a Mohammedan country it is Mohammedan, and in a Christian country it professes to be Christian; but in this profession it is not only grossly inconsistent, but intensely hypocritical.” [Once again, the good Rev. C. G. Finney proves the Masons point. Masonry is not a religion, but a group of religious men that includes men of other faiths.]

An Open Letter To Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon Part II

2006-11-15T06:18:00.000-06:00

Dear Sirs,

I have noticed that you, as many anti-Masonic writers do, base most of your theories regarding Masonry on information you come across in books by the “Authorities” of Freemasonry. Of course, the fact that there is not and never has been a Mason who is over any Masons other then those in his own particular state doesn’t mean anything to anti-Masons. If any Mason writes anything they can use, it doesn’t mater if he is the newest Mason and the Junior Steward in a rural Lodge with 20 members, he would be a “Masonic Authority” for your purposes.

Personally, I find it very disturbing that those of you who appear to be well educated can base your reasoning for condemning Freemasonry on what some self appointed authority wrote a hundred years ago. And, especially on information learned from some radical misfit who swore on the Holy Bible that he would never reveal. Have you have relinquished your own intelligence to the theory that so many “Experts” against Freemasonry use. If it’s printed in a book it has to be the gospel truth. What happened to thinking and reporting what you actually know from personal experiences and investigations.

For instance, in “Where Do Masonry and Christianity Conflict? – Part 1” you state;

“But Masons do not need to take our word for it. They only need to listen to their respected Masonic authorities. In his Masonic Encyclopedia, Henry Wilson Coil quotes the definition of religion given by Funk and Wagnalls’ New Standard Dictionary (1941), and then asserts that Freemasonry fits not only this definition, but also fits the dictionary definition of what constitutes a “church.” Coil states:”

The definition was, 1) “[a] belief in a divine or superhuman power... to be obeyed and worshipped as the Creator and ruler of the universe; 2) expression of... [this] belief in conduct and ritual.”

Just for the sake of this discussion, let’s say that you are 100% correct. If that is so, by your reasoning, would we not have to agree that any organization that has their own Chaplin and opens with prayer and uses rituals and most members express a belief in a divine or superhuman power, exactly like Freemasonry would also have to be a religion.

Now we would have to recognize the “Senate Religion”. By these broad definitions the U.S. Senate is definitely a religion. Almost every Senator believes in a divine power and they express it in prayer and rituals. Did you ever watch a movie or newscast of Japanese auto manufacturing companies starting the work day and during company meetings. So of course we also have the “Toyota Religion”. And of course there are the Elks, Moose, Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World and even a separate from the Catholic Church, Knights Of Columbus religions.

By now you are saying, “Brother John you are just being ridicules.” Of course I am, just like you who say Masonry is a religion because there is a Holy Bible in the Lodge Room, meetings are opened with a prayer and Masonry teaches living together with peace and harmony.

Let’s leave what appears to be a ridiculous definition of Freemasonry as a religion and go to the Anti-Masons "main authority" on things Masonic, Albert Pike and his book “Morals And Dogma”.

Anti-Masons, particularly the really rabid ones love to quote from “Morals And Dogma”. Of course their quotes are always from the fictional version written by the admitted hoaxer Leo Taxil. But, even when quoting from Morals And Dogma, they are very careful to only quote only the fictional parts that justify their particular brand of poison. Not one mentions that on April 19,1897, Leo Taxil used his celebrity status to attract a large audience for a “Press Conference” in Paris for journalists and members of the Catholic hierarchy. There instead of more condemnations of Masonry that they all expected to hear, Taxil publicly announced that everything he had written about Masonic devil worship was the product of his own fertile imagination. He finally had his revenge on the Catholic Church by making them fall for the lies about Freemasonry they had wanted to hear.

Now in all fairness to both sides let’s quote Pike’s actually writings from his original version of “Morals And Dogma”. You can find a copy on the internet at, “PIETRE-STONES REVIEW OF FREEMASONRY”.

Chapter I

The Bible is an indispensable part of the furniture of a Christian Lodge, only because it is the sacred book of the Christian religion.” [furniture meaning the indispensable items required to make any room a Lodge room]
The obligation of the candidate is always to be taken on the sacred book or books of his religion, that he may deem it more solemn and binding; and therefore it was that you were asked of what religion you were. We have no other concern with your religious creed.
Thy religion shall be, to do good because it is a pleasure to thee, and not merely because it is a duty.[in describing the second commandment.]
Though Masonry neither usurps the place of, nor apes religion, prayer is an essential part of our ceremonies.

Chapter II

[Instead Of Pike’s words, I’ll quote the actually bible verses he refers to]

James 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Jam 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.

2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead.

Chapter IV

It’s [Masonry’s] teachings are eminently practical; and its statutes can be obeyed by every just, upright, and honest man, no matter what his faith or creed. Its object is to attain the greatest practical good, without seeking to make men perfect. It [Masonry] does not meddle with the domain of religion, nor inquire into the mysteries of regeneration.
Speak kindly to your erring brother ! God pities him: Christ has died for him: Providence waits for him:

How can anyone believe that Pike is saying Freemasonry is a Religion or that he is saying anything anti-Christian after reading his values, above. Unless of course a profit can be made by those “false Christian Leaders” who have never read Christ’s own commandment, (Luke 6:37) Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:.

BUT, wait a minute, could Luke have made an error, that sounds like something that Freemasons teach.

Brothers Ankerberg and Weldon, get out and talk to some of the state Grand Masters and Worshipful Masters of individual Lodges. Actually investigate what you are saying instead of aping others.

Better yet, join a Masonic Lodge and see for yourself what really goes on inside. I am sure in your mind God would forgive you if you are really doing the right thing by exposing Freemasonry. You’ll never find that the Masonic Lodge is teaching religion or teaching against any ones religion. Now that means the teachings of Freemasonry and not the beliefs of some individual Mason. Then you'll never be able to look any Mason in the eye and say from personal experience, “Freemasonry is a religion.”

And hey, you can always quit the Lodge later and make lots of money with a first hand expose like many of your “expert sources” have done. Use John J. Robinson as an example. Well no, that wouldn’t work because after 5 years of actually getting out of his office, investigating around the world and studying the subject first hand, he became a Freemason because of the truths he learned from his investigations about the Fraternity.

Is (Our Brother) The Pope A Catholic?

2006-11-02T16:15:00.000-06:00

How many times have you heard someone ask a question like, “Is George Bush a Republican?” and, as an answer, you hear, “Is the pope a Catholic?” for an indisputable yes? I know I’ve used it myself to emphasize a yes as an answer to a question.

Well sir, it looks like I’ll have to start using, “Does a bear poop in the woods?”. The other day, I stumbled upon the assertion that one of the popes was not legally a pope, not even legally a Catholic, and worse yet, it was because he was a Freemason. A little bit of research on the internet quickly brought out the accusations that there was more then one pope who was a Freemason.

I had never given much thought to the fact that two of Lodge Brothers are practicing Catholics or even the fact that one of them is also an active member of the Knights Of Columbus, but having a pope as a Brother is something else.

Pope” John XXIII

Strong information that “Pope” John XXIII was a practicing Freemason surfaced a few years ago. Other allegations surface that he was also closely associated with Communists and illegally usurped the papacy from the lawfully elected and true Pontiff, Pope Gregory XVII.

The Portugal Daily News

(November 11, 2002)

Fatima International (FI), an historic review organization with offices in Australia , USA, Paraguay and Portugal, has issued a further press release claiming that Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, who was elected as Pope John XXlll in 1958, was a Freemason. In 1994 the Portuguese newspapers "O Dia" and "Correio de Domingo" published a summary of FI's investigations into the case, which stated that Pope John XXlll [Roncalli] had been initiated into a secret society, the Order of Rosicrucians, whilst serving as the Vatican's Charge d’Affairs in Paris during 1935.

The implications of FI's disclosures are of tremendous importance to Catholics worldwide. Under Canon Law any Catholic who becomes a Mason is ipso facto excommunicated from the Church. This means that Roncalli, would have been excommunicated and could not have been elected as a pope. FI also points out that any decrees issued by Roncalli under the mantle of the Papacy would therefore be null and void, including the convoking of the Second Vatican Council in 1962.

Then long-standing suspicions regarding John XXIII's links to Masonry were further aroused Then in 1977, after his death John XXIII, links to Masonry were further aroused when an advertisement published in the USA, Boston Pilot Magazine, offered for sale replicas of John XXIII's pectoral cross. The cross was decorated with several Masonic symbols and had been authorized for sale by Archbishop Capovilla of Loreto, Italy , with the backing of the Vatican.

Robert Bergin an Australian and a founder member of FI who spent the last years of his life trying to persuade the Vatican to investigate Roncalli' s Masonic connections was unsuccessful. This was of little surprise, because the Vatican also failed to respond to the an Italian journal that published a list of over one hundred bishops and cardinals that it declared were Freemasons.

Pope John Paul II

On January 1, 2004 Pope John Paul II called for a "new world order... based on the goals of the United Nations." Some believe that when a world leader uses this terminology, it can only mean one thing. He is a part of the Luciferian conspiracy to create a totalitarian world government.

Piers Compton, a former Catholic priest, claims the Papacy was actually subverted by the Illuminati in 1958 when John XXIII became Pope. This was the culmination of their centuries old movement to infiltrate and destroy the Catholic Church.

Pope Paul VI

“Cardinal Giovanni Montini, who succeeded John XXIII as Pope Paul VI in 1963, was also a Freemason and socialist. (In 1944 Pope Pius XII had dismissed him as Vatican Secretary of State for conducting secret negotiations with the Communists. 53)

Paul VI revealed his true colors in a speech to the United Nations in 1965: "It is your task here to proclaim the basic rights and duties of Man. You are the interpreters of all that is permanent in human wisdom; we could almost say of its sacred character."

In 1976, a list of 125 top clerics who were Freemasons in contravention of Church law was printed including the heads of Vatican radio and press, Catholic education as well as numerous high officials, Cardinals and Archbishops. It was claimed that because Paul VI was Pope (and a Freemason), nothing came of it. He was quoted in 1969, saying, "We are about to witness a greater freedom in the life of the Church...fewer obligations and fewer inward prohibitions. Formal disciplines will be reduced...every form of intolerance will be abolished." [Freemason thoughts?]

This repudiation of the church's spiritual authority was symbolized by giving the Papal Ring and his Pectoral Cross to Secretary General U Thant who sold them at an auction.”

I would hope that it could be true, because if it is, it could be the first phase in ending centuries of the condemnation of Freemasonry by the Catholic Church and we can exist as allies in trying, each in our own separate, but non-conflicting ways to make mankind better.

SOURCES

Save The Males at;
http://www.savethemales.ca/000338.html

Arctic Beacon at;
http://www.arcticbeacon.com/19-Sept-2006.html

Answers.com - Pope John XXIII at;
http://www.answers.com/topic/pope-john-xxiii

Answers.com - Criticism of Pope John II at;
http://www.answers.com/topic/pope-john-ii

Masonry Teaches Toleration

2006-10-24T06:28:00.002-05:00

One of the more rabid anti-Masonic writers claims that this toleration is the blackest sin of Masonry., he says, " toleration springs from the pits of hell and from the father of lies, Lucifer."

Well, the writer is partially right, Masonry really do believe in toleration. Freemasonry does not condemn anyone for their beliefs, even rabid anti-Masons. When we consider what intolerance has produced in this world -- the Inquisition, the massacre of the inhabitants of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, the burning of Protestants at the stake, the horrors of Hitler, the mass murders of Stalin, the "killing fields" of Cambodia, The 200,000 people shot and gassed by Saddam Hussein -- it is hard to believe that toleration springs from the devil.

Freemasonry only teaches that every member should follow the religion of his choice and practice the teaching of that religion. In other words, each man should think for himself and not to blindly follow the words of one self-proclaimed expert on what Christ really meant. Consider what John said, “1Jo 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world”.

You should ask yourselves, did God only give the truth to one “preacher” in a little town in Kansas so he could make a living selling hate against one group of men who teach Love and worship God in your own way, including with the anti-Masons if that is your choice.

It’s very easy for some very self-righteous “Christians” (and I use the title “Christians” very lightly for them) to pick out words and phrases from the Holy Bible to back up their hate filled messages. But, if you will take note, the following Bible Verses are some that anti-Masons never quote or read or probably even understood their meaning. OR, they purposely ignore these messages and commandments from Christ so they can sell their own versions of hatred for profit in books, pamphlets and videos, OR in an attempt to completely control their followers thinking. (Having completely control of your followers thinking, hey, that’s the definition of a sect isn’t it.)

Mark Left Us A Commandment That Anti-Masons Would Do Well To Heed;

Mar 12:31 "And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."

And Paul Added;

Gal 5:15 "But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another."

Christ did not say, ”Only love your fellow Christians.” or “Only love your fellow Baptists.” He said “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” It really does appear that Christ said Love Freemasons and Jews and Arabs and the rest of mankind.

But Luke Said It Best;

Luk 6:37 "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:"

And Paul also advised the Romans,

Rom 14:13 "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way."

And a man’s Works may not be important to anti-Masons, but in Revelations, Christ said every man will be judged by our works.

Rev 22:11 "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

The Morgan Affair - Justification To Condemn Millions?

2006-10-17T05:10:00.000-05:00

The following quotes are a summary of a couple of paragraphs in the book, “The Character, Claims And Practical Workings Of Freemasonry” 1869 by Rev. C. G. Finney - Chapter II - "THE MURDER OF WILLIAM MORGAN, CONFESSED BY THE MAN WHO, WITH HIS OWN HANDS, PUSHED HIM OUT OF THE BOAT INTO NIAGARA RIVER. The entire book may be read at,
http://www.gospeltruth.net/1869Freemasonry/indexfreemasonry.htm

Chapter II. "THE MURDER OF WILLIAM MORGAN, CONFESSED BY THE MAN WHO, WITH HIS OWN HANDS, PUSHED HIM OUT OF THE BOAT INTO NIAGARA RIVER!

"The following account of that tragical scene is taken from a pamphlet entitled, 'Confession of the murder of William Morgan, as taken down by Dr. John L. Emery, of Racine County, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1848, and now (1849) first given to the public:'. . .”

"This 'Confession' was taken down as related by Henry L. Valance, who acknowledges himself to have been one of the three who were selected to make a final disposition of the ill-fated victim of Masonic vengeance. . . “

"He proceeds with an interesting narrative of the proceedings of the fraternity in reference to Morgan. . . Three of their number were to be selected by ballot to execute the deed. 'Eight pieces of paper were procured, five of which were to remain blank, while the letter D was written on the others. These pieces of paper were placed in a large box, from which each man was to draw one at the same moment. After drawing we were all to separate, without looking at the paper that each held in his hand. So soon as we had arrived at certain distances from the place of rendezvous, the tickets were to be examined, and those who held blanks were to return instantly to their homes; and those who should hold marked tickets were to proceed to the fort [Fort Niagara] at midnight, and there put Morgan to death, in such a manner as should seem to themselves most fitting. . .

“Arrangements were made immediately for executing the sentence passed upon their prisoner, which was to sink him in the river with weights; in hope, says Mr. Valance, 'that he and our crime alike would thus be buried beneath the waves.' His part was to proceed to the magazine where Morgan was confined, and announce to him his fate--theirs was to procure a boat and weights with which to sink him. . . Morgan being placed in the bow with myself, along side of him. My comrades took the oars, and the boat was rapidly forced out into the river. The night was pitch dark, we could scarcely see a yard before us, and therefore was the time admirably adapted to our hellish purpose. . . Morgan was standing with his back toward me, I approached him, and gave him a strong push with both my hands, which were placed on the middle of his back. He fell forward, carrying the weights with him, and the waters closed over the mass. We remained quiet for two or three minutes, when my companions, without saying a word, resumed their places, and rowed the boat to the place from which they had taken it.'"

I would never argue with a man’s death bed confession. If Brother Valance actually did, what it was clamed that he confessed to, he deserves any punishment he gets for the crime of murder. It was a terrible thing for anyone to have done. It is surely something that any modern Mason would condemn and I am sure that every man responsible for such a reprehensible act will be judged accordingly on judgment day by a just God.

However, should millions of God fearing Freemasons who live in peace 150 years latter, later be held accountable for the deplorable acts of 3 men who were Freemasons. It serves the Christian anti-Masons purpose much greater to say, “Freemasons murdered a man” then to say “Three evil men murdered a man.

Would all of you who feel that Freemasonry should be held responsible for the deplorable acts of 3 men even 150 years latter, please raise your hand.

Thank you, I am so glad you raised your hand. You are the ones who need an object lesson.

I am sure that as fair and just Christian men you realize that a just rule as all encompassing as “holding the organization responsible for the actions of a few” must also apply to other historical events.

Let us look a little further back in history to the period roughly between 1184 and 1230. That era was commonly called the Inquisition. That is the almost 50 year period in history when the “CHRISTIAN CHURCH” horrifically tortured and murdered thousands of innocent human beings, whose only crime was that they did not agree with the Christian Church.

Now, I can hear our good anti-Mason Baptist brothers loudly protesting, “It wasn’t us, it was them Catholic Christians.” That is the same argument the Freemasons from every other state could use, “It wasn’t us, it was them New York Masons,” But regardless, it was still the Christian Catholic Church and it’s Priests who terrorized the world at that time. And, it is also a historical fact that at that time, the Catholic Church (including the Eastern Orthodox) was the only Christian denomination in the world. So, it was Christians who committed torture and mass murders, in the name of God, for forty years.

If millions of men in the Masonic Fraternity must be held responsible for the murder of one man, that was committed by 3 radicals who were Freemasons, then it is equally just that all Christians (including myself) must be held responsible for the torture and murder of thousands of humans that was committed by Christians.

Masonry, Is It Practiced As We Swore We Would, Or As It Suits Us?

2006-10-12T01:01:00.000-05:00

"I don't see no Jews or Muslims in here! We ain't gotta worry about that!"

I was messing around on the internet the other morning about 3:00 A.M.(It happens when you are in your late 70’s) and wandered into a blog site entitled the “Burning Taper” created by a young college educated Mason living in a small rural Georgia town. One of the posts was titled “Small Town Freemasonry” which of course caught my eye. Another thing I noticed was that it was in 4 parts and very long (including viewer’s posted comments). As I sometime do on the really long ones, is to temporally “copy and paste” into a Word file so I can read it at my leisure. Including comments, it was 49 pages long. The next thing that caught my eye was the statement above.

The post was written By the ex-Junior Warden of a Lodge in a small Georgia town. As the Junior Warden “law giver”, he was making a short talk that stated that according to the Georgia Grand Lodge law, anything pertaining to religion or politics could not be mentioned during a meeting of the Lodge. Grand Lodge also provides the proper non-sectarian prayers to be used in meetings in the “Monitor” book.

"Brethren, that means, technically, that we should not be closing our prayers 'in Jesus’ name', but rather simply direct our prayers to God."

You would have thought I'd asked everyone to disrobe, kill a virgin and sing Sympathy for the Devil or something! You've never seen a bunch of bored old fish-fry Masons come to life so quickly!

I lost the floor immediately in a torrent of unhappy and unpleasant comments, most of which came from Past Masters who you'd think that, if they didn't know better about the context, at least would know better about the decorum of jumping down my throat.”

"You ain't puttin' no other book on that altar!"
"We can pray any way WE want!"
You're talking about idols! They worship idols!"
"I don't see no Jews or Muslims in here! We ain't gotta worry about that!"
[my favorite] "I thought you had to be a Christian to be a Mason!"

At the next election, the Junior Warden lost the election for the Senior Warden’s seat by an almost unanimous vote of the Lodge.

Do our brothers in the deep south really still react that way, I thought as I read? Then I remembered a couple of years ago when we were to confer the EA degree on a Jewish man, whose grandfather had been a charter member, in the Hempstead Masonic Lodge where I was Secretary. I ask during a meeting, if we shouldn’t have the candidate bring the Holy Book of the Jewish faith so he could take his oath on it rather then the Christian Bible because the Christian Bible would mean nothing to him and his oath would not be binding in his belief in God.

“No way,” A Past Master jumped up and hollered, “if he’s gonna join my Lodge, he’s gonna use my Bible.”

[The last half of this post, regarding the Grand Lodge of Texas moving forward by including the Prince Hall Grand Lodges of California and Connecticut in the book “2005 LIST OF LODGES MASONIC”, has been deleted. The deleted section was based on confusing information in the book.

At the bottom of the 2005 edition’s front cover, there is the printed notation, "This Book to be kept in each Lodge for reference in Receiving Visitors and on Applications for Affiliation." On the inside front cover it is printed, “Fifty-one Grand Lodges of the United States - Two Prince Hall Grand Lodges Of U.S.A. On page 26 the “Prince Hall Grand Lodge Of California F & AM” is listed and on page 29 the “Prince Hall Grand Lodge Of Connecticut F & AM” is listed.

After a suggestion, in a comment posted by Brother Ashok Mahbubani, I went back and read the 4 lines of tiny print, at the bottom of a list of active Texas Lodges on page 104. The last two lines state,

“The Grand Lodge Of Texas does not recognize the following: Brazil: Mato Grosso; Mexico: Valle de; Prince Hall Grand Lodges of California and Connecticut.”

This of course, meant the deleted half of the post was based on incorrect information due to being confusing and easily misinterpreted.]

Corky

Freemasonry Must Be The World’s Biggest Failure?

2006-10-07T05:55:00.000-05:00

At 78 years old and after holding just about every chair in the blue Lodge, I have finally realized what a failure Masonry has been. Yes, I am still a Mason, a lodge officer and am very proud of it.

Let me explain. Every anti-Masonic “preacher” that you hear in the pulpit, every anti-Masonic brochure or book you see, every anti-Masonic web site you read on the internet, or every anti-Masonic program you see on the television loudly tells us how Freemasonry’s main purpose to take over and rule the world.

Freemasons has been out in the open and not hidden from anyone for 289 years and they are no closer to ruling the world now then they were when the first Grand Lodge was organized in London in 1717. If world domination has ever been Masonry’s goal, they haven’t even made a tiny dent in the program. If I was the most rabid anti-Mason preacher in the country, I don’t think I would worry about the Masons ruling the world.

I would worry a whole lot more about my followers discovering that the Freemasons have proven to be a benign organization trying to do good for mankind and I would lose a major source of income from selling hate filled brochures, hate filled pamphlets, hate filled Videos, hate filled CDs and even hate filled comic strips.

Speaking of people or groups who want to destroy the U.S. and take over the world, how many have there been? The current contenders are Usama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah Khomeini, the Taliban, Al-Zarqawi and al-Qaeda, the P.L.O., Hizbullah, Hamas and Iran and Muammar Qaddafi

In the generation before there was Nikita Khrushchev and the Communist Soviet Union, The war against North Korea and China and of course, the war against Ho Chi Minh and North Vietnam.

Then in the WWII era there was Adolph Hitler and Germany, Benito Mussolini and Italy, Emperor Hirohito and Japan and Fransisco Franco and Spain and shortly after the war Joseph Stalin and the Communist Soviet Union. And then, even back through Kaiser Wilhelm II and Germany of WWI.

All of the men governments and terrorist organizations listed above worked for the same goal, destroy America and rule the world.

The funny thing about that is that not one of these hundreds of thousands of people were Freemasons and every single one of those dictators and leaders outlawed Freemasonry, arrested, imprisoned and executed Masons just for being a Freemason. Kind of like so many of them did with the Christians. But millions of Freemasons fought and were wounded and died fighting against anyone who wanted to rule the world.

It is interesting that many of our, so called Christian leaders, have joined forces with the likes of Usama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah Khomeini, Al-Zarqawi, Muammar Qaddafi, Nikita Khrushchev, Ho Chi Minh, Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Emperor Hirohito, Fransisco Franco, Joseph Stalin and Kaiser Wilhelm II in trying to wipe out Freemasonry, so they alone can control the thoughts of their people and their leadership can never be questioned.

With a group of despots, like those listed above, against Freemasonry their must be something good about it. Maybe being a failure at some things isn’t so bad after all.

I almost forgot to mention, many of the rabid anti-Masonry Christian leaders link Freemasonry with the Jews in trying to rule the world. Now take a look at the Jewish nation. After thousand of years, the Jews once again rule their ancient homeland, the country of Israel with a total area of 20,770 sq km, a country that is slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey. Now, that is really a failure at ruling the world.

An Open Letter To Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon

2006-09-30T06:27:00.000-05:00

Dear Sirs,

To introduce myself, I am Corky from Pine Island, Texas. I am 78 years old. Baptized in the University Baptist Church in Houston in 1944. Some years later became a Mason, joined the Scottish Rite and the Shrine and have never found a conflict between Christianity and Masonry.

I am sorry, but I can not agree with you. I would however, like to make a couple of points. One of the things I love about our Bible(the King James Translation) is that it reveals the truth about all things.

One of the truths I love best is found in the book of Luke,

(Luke 6:37) Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

Some people would think that it is saying that if you condemn Masonry you will be condemned. And, maybe even that if you forgive Masons for what you see as sin, you will be also be forgiven.

Mark also left a message anti-Masons should heed;

(Mar 12:31) And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

And then Paul added another line to it;
(Gal 5:15) But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

That seems that Christ is saying that we should all get along with each other. It didn't even say, Thou shalt love Baptists or Christians only. It said, love thy neighbor.

But that must not be right, because that is the same thing Masonry teaches.

Then there is the statement in your article, "If you are a Christian, when the Lodge teaches a man that by his good life and by his good deeds God will admit him into heaven, is't that contrary to biblical teaching?" Actually, Masonry teaches that men will be judged by their works.

But then in our Bible, Jesus says in Revalations,

(Rev 22:12) And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

Now that really sounded like Jesus said men will be rewarded in heaven according to their works.

Then there is the Mason's bible, that you and other anti-Masons love to quote from, Albert Pike's "Morals And Dogma." I have been a Blue Lodge Mason for many years and a Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner. I am a Past Master and a Lodge Treasurer and have been Secretary, Warden and Deacon of more then one Lodge, but I have never seen a copy, or even heard a word quoted from "Morals and Dogma" in my life in a Masonic Lodge. In fact, I had never even heard of "Morals and Dogma" until I read about it on an anti-Masonic web site.

I guess that is another failing of Masonry, we don't even teach from the "Masonic Bible".

2006-09-24T05:24:00.000-05:00

Why Not, The Knights Templar?

Since no living person, really knows the true beginnings of Freemasonry, it's hard to understand why so many Masonic historians can not see the evidence pointing toward Freemasonry being a direct descendant of the Knights Templar? Of course, Masonry teaches every Brother to think for himself. After all, a historian is only one man with an opinion just like the rest of us. Maybe more educated, but then Education is only a tool. Owning a saw does not make a man a cabinet maker, nor does having an extensive education make a man's opinion infallible.

The following are some of the pieces of evidence that all Masons should consider when thinking about Masonry's beginnings.

On Friday the thirteenth of October 1307, Jaques de Molay Grand Master of the Templars, and sixty of his senior knights were arrested in Paris. At the same time many thousands of other Templars were arrested all over France. A few escaped arrest and simply fled the country.

Immediately after the first arrests the King sent agents to take possession of the Templar treasury. The great treasure (which was the objective of outlawing and arresting the Templars) had vanished without trace, as had almost the entire Templar fleet. French Masonic ritual indicates that Scotland was designated as the place of refuge or safe keeping for the Templar treasures.

In 1312, after the Council of Vienne, and under extreme pressure from King Philip IV, Pope Clement V issued an edict officially dissolving and outlawing the Knights Templar Order. Under threat of excommunication, the edict ordered every country's ruler to seize all Templar property for the Catholic Church and execute the Templars.

Most of the kings and nobles who had supported the Knights up until that time, finally gave in to the Pope’s orders and dissolved the order. However, most of them were not as brutal as the French. In England many Knights were arrested and tried, but not found guilty. The Templars found a relative safe haven in Scotland, since Robert the Bruce, the King of Scots, had already been excommunicated for other reasons, and couldn’t care less about the Papal commands.

Fast forward a hundred years to the Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. Rosslyn Chapel was built by Sir William St Clair Last St Clair Earl of Orkney to house artifacts brought by the Knights Templar to Scotland in 1126. He was a direct descent of William de St Clair, the Last Templar Grand Master of Scotland Between 1118 and 1128. The Templars had excavated the ruins of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem and brought back artifacts.

This was proven in 1860 when the British Army Engineers mounted an expedition to Jerusalem. They excavated beneath Temple Mount and found many deep tunnels in which they also found and recorded Templar artifacts.

The layout of Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh Scotland, which was started in 1440, is an exact replica of the ground plan of the Third Temple, built in Jerusalem by Herod and destroyed in the First Century by the Romans. A statue in the Rosslyn Chapel that was carved at the time the Chapel was being built shows a man kneeling between two pillars. He is blindfolded and has a running noose about his neck. His feet are in a strange and unnatural posture and in his left hand he holds a bible. The end of the rope about his neck is held by another man who is wearing the mantle of a Knight Templar. This was two hundred and seventy years before the claimed founding of the Craft in England.

Degrees in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite such as the Knight of Saint Andrew, the Knight of Rose-Croix, and the 32nd Degree in Consistory make reference to a "Masonic Knights Templar" connection.

A few more thoughts;

Why did the Templars completely disappear during the 1100's when they were in no danger in Scotland?

Why did Masonic Lodges develop in Scotland and England and spread to the aristocracy in Europe instead of working up from the stonemasons? There were many times more Cathedrals being built in France, Spain, Portugal, and Germany and many times more stone masons in Europe.

You can understand how the Knights Templar may have required blood oaths from it’s members, after 1307, to prevent revealing any information about the order, because they had been outlawed, on the pain of death throughout the Christian world by the Catholic Church, except in Scotland. But, why would stone masons require blood oaths from workmen to protect the secrets of building a church?

Why is the Masonic youth organization for young men, the Order of DeMolay, named after the last Grand Master of the Templar order, Templar Jacques de Molay who was executed?

Why is the Masonic Knights Templar, one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the United States, and the largest Templar order in the world? The Order's efforts include the "Knights Templar Eye Foundation", and the "Knights Templar Holy Land Pilgrimage".

Why is the Knights Templar the final order joined in the York Rite Masons. (Unlike other Masonic bodies which only require a belief in a Supreme Being regardless of religion, membership in Knights Templar is open only to Master Masons who promise to defend the Christian faith, as did the original Knights Templar founded in the 12th Century.)

Actually, some historians have make the connection between the Knights Templar and Masonry, such as John Robinson in Born in Blood and Dr. Robert Lomas in The Origins of Freemasonry.

The ‘NO CHICKEN’ Bar-B-Que Chicken Sale

2006-09-20T15:36:00.000-05:00

Waller Lodge held a new type of fund raiser this past August, a “NO CHICKEN” bar-b-que chicken fund raiser.

What is a no chicken sale, you may ask? During the August stated meeting, one of the Brothers made the suggestion that we should hold a fundraiser to raise cash for a small local project. Of course being small town Texans what could be more Masonic then a bar-b-que chicken sale.

After some discussion, it was decided that the price of chickens has increased so much since the last sale, our profits would pretty small. It was also brought up that many of the Brothers are getting older and the August temperature here would be in the 100’s.

One of the Brothers stood up and said he would rather just donate $20.00 to the project then try to bar-b-que and sell the hot chicken halves in our summer heat. Almost every one of the members present agreed that it was an excellent idea for a summer fund raiser and the "No-Chicken Sale" was born.

It was decided to extend the program through the September stated meeting, so that every member not there for the August meeting could have a chance to participate in helping our Lodge. A notice about the, "No Chicken Sale", was also included in the September newsletter.

We probably took in about as much as the profit we would have made in a past bar-b-sale sale without an upfront financial outlay and it all took place in the air conditioned Lodge Room.

This may not work so well for our northern Brothers in the summer, but I but it would work well in January.

Small Town Texas Masons,There Really Is A Difference

2006-09-15T15:05:00.000-05:00

Families come first in our group of Small Town Texas Masons. In 1998, after living in the Humble area of north Houston for 42 years, we moved to the little community of Pine Islan d. It's 45 miles west of Houston, between Waller and Hempstead. At the time I was a member of two large city Lodges in the Houston area, but had lost interest in the Lodge and hadn't attended meetings at either Lodge for a few years.

After living in Pine Island for awhile a cousin invited me to visit Waller Masonic Lodge #808 AF & AM, 5 miles east of Pine Island, and Hempstead Masonic Lodge #749 AF & AM, 5 miles to the west. After visiting both Lodges a few times, I demitted from the two large city Lodges and joined the 2 local Lodges.

The main thing that attracted me to the small town Lodges was the family social hour and dinner before each stated meeting. On stated meeting nights at both Lodges, Brothers, with wives and children, join together for dinner from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM. In all my years as a member of the “large city” Lodges, I don't remember ever seeing a wife or child in the building on a regular stated meeting night.

We feel the small town Lodge family hours have a very positive effect on families. It gives the ladies the feeling that Lodge night isn't just an excuse for husbands to get away from the wives and children for one night. The Lodges pay for the groceries that the Stewards use to prepare the dinners. Donations to the kitty jar usually come within 15 or 20 dollars of the expenditure, if they don't cover it, and the ladies bring deserts. At 7:30 PM when the brothers assemble in the Lodge room for the Lodge meeting, wives either double up to get a ride home or wait around in the dining room playing cards or dominos until the meeting is over. We feel that the cost to the Lodges are very small compared to the benefits of having our wives socialize and get to know our other Brothers and their wives, they also enjoy some good home cooking without having to cook supper and clean up afterward. Most actually look forward to Lodge night here rather then complain about being left at home alone.

I never miss Lodge meetings anymore and best of all, I regained my interest in the Lodge. I am currently the Treasurer and Junior Past Master of Waller Lodge and served as Secretary 6 years for Hempstead Lodge. I also write the newsletter for Waller Lodge and the Masters, Wardens & Secretaries Association and maintain web sites for the Association and both Lodges plus another Masonic web site of my own. But, even more important, is knowing our brothers wives and children and having our having our wives know them and their families. We have developed a much stronger sense of brotherhood then we ever experienced as members of the larger large city Lodges.