A former occultist joins a "Masonic" church

Former occultist joins a "Masonic" church

Larry is a former occultist who renounced his involvement in a "Fraternal Order" when he became a Christian. He was asked to join a particular church because of his knowledge of Freemasonry and the stand he had taken at another church. Leadership did not ask him to join, someone who was convicted of the evil nature of Freemasonry did. That individual attends a sister congregation in another state.

Approaching church leadership

Larry approached the pastor immediately after joining and gave him a paper which documented the Masonic plan of salvation. He told the pastor that he would like to speak with him after he had a chance to read it. After reading the paper, the pastor avoided meeting with Larry. He just didn't have the time. In reality, the pastor had no intention of dealing with the issue.

Mason number one

Larry immediately knew that his Sunday School teacher, Don, had taken the oath of a Moslem and had named Allah as the God of his father. How? The teacher was wearing jewelry which indicated that he was a member of the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. All Shriners have taken the oath of a Moslem. Larry waited a month or so and then told the teacher that there was something that he needed to speak with him about. He did not reveal the subject of his concern.

Don went to Larry's house. Larry produced Masonic documents explaining the Masonic plan of salvation. The documentation established the facts beyond a doubt. Larry showed Don a photo copy of a few pages from the Kentucky Monitor, which stated that Jesus was a savior for Christians, while Hiram Abiff was a savior for Masons. Don listened without saying much at all. After he had made his presentation, Larry told Don that he had once been involved in the occult, but when he became a Christian, he had to renounce it. He ask Don to renounce Freemasonry. Don immediately agreed. He said that he had not known that Freemasonry has a plan of salvation. When asked about about taking the oath of a Moslem, Don stated that he wondered to himself at the time, "Surely that is not what they mean?" He knew that he did not mean it, but felt the need to repent of it as part of renouncing Freemasonry. Don knew that it was a serious matter to God, even if he had done it as part of a ritual. Don had been in Masonic meetings six times in his 25 years as a Mason. He remembered the ritual he went through and knew that the documentation was explaining those rituals.

Don wrote letters of resignation to the the Blue Lodge, the Scottish Rite and the Shrine, telling them that since they had a false plan of salvation, as a Christian, he could have nothing to do with them. Don went to the pastor with the letters and asked the pastor to sign them as a witness. He asked the pastor to mail the letters. Don's name was removed from Lodge membership without the secretary of the Lodge knowing about it. Other Lodge officers swept it under the rug. The pastor told Don that he did not want Freemasonry to be an issue in the church. Don told the pastor, "Well, I don't want their blood on my hands!" The repenting Mason knew the seriousness of the matter.

Mason number two

Larry looked for other Masons. Charles was approached and told that, "There is something that I need to speak with you about privately." An appointment was made. Charles listened. He had been a dabbler in various occult practices. He had been a member of the Masonic Lodge in another state for years. After becoming a Christian, Charles repented of his occult activities. Charles had not connected Freemasonry with the occult and did not renounce it. Although, he stopped attending Lodge when he moved. Possibly this was the doing of the Holy Spirit. Larry confessed his previous involvement in an occult fraternal order. He asked Charles to repent, and renounce Freemasonry. Charles agreed. Charles informed the pastor that he was out. The pastor did not appreciate what Larry was doing.

Masons number three and four

Larry approached Dave, another Mason, privately and told him he wanted to speak with him about something. Dave agreed to meet with Larry, but it would have to wait a couple of weeks due to schedule commitments. Larry approached Dale, another Mason. Dale agreed to meet privately and sat through the presentation without saying a word. At the end, he was asked to repent , following Larry's confession that he had been involved in the same thing and had to renounce it when he became a Christian. Dale had been a Worshipful Master. He had officiated at numerous Masonic rituals and had raised men to Master Mason in Lodge. Even though he had seen the documentation from the monitor of his home state, stating that Hiram Abiff was a savior for Masons, Dale said he saw nothing wrong with it. He refused to repent.

A meeting with the pastor

Dale went to the pastor and told him that Larry was opposing Freemasonry. Larry had been continuing in his attempt to meet with the pastor. At his next attempt, the pastor agreed to meet with him to discuss, "Your approach to our members." The pastor looked at an original copy of the monitor which stated that Jesus is a savior for Christians, while Hiram is a savior for Masons. He also read the passage which stated that "God became man so that man might become God." Larry explained the procedure in Matthew chapter 18 to the pastor. The pastor told Larry that in all of his 44 years as a pastor, he "had never once taken anyone before the church. That doesn't work anymore." He would not be a part of it. The pastor felt that raising the issue of Freemasonry "would tear this church apart."

The word is out

When Larry approached Dave the next week, asking about the meeting, Dave told him that he knew what he wanted to talk with him about. True to Masonic form, he had decided to avoid the meeting. None of the other Masons approached would meet with Larry. Since his efforts one-on-one were over, Larry felt the need to take the second step with Dale. Another brother, a deacon, was asked to come to Larry's house. He listened and knew that Freemasonry was a false religion. He knew that Larry was on target with his materials because he had been a Mason for years. He had not been active, and had not made all of the connections. The second brother, the deacon, agreed to talk with Dale. The short talk occurred in a hallway of the church. Masonic documentation was produced. Dale refused to repent. The second brother was not strong enough to "lean on" Dale.

A letter to the church

Larry wrote a letter outlining the situation. He made 419 copies and mailed one to every member of the church. Before the letters were delivered to the members of the church, Larry handed the pastor a letter stating that it was time to move. The letter to the pastor explained that he did not need the pastor's permission to follow Jesus through Matthew 18:15-17. The pastor was informed that it was time for him to decide what position he was going to take. The pastor did not read his letter until he began getting calls from the congregation the next morning.

The pastor responds

The pastor called Larry and asked him to come to a meeting in his office on Saturday morning. Larry felt the need to take a witness, but was unable to find someone who would sit in on the meeting. About 45 minutes prior to the meeting, a man he had never met called to encourage him concerning the letter he had sent. The man had received a copy since he was on the membership roll of the church. Larry ask this telephone acquaintance to meet with him and the pastor, strictly as a witness.

The pastor had asked the associate pastor to sit in as a witness. The pastor had reached a decision and knew what position he was going to take. He was furious that the issue had been raised only five months before he was to retire. He began ranting and raving about what Larry had done. He told Larry that he was going to go to hell, but that the Masons in the congregations will be welcomed into heaven, because they were fine Christians. The pastor was out of control. He told Larry a total of three times, "I'm going to ask you to leave this church!" When the pastor allowed it, Larry tried to explain the consequences of involvement in an occult organization like the Masonic Lodge. The pastor kept interrupting; he did not intend to listen to sound doctrine. Finally, the pastor shouted, "WILL YOU LEAVE?" Larry simply said, "No." The pastor was livid. But, what could he do? The pastor had no scriptural grounds to support his demands. Every step which Larry had taken was in agreement with scripture. At no point was there any question about the veracity of the documentation.

The pastor preached a pretty fair gospel sermon. He knows the Bible and understands the Gospel. He also had seen Masonic original copies of the Grand Lodge documents which proclaimed another savior. Yet, when put to the test, he sided with the devil.

A declaration in the assembly

When deacons were to be elected, Larry stood in the assembly and asked which of the men on the ballot were Mason. The pastor responded that, "You are out of order, that is a personal matter." At least one of the men on the ballot, the former Worshipful Master, was and is a Mason. He was reelected.

The pastor who took the position had never taken issue with the claims in the letter. It would have been useless, because Larry included Xerox copies of Masonic documents to support his claims. The letter included 19 pages. In the assembly, the pastor effectively took the position that a Christian could worship a false god and take part in the promotion of a false gospel. He stated that it was simply a personal matter.

Privately, the pastor told the telephone acquaintance (who had acted as witness) that he knew that Freemasonry was evil. Some how, he felt that he had to protect "his" church from the truth.

The long term impact

After the pastor's retirement, Larry remained at the church. About a year after the letter, Dave approached him and said, "Well, you can talk with me now, I'm out of the Lodge as of the first of the month." When asked why, Dave answered, "I decided just to worship the one God."

None of the ex-Masons in the congregation are strong enough to take a public stand against Freemasonry.

How many of the younger generation will never become Masons because of what their parents now know?