Freemasonry and Herschel Hobbs

One does not have to study very long to discover that Freemasonry claims a close connection and affinity "...with the Essenes, Gnostic's, and other mystical orders" see page xiv of the introduction of the Monitor of the Lodge, Grand Lodge of Texas (1982). I would now simply point out what they hold to be true and compare that the whole counsel of the Word of God in the Old and New Testaments. That should not be upsetting to Masons since the advertisements on the websites for most grand lodges now declare that Masonry is not a secret organization. That is hard to imagine, though, since the monitors have the word "secret" and "sacred" referring to their teachings, throughout. For this reason I will use a few quotes in context. The quote above is where they connect themselves to the Gnostic's. Herschel Hobbs warned about Gnosticism, or believing in having a special knowledge about God that supersedes all other revelations, in his commentary on the Gospel of John and the Epistles of John, Hobbs notes:

 "It was a vicious system that cut squarely across Christian truth. Warnings against it are reflected in John's writing...the movement beginning in the first century that degraded the deity, person, and work of Jesus Christ. No apostle felt more strongly about the false claims of the Gnostic's than did John. It is interesting that Freemasonry talks about the Holy Saints John when John the Baptist was pointing to Jesus as the one who would come to take away the sins of the world. He was pointing to Jesus. The Apostle John wrote to condemn Gnosticism which Freemasonry proudly adheres itself to, so that they lies of the Gnostic's about Jesus would be overcome.

Is that a problem? Gnostic's believe that there is the one true archetype of God and that all other gods, including Jesus, were simply a Demiurge (second level god who operates in the physical realm making things etc.)while the one true God is unknowable. However, we know that Jesus is presented in John chapter one as the Word one with the Father as eternal God. Colossians 1:15-20 says of Jesus:

     He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16     For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

17     He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

18     He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

19     For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

20     and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995, S. Col 1:15-20

For the Gnostic, they choose to believe that Jesus as the image of the invisible God is a secondary god. Krishna is a secondary god. So, as Masons, the ones that have been told what is going on; have attained to the knowledge. These enlightened Masons believe that they have stepped past the secondary gods of all of the world religions, and through their esoteric (only for a special few) knowledge, are praying "through" all of these secondary gods to the Great Architect of the Universe who is the one true unknowable God. They are knowing him through the geometry of the universe and the contents of the universe that reveal him through order. You see Hobbs says that this Gnosticism reduces the work of Jesus from the truth that no one will go to the into the after life to any location but hell, unless they go through Jesus. It reduces the work of Jesus to the same level of any other secondary god. So when we as Christians say that everything that exists, exists by the word of His mouth, and that all other gods are false (including their philosophical concept of a grand architect of the universe), we are told that we are too sophomoric to understand.  So if you are a Gnostic you believe that out there in the universe (and beyond) is a Great Architect of the Universe that is the true unknowable God that Jesus was simply trying to point us toward. He is not that God revealing Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When Jesus says, If you have seen the Father, you have seen me", He did not prove His deity, He reduced the Father to a secondary god as well. The triune God, to the Gnostic's is secondary to the unknowable Great Architect of the Universe.

I hate to tell you this, but you need a shot at getting this right. There is a reason that Jesus does not appear in your Texas monitor. You will find Jehovah, and you will find other designations. You can look in other writings and find "Christ", or "the Lion of the Tribe of Judah", but you will not find Jesus presented as the only way of salvation and the only way to God. Those Masonic articles that Larry Kunk referred to at the Grand Lodge websites are prepared to explain away those familiar titles. "Christ" as a title would be Jesus for the Christian, a Christ or messiah that has not shown up yet for the Jews, the Mahdi for the Muslim, or Krishna for the Hindu. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is Solomon or David for the Jew, and can be any other kind of messianic character for other world religions. If you are going to make it to heaven based on the merits of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, that means you are going based on the "good example" of these various saviors.

Freemasonry is willing to let you stretch to get there in your own assumptions, but the special "esoteric" knowledge that they have is just old philosophy from the time of Plato and Aristotle that has been turned into a "religion" for those who are on the "inside" in Freemasonry. Still within the introductory pages of the Texas Monitor on page xi in full paragraph two in their own words, the material in the monitor is used in conjunction with esoteric work (shared from mouth to ear- later in the book) to get the the work of the Lodge done, as it were.

I know that there are all kinds of Christian images in Freemasonry, but as Gnostic's by declaration, these images are from a secondary Demiurge god. As a Freemason, either they believe this, or they believe that Jesus is just another name for the one true God like Allah, and Krisha, etc. If you don't believe any of that, then join Herschel Hobbs and leave gnosticism behind; especially those of you that are just finding out what is going on. If you stay, you will be leaving Freemasons all over the world with the impression that if they faithfully hold to the masonic teachings they will make it to the Great Architect of the Universe and his lodge. You know that is not true. The monitor says over and over that the Lodge is holding to the Holy Scriptures, and the bible (lower case) etc... Keep in mind that the book that is on the so called altar can be the holy book of any religion on the planet.

Freemasonry is simply a way to integrate all world religions into one. The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of all Mankind break down because of sin. We died as a result of sin, and the Bible (upper case) says that Jesus had to pay the penalty for our sin so that we could be adopted. Christians are not just more of the brotherhood of man. Because of sin, the Bible now identifies two groups on the planet: the children of God who have received Jesus in John 1:12 and everyone else that are identified as the children of the devil. Jesus says in John 3 that those who have not believed in Him are condemned already. Esoteric, gnostic philosophy with stole Christian terminology can not do for anyone what Jesus has done. Stop trying to get people into the lodge for the glory of the lodge. Come out of the lodge because of the warning of Jesus (it is His word) about world wide religion in Revelation 18. The Harlot of Babylon is all of the religions of the world pulled together until anti Christ gets through with her and destroys her so he can declare himself to be God, (also instead of Jesus). This is what the passage says about that kind of religion,

"I heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995, S. Re 18:4-5

Anyone that has read Herschel Hobbs knows that he believes in the exclusivity of the Triune God and the completed work of Jesus to save those who will be saved. Without Jesus, not a Christ or a Lion of a Tribe, without Jesus- no one will make it to Heaven.

  

Part Four-Reaction to Larry Kunk’s Presentation on Free Masonry

Someone might ask if a Mason should be a member of Christian church. I think the question is whether anyone in a Masonic type organization, who now knows the truth that has been revealed, ought to stay in that Masonic organization. To stay regardless of the truth that has been revealed would show what is most important to them, not their church and relationship with Jesus, rather their fraternal organization. Since the presentation shows that there are people who are teaching false concepts of God in most every state, national, and international level of the Masons, it is time to leave these organizations as true followers of Jesus. It is not a matter of whether a Mason should be in the Christian church, but whether a true born again Christian should be in the Lodge. We cannot afford to be taken advantage of by people who believe that we are all praying to the same god who only has different names. This is just the tip of the iceberg of these false teachings. Any truly Christian church could not say that it is right to have someone on their church rolls that truly and personally believes that Jesus and Krishna, and Osiris of ancient Egypt are all the same god with just a with a different name. I doubt that most of our local Masons believe these lies and for that reason they should leave the lodge and similar secret societies.
So, as your pastor, what am I hoping will come of all this? There is not one person in our church that I would like to see leave. Not one. What I do want to see is the Word of God being upheld, salvation by grace and not by works being upheld, and the truth that there is only one God who reveals Himself as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and who is not the same god of the other world religions with only a name change. I want people to know that Jesus is not just one of the saviors, that there is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved (see Sunday night’s message about many saviors). I want people to know that if they think they can do the works of their lodge or group and make it heaven without having Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord, they are being deceived. If a person really believes what the official Masonic leadership materials has taught, they cannot maintain that Jesus is the only way to God. What is a pastor supposed to do?  He cannot stop preaching or having speakers that speak the truth of the scripture. Pastors will stand before God, including those having taken the easy way out. Those unwilling to deal with truth issues will be revealed to be false shepherds. If pastors stop preaching about adultery, lying, divorce, etc. because someone might be made to feel uncomfortable, we will have nothing else to preach but happy ear tickling messages that do not address God’s concerns for us. When we take away the ministry of the Word to reveal our sin, we are not going to be able to escape our sin. It may be uncomfortable to point to specific groups who have a false teaching about God, or false doctrines, but it must be done from time to time for the sake of our children and our grandchildren. No one heard any speaker, including myself or our church members say that we should hate any of these people. The opposite is true. Every presentation warned about the reality of hell for any person that does not accept the true Jesus as He has been revealed in the Word of God. What could be more loving than to let people know who and why they need to be reaching these groups of people who are being lied to by their very own leaders.

 I hope that everyone will take the time to watch the presentations. If you did not get one  during each service, you may get a DVD of the Sunday services, or watch them online at the church website. If the DVD from Sunday is difficult to understand, or if you cannot see the content on the screens, the same presentation Larry gave Sunday morning is available in PDF format in the church office on a CD. He also distributed a DVD on Sunday night of a previous lecture he gave on the same subject of the false Masonic way of salvation. Having this material will help us to avoid the misunderstandings that the enemy wants to use to keep us from carefully examining the truth.

Part Three- Reaction to Larry Kunk’s Presentation on Free Masonry

I have a tendency to believe that many men in our area are in the Masons and similar organizations because they have not looked closely enough to understand what they are being told. I believe from discussing this with non Mason men from our area, that being a Mason was a way to move up in certain companies or work groups. It was a way to be known and have the approval of other men. For many, it was a matter of doing what their fathers and grandfathers had done. I think the Christian  men who joined probably interpreted the strange rituals to fit into their Christian understandings. I do not think that most of them ever were exposed to the true beliefs of the Masonic Lodge on the governing level at the Grand lodge of each state. For these men, I think it was like a fraternity, and a way to have a favored status with another group of men. I believe these men were being taken advantage of. I believe their dues and their influence was being stolen for the good of an organization that does not believe what they personally believe if they are truly born again believers in Jesus Christ.
For example, in Tal Davis’s message about the Mormons he said that most Mormon’s do not know what the hierarchy of the Mormon church believes. They do not know that Mormon doctrine teaches that there are men who attained to godhood, all over the universe, who are now running their own planets. These average Mormons in our neighborhoods do not know that their leaders believe that a Mormon can do the right works and become a god of his own planet someday. By the works that Mormons would do, he would cease to be a man and become a god. This is just one of their beliefs that astounds most people when they become aware of it. When Tal made that presentation, he did not know who in the congregation might be a Mormon. He did not do anything but make a presentation of the truth of Mormon teaching that most Mormon’s aren’t even aware of. Larry Kunk did the same thing. He did not come with a vendetta against anyone, since he had been in a false teaching organization himself. Larry came with research that was supported by scores of former Masons. At another website, Ex-Masons for Jesus, www.emfj.org are many stories from people who have discovered the truth of how they were being taken advantage of by the governing organization and those who have their own agenda.

The material on Sunday was handled the same way the material was handled for every other meeting of the Truth About Cults Revival.  There was no way to address this issue without someone being offended. I, Larry, or Tal could have talked about the false teachings of any other group on the planet and would have gotten very little negative response. But, no one likes being deceived. Larry Kunk did not like it, and I do not like it. But good, truly Christian people have been deceived and this Masonic issue is just another example. The goal of the presentation was to give everyone the opportunity to walk through the issues before being made aware of the non-biblical teachings of Masonry. That was the only way to keep people from addressing the issue with pre-determined conclusions. Larry presented his material with a passion that goes beyond my personal experience. Larry says he has seen many people hurt by members from within the secret fraternal organizations who did not like the fact that someone had spoken out against, not individuals in their organization, but the organization itself. I assured him that this would not be the case here in Orange, Texas. Don't let the emotions of this event take your attention away from the truth of the evidence in the presentation. Examine the documents in the CD's of the presentation. If you picked up a DVD, or watched his presentation on the website, and you cannot make out the material on the screens during worship, please come by the office and get one copy for your family.

Part Two- Reaction to Larry Kunk’s Presentation on Free Masonry

What I found interesting about Larry Kunk is that he came from a similar organization as Freemasonry. He did not say that he was better or different than anyone that was in a secret fraternal society. He admitted that he had done things worse than most people in other secret fraternal societies would ever do. So, this man is revealing research that he has gotten from, in this case, the Masons own monitors, manuals, as selective readings from their own websites. Larry did not make up the research. Our own deacons sat and held the monitors of Masonic organizations from all over the country. They read the very pages that Larry presented by power point on Sunday morning and Sunday evening. They had the opportunity to question the validity of what they were seeing on the pages of all of these monitors. One deacon asked why so many of the monitors were old. I knew the answer to that question was not about them being outdated in Masonic thought. Masons are very proud of the age of their beliefs. In the Texas Monitor of 1982 in the “In Perpetual Memorial” section on roman numeral page five (v.) it acknowledges the grand lecturers from 1837 through 1895 (on the next page). In the “Preface” on Roman numeral page ten (x.) within the second paragraph it says, “We have relied almost entirely on the works of Brothers William M. Taylor, Sam R. Hamilton and Jewel P. Lightfoot with Lightfoot’s Manuel of the Lodge as the primary basis for our work. This is, in essence, little more than a minor revision of the enlightened work of Brother Lightfoot.” The Lightfoot Manual for the Texas Grand Lodge was written in 1934. The age of the material in the presentation Larry gave (from the 1990’s to the 1921 and possibly older) was not the real issue.

 I am convinced that the strong reaction by some who did not even see the material presented at LCBC is based on assumption that everyone who is in the Masons now and those who are loved ones who were in the Masons in the past could not have possibly believed anything wrong. Remember, all of us are vulnerable to being deceived by people, organizations, governments, and principalities and powers of evil. People get in organizations that use them for their influence and money. The fact of the matter is, I don’t think that most Masons, even those who have progressed to higher positions, have realized what the Masonic teaching is truly pointing to. I think they believe that the good deeds that their lodge has done indicates the desire to do good to all people. I think that some of the things they say in their lodge meetings, and the things that some of the Masonic groups for women and children hear in their meets are Christian songs and imagery.  I also believe that the materials being used are being understood by the participants as being about Jesus even though He is not being mentioned by name. (Don't mistaken the name "Christ" as being about Jesus alone since every religion can have their own messiah or Christ) That is why I think that many of these men, women, and children have been tricked into being a part of an organization that does not believe what they believe. Based on the material from the monitors and readings, those who wrote many of them clearly believe that we all pray to the same God no matter what religion we follow. I doubt that the man in the local lodge believes that the other Masons around the world who are praying to Krishna, or Vishnu, or Allah are praying to the same God that he is praying to when he prays to Jesus. The fact is, Masonic teaching holds that this is the truth. When Masons are praying, their written materials indicate that they are praying to the same single only existent god which they all know by a different name. Let me give you a few questions to consider if you were speaking to a Mason that is not one of your own well known and loved friends:

1. Is it true that there is only one God? ( you would certainly hope that they would say yes)

2. Is God a spirit? (this is also a very simple question that they should say yes to if they are a mason)

3. Is it true that all men worship the same God using a variety of names? (Larry’s presentation shows the problem with saying yes to this question)

4. Is Vishnu, a god that Hindus worship, the same spirit that you pray to at the lodge? (The Masons you know may not believe that, but the Masonic teachings affirm it to be true)

5. If you do not believe number 3 or 4 then why would you stay in an organization that teaches these things are true?

It seems that this is the main point of their faulty concept of God, but it is only the tip of the iceberg of their false teaching.

Part One- Reaction to Larry Kunk’s Presentation on Free Masonry

I would agree with those who were in the Sunday morning worship that Larry does not have my preaching style. Some have said that he was too harsh in his presentation. I suppose that LCBC has had pastors in the past that had that kind of preaching style. You would not know that unless you have been here quite a long time. It would be obvious to say that his presentation was too long to be received as a normal Sunday presentation. For this Larry apologized and promised that he had never gone that long in the past. For some, it seemed that Larry was saying that everyone who is in the Masons is headed to hell. I know that this is what the devil wanted everyone to hear so that they would be very upset. Let me reprint the statement that he actually made.

“It impossible for a man to embrace the foundational teachings of Freemasonry and Christianity at the same time” Sunday morning slide 108. That means if a person claims that there is only one god and everyone in the world worships the same god just with a different name, that person cannot also be a person that also believes that Jesus is the one unique son of God who reveals the Father to us. They cannot believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. They cannot believe the verses that Larry showed that all of the other Gods of the nations are demons. You cannot have it both ways. The presentation for Sunday night was showing that if a Mason truly believes that Jesus is one type of a savior and that Osiris of ancient Egypt is another and the Masonic “Hiram Abif” is another, that person who truly believes that Jesus is not the one and only savior cannot be saved by Him. Everything that Larry presented was based on scripture that was not taken out of context. Everything was carefully referenced. I do not like the preaching style that uses little diplomacy, but many of us remember the day when all preaching was like that- truthful but hard.

 I will acknowledge that many do not care for the times when we compare the Word of God to false doctrine. There are many groups, denominations, and world religions that we must acknowledge are teaching falsehood. It is not likely that we will protect anyone from these false teachings or false gods unless we refer to the organizations that are caught up in these teachings. We talk about sin every Sunday. There is no greater sin than presenting a false god or a false gospel that causes everyone who believes their lies to go to hell. This is not a happy message, but one that Jesus dealt with regularly. No one talked more about hell and false teachers than Jesus For this reason, I must say that the reaction to the presentation on the Masonic teachings has been amazing to me. Never have I seen so much happen behind the scenes in spiritual places in all my years in ministry. I have never experienced this level of emotion and turmoil on something that I did not even preach. No one has asked me yet if I even believe everything Larry Kunk presented. If you were wondering why Larry’s presentation was to be given without any “warning” as to the subject, it is for the reason that people everywhere he speaks respond so sharply to dig in their heels before even listening to his presentation. Larry reflects that most of the people who have reacted the strongest to the presentation are people who have not even heard it. It is that prejudice against the subject no matter what his research would reveal that he is trying to avoid. Larry indicated that when people don’t want to know what will be said simply because of their personal association with an organization, or a family association, it makes it difficult for him to share that information with people who have open minds. By showing the biblical issues first and giving a theoretical situation for everyone to consider using a completely different group of people (Islam), it is possible to see the problem before facing the evidence about the false teachings of a different organization (in this case, the Masonic lodge). When he lost his ability to reveal truth without emotions clouding the facts, we lost the ability to examine the truth together without impartially. Part Two is coming!

I Have Faith- I Don't Need To Prepare Future Provisions

I used to live in that world, too. You know how much I believe the Word of God is true and realistic, not simply the greatest ideals in history. What I have discovered is that God expects us to use the skills and intelligence He has given us, to do what every generation before ours learned to do. I know that our nation was founded by people who believed the Bible. If they had not been men and women of faith, they would not have believed it possible to pull away from the most powerful nation in the world at that time (England) and establish the colonies as a free nation. But, here is what you need to know about these people. With the exception of a few wealthy people and city dwellers, the masses of that day occupied their lives with preparing.

People of great faith were rising each day and eating foods that they had grown in the last growing season. They were eating animals that they were caring for so that they would have food in the days ahead. In the Spring they planted and raised crops so that they would have food in the summer to eat fresh,and food to can and store for the fall, winter, and spring of the next year. This has been the process that the world has gone through in a cycle for centuries. They did not think they were violating scripture by growing food and putting it away. They thought that the people who did not prepare were violating scripture by being lazy and not providing for their families. They recognized that the food they had was a blessing from God. They were aware that there could be years of famine or pestilence. These same people were reading their Bibles and seeing men like Joseph from the Old Testament laying aside food for the future. They did not think less of him for that.

So what happened? Prosperity and convienience! We have become convinced that full grocery stores and regular pay checks are what should be expected. If we think otherwise, we are perceived as a negative person who does not have faith. Isn't it sad that we can be so accustomed to a way of life that did not exist a few generations ago, that we would forget what the biblical generations were doing when Jesus told them not to worry about tommorrow? He was not telling them to stop making preparations for food for the year ahead. He was telling them not to make this the primary reason for life. They, and we, are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and know that He will add the other things. Don't stop providing for yourself and your family. Stop wasting your time worrying about it and get to work. Remember what Paul said, "If they won't work they should not eat!"

What opportunities have you had at LCBC to make preparations so far? We had the Crisis Preparation Event in April. We made the church aware of a group purchase of a water filtration unit for your home called a Big Berkey, and we are inviting people to get started on some long term food storage. It is not too late to store some supplies. The table with the one gallon shiny cans will have a sign up sheet for those who would like to get started in this process. In a time of crisis it is aways best to be in the position that Paul shared with us from the words of Jesus, "It is better to give than to receive".