Maybe we can best answer this by noting what it does not change. The motion passed does not change any of the youth, children, or preschool activities of our church. It does not change the possiblity of people meeting to pray with a prayer list, or no prayer list on Wednesday nights at 6 p.m. It does not change any of the schedule for Sunday afternoon. So what does it change?
The priority of Sunday evening worship will now be prayer. That does not mean that we will not sing. It does not mean that there will be no scripture, or even a limited "sermonette". It simply means that all ages will meet in the worship center at 6:30 p.m. with an emphasis on praying corporately to God. We may have testimonies of answered prayer. It is not for us to tell God what we plan to do. We are desiring to "protect" the priority of corporate prayer at a time when a significant number of people can choose to participate. Some might wonder if we are going to keep some people away because it will get dark and some cannot drive at night. If one of our church family has this problem on Sunday night, they would also have that problem on Wednesday night. We need to respond to their need by providing them transportation if they ask. Some anticipate that this change will "kill" the Sunday night service. I believe that is why a provision has been included for the church council to evaluate in July and make a reccomendation to the church for continuation, revision, or reversal. What is to be gained by all of this?
The people who work with our preschoolers, children, and youth, on Sunday during discipleship time will be able to attend a discipleship class. People who desire to continue the Wednesday night prayer emphasis will be able to do so, and we will discuss this in prayer meeting before the January 1st transition. Those who pray on Wednesdays as a group are encouraged to be a part of the Sunday evening corporate prayer time. This would increase the number of people who pray, as well as the time spent in prayer throughout the body. One comment was that some who do not know how to pray might learn through active participation or listening to others. No one will ever be required to pray aloud; not even in a small group. Another potential addition would be those guests mentioned that would come to Wednesday night dinner and then stay for a class. One might hope that the music ministry would benefit by more people staying on Wednesday night who could be prospects for the adult choir. One has asked whether there could be a Wednesday evening worship service. The answer is yes, if the church sees the need in out biblical priorities for those who are shift workers, for example. The service would be attended by those not participating in other groups. This provides many new options, but are there concerns?
One concern would be an "every man for himself" mentality, where people feel free to just do what ever they please. We had to deal with this during Sunday School over the years. There was the Hall class and the Burnt offerings class of years gone by. If we are going to be honest about biblical priorites, we cannot set up little visiting sessions (see gossip in the Bible), or 'Bible studies' that have not been approved by the church council. In years gone by, we have had groups establish themselves to teach the latest fad theology or a renewed ancient heresy. If there is a legitimate need, then those involved can enhance its legitimacy by presenting it to church council. As pastor, my job description has always included Adult Education. I will be happy to meet with anyone to help them with a perceived need for our church.
One last note. As a Southern Baptist church, we can have motions made in new business in any regular conference, to change anything but the Constitution and By Laws. We could vote to paint the church purple. We could vote to require everyone to wear blue jeans. When we make a motion for consideration by the body of Christ, we must do it with as much care as we would expect to show if we were responsible for writing and preaching the sermon next Sunday morning. The unity of the church is not a matter to take lightly. Having one's way with church policy or scheduling is never the goal. We are supposed to seek the mind of Christ for His church. He is the head of the body. We should not be shy about the process of discovering His will as a church family. If you are still uncomforable with the parlimentary process, that is designed to maintain peace in the process of working through change, please let me know. I will be happy to present to any group or individual the 'basic' process which all orderly SBC churches use. I love you all and continue to pray for the Lord's leadership as we walk down this road together.
Your Pastor,
David Turner
P.S. I have sensed that some believe the motion that was presented may have been coached in advance, by me, or someone on the staff, who also wanted these changes made. I assure you that this is not the case. There would be judgment on anyone who spoke of allowing God to lead, who then manipulated the situation to make it turn out as they pleased. Christian maturity should drive us all away from 'church politics'. God bless you all.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Special Church Conference Schedule Changes from November 2013 Blog #1
It always unsettles me when there are changes in the church schedule. Many people do not choose to participate in church conference where things can be changed significantly at any time. This is certainly not the case with our most recent conference. Let's examine the lead up to conference.
In our October conference there was a discussion of potential schedule changes that would provide more options for adults on Wednesday nights. A change in the schedule effects all of the other activities throughout the week. We agreed in conferenence (which was running long) that we would pray for two weeks and come back to discuss a way forward on the issue. At this point I personally distributed a multiple page evaluation on the issue from three years before. That is right, we were examining this issue three years ago, even before Dan Calkins was on staff. The issues discussed in that piece were related to the priorities given the various activities of the church.
That document reminded everyone that we "protect" the priority of worship by allowing no other activities during worship and by discouraging people even cooking and setting up during worship for a lunch that is to follow. We "protect" the Bible study of Sunday School from other activities. We "protect" discipleship time from the over reach of committee meetings which begin an hour earlier than discipleship. We "protect" outreach on Monday nights by prohibiting the calendaring of church events in conflict with visitation from 6 to 7 p.m. This makes perfect sense because these are biblical priorities. It makes as much sense to "protect" the biblical priority of corporate prayer. We have accomplished this for many years by setting aside the time from 6 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday nights. So why was there a motion to change the schedule as we have it?
Wednesday night is a time that the church family thought we could help each other make it to the evening events by having a dinner. Pastor Woody Jackson started the dinner and even cooked it for some time. Eventually others took a shift to relieve him of this work. For the last several years there have been adults who said they would like to invite others to the Wednesday night dinner and activities but did not think that unbelievers would appreciate the prayer meeting. Since we were "protecting" the time slot, they did not see an alternative. Some took it upon themselves to create alternate activities and even prayer times without the approval of the church. Ultimately, this needed to be a matter of prayer so that we could discover the mind of Christ on this scheduling issue.
After encouraging the church to pray through this period of time, and discussing it on Sundays including the multipage document that was distributed, I hoped that serious prayer was going up to God on this issue. As your pastor, I know some of you prayed carefully about this matter. We did not need the best of our opinions, but the very best direction we could receive from God to maximize our schedule and protect biblical priorities. But the last church conference had displayed a weakness in our ability to communicate clearly.
Because there were several people who did not understand the parlimentary process of creating a motion to accomplish business in conference, I offer a special training this past Sunday at 3 p.m. before the called conference to make certain that anyone with questions could learn the process. We displayed the time on the media slides before the service and published the time in the Cypress Heart. We wanted to make certain that no one was intimidated by the parlimentary process. This must not have been an issue because only six people attended and two of them already had a pretty good idea of the simple process. So, when the called conference began the first person to address the chair presented a motion that was corrected and was finalized to say, "I move that we move church-wide prayer meeting to the Sunday evening worship time beginning January 1, 2014, allowing the children and youth to participate, for a period of six months when it will be evaluated by church council." One question for clarification resulted in a description of the change being like the special prayer events we had on Sunday nights previous to the last election. After the amendments were final, there was the call to vote first by voice and then by a show of hands for greater accuracy. The motion passed. But, what does it mean? What will now change? Have we discovered a way forward that protects the biblical priorities and reflects the mind of Christ. That is what will unfold in the days to come. I will outline some possiblities in my next blog.
Your Pastor,
David Turner
In our October conference there was a discussion of potential schedule changes that would provide more options for adults on Wednesday nights. A change in the schedule effects all of the other activities throughout the week. We agreed in conferenence (which was running long) that we would pray for two weeks and come back to discuss a way forward on the issue. At this point I personally distributed a multiple page evaluation on the issue from three years before. That is right, we were examining this issue three years ago, even before Dan Calkins was on staff. The issues discussed in that piece were related to the priorities given the various activities of the church.
That document reminded everyone that we "protect" the priority of worship by allowing no other activities during worship and by discouraging people even cooking and setting up during worship for a lunch that is to follow. We "protect" the Bible study of Sunday School from other activities. We "protect" discipleship time from the over reach of committee meetings which begin an hour earlier than discipleship. We "protect" outreach on Monday nights by prohibiting the calendaring of church events in conflict with visitation from 6 to 7 p.m. This makes perfect sense because these are biblical priorities. It makes as much sense to "protect" the biblical priority of corporate prayer. We have accomplished this for many years by setting aside the time from 6 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday nights. So why was there a motion to change the schedule as we have it?
Wednesday night is a time that the church family thought we could help each other make it to the evening events by having a dinner. Pastor Woody Jackson started the dinner and even cooked it for some time. Eventually others took a shift to relieve him of this work. For the last several years there have been adults who said they would like to invite others to the Wednesday night dinner and activities but did not think that unbelievers would appreciate the prayer meeting. Since we were "protecting" the time slot, they did not see an alternative. Some took it upon themselves to create alternate activities and even prayer times without the approval of the church. Ultimately, this needed to be a matter of prayer so that we could discover the mind of Christ on this scheduling issue.
After encouraging the church to pray through this period of time, and discussing it on Sundays including the multipage document that was distributed, I hoped that serious prayer was going up to God on this issue. As your pastor, I know some of you prayed carefully about this matter. We did not need the best of our opinions, but the very best direction we could receive from God to maximize our schedule and protect biblical priorities. But the last church conference had displayed a weakness in our ability to communicate clearly.
Because there were several people who did not understand the parlimentary process of creating a motion to accomplish business in conference, I offer a special training this past Sunday at 3 p.m. before the called conference to make certain that anyone with questions could learn the process. We displayed the time on the media slides before the service and published the time in the Cypress Heart. We wanted to make certain that no one was intimidated by the parlimentary process. This must not have been an issue because only six people attended and two of them already had a pretty good idea of the simple process. So, when the called conference began the first person to address the chair presented a motion that was corrected and was finalized to say, "I move that we move church-wide prayer meeting to the Sunday evening worship time beginning January 1, 2014, allowing the children and youth to participate, for a period of six months when it will be evaluated by church council." One question for clarification resulted in a description of the change being like the special prayer events we had on Sunday nights previous to the last election. After the amendments were final, there was the call to vote first by voice and then by a show of hands for greater accuracy. The motion passed. But, what does it mean? What will now change? Have we discovered a way forward that protects the biblical priorities and reflects the mind of Christ. That is what will unfold in the days to come. I will outline some possiblities in my next blog.
Your Pastor,
David Turner
Thursday, August 4, 2011
The Stock Market Warnings
If you have watched the stock market drop 410 points on the Dow today and hopefully have been able to watch it come back up, were you concerned? If is important to pay attention to the signs built into the economy, It is even more important to pay attention to the signs or warnings built into the Word of God. Isaiah 1:15-20 reads,“So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. “If you consent and obey,
You will eat the best of the land; “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.”
Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken." NASB95)
If our nation does not stop aborting millions of children, God will not answer our prayer for the nation because we have so much blood on our hands. He will turn us over to judgment. As you pray on Saturday, pray for God to bring conviction on the nation for its sin and this atrocity. As you pray, are you making any preparations for your family? Remember, it does not matter how much money you have if there is nothing left to buy. These last days are important times for Christians to be alert. We need to fight becoming deceived by those who only want our money, time, and influence. We need to devote ourselves to pray, the knowing the Word of God, and to being ready to meet needs for our families and those around us even if it is inconvenient to us.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. “If you consent and obey,
You will eat the best of the land; “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.”
Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken." NASB95)
If our nation does not stop aborting millions of children, God will not answer our prayer for the nation because we have so much blood on our hands. He will turn us over to judgment. As you pray on Saturday, pray for God to bring conviction on the nation for its sin and this atrocity. As you pray, are you making any preparations for your family? Remember, it does not matter how much money you have if there is nothing left to buy. These last days are important times for Christians to be alert. We need to fight becoming deceived by those who only want our money, time, and influence. We need to devote ourselves to pray, the knowing the Word of God, and to being ready to meet needs for our families and those around us even if it is inconvenient to us.
Cults Revival in Closing
Imagine a pyramid where the preponderance of the pyramid is comprised of people who are the base. Imagine the top of the pyramid is taking advantage of those on the bottom. Those on the bottom do not know what those on the top really believe. Those on the top take their money, their time, and their influence to create a powerful organization that they control. They are willing to let the bottom the pyramid believe what they will, but are watching for those who are like minded to move up through the organization. Famous and powerful people have been a part of their organization, presidential candidates, evangelists, you name it. But these people obviously do not believe what the apologists say the national organization believes. It is confusing why those people are saying such things about their organization. Well, it should be confusing, because they have not been told the truth.
I hope that this incongruity would cause those who are in the bottom of the pyramid to investigate what is being said about those at the top. The North American Mission Board has done exactly that with it's website: www.4truth.net On the left side is a menu that includes the heading New Religions and Cults. When you choose the group you are interested in make certain that you examine titles in the site that compare biblical teachings with the cult teachings. There are so many websites that add to these kinds of information including Southern Baptists like John Ankerberg, and many others.
Last, keep in mind who is more likely to lie to you. If a person has nothing to gain, but much to lose for sharing information, why would they do that? If they could just keep their mouth shut and go about their business, but they risk many things to share information- give thought to this fact.
I hope that this incongruity would cause those who are in the bottom of the pyramid to investigate what is being said about those at the top. The North American Mission Board has done exactly that with it's website: www.4truth.net On the left side is a menu that includes the heading New Religions and Cults. When you choose the group you are interested in make certain that you examine titles in the site that compare biblical teachings with the cult teachings. There are so many websites that add to these kinds of information including Southern Baptists like John Ankerberg, and many others.
Last, keep in mind who is more likely to lie to you. If a person has nothing to gain, but much to lose for sharing information, why would they do that? If they could just keep their mouth shut and go about their business, but they risk many things to share information- give thought to this fact.
"Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." Proverbs 27:6 (NIV)
Friday, July 29, 2011
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:
"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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
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.
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.
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.
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.
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