Subject: Re: Free-Mason Ministers
Date: 9 Aug 1999 02:46:19 GMT
From: Bill Maddox < >
Organization: http://www.handteam.com/maddox
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Kenol Noel wrote:
> Peace!
Peace unto you Kenol - to perhaps save you some time, I want to let
you know I have been a Freemason for 15 years, and a United Methodist
nigh onto 40 years. You might not care for what I have to say.
> There are a lot of Ministers affiliated with many lodges receiving pass
> words and sacred words for each grade or degree.
You are right that there are a lot of ministers that are freemasons.
According to the Southern Baptist Convention's A REPORT ON
FREEMASONRY, we find the following:
In 1991, the Home Mission Board submitted questions concerning
Freemasonry in the SBC to Baptist VIEWpoll. Baptist VIEWpoll is a
survey by the Corporate Market Research Department of the Sunday
School Board, SBC, of 1,433 Southern Baptists (283 pastors, 430
ministers of education, 247 directors of missions, 202 deacon
chairmen, and 271 church clerks). Of the 1,433 who received the
questionnaire, 997 responded. One question was how important it was
for the SBC to have an official statement on Freemasonry. A majority
of pastors (60%), ministers of education (56%), directors of missions
(72%), deacon chairmen (63%), and church clerks (74%) felt that such a
statement was either "not very important at all" or had no opinion
about whether a statement was needed. When asked if the issue of
Freemasonry ever caused a problem in their churches/associations, the
vast majority of each group responded that their churches/associations
had never dealt with Freemasonry. Of those responding, 14 percent of
the pastors, 5 percent of the ministers of education, 13 percent of
the directors of missions, 18 percent of the deacon chairmen, and 12
percent of the church clerks were or had been Masonic or Eastern Star
members.i
An estimated 400,000 - 500,000 Southern Baptist men are Masons. Among
this number are many well-known Southern Baptist leaders. No attempt
will be given to naming living Southern Baptist Masons. However,
following are some well-known Southern Baptist Masons from the
past. Robert E. Baylor was one of eight Masons who petitioned for a
charter for Baylor University in 1845. "Every president of Baylor
University has been a Master Mason." ii One president was William R.
White, 33d, who served as president of Baylor University from 1948 to
1961. He served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Austin, First
Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, First Baptist Church of Lubbock, and
Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth. He also served as executive
secretary, and later as president, of The Baptist General Convention
of Texas.
The first two missionaries sent by the SBC to Texas, James Huckins and
William Tryon, were Masons.
George W. Truett (1867-1944), pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas
(1897-1944), president of the SBC (1927-1929), president of the
Baptist World Alliance (1934-1939), and trustee of Baylor University
and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was a Scottish Rite
Mason. He was raised a Master Mason in 1920 in the Dallas Lodge
No. 760; he received the 32nd degree in 1921. Of his Masonic
membership, Truett said:
"From my earliest recollection, sitting about my father's knees, who
was a Mason, and hearing him and fellow Masons talk, I imbibed the
impression in early childhood that the Masonic fraternity is one of
the most helpful mediating and conserving organizations among men, and
I have never wavered from that childhood impression, but it has stood
steadfastly with me through the busy and vast hurrying years."iii
Truett, in perhaps his most famous sermon, preaching on the steps of
the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 16, 1920, addressed the
15,000 people gathered:
"The right to private judgment is the crown jewel of humanity, and for
any person or institution to dare to come between the soul and God is
a blasphemous impertinence and a defamation of the crown-rights of the
Son of God.... Every one must give an account of himself to God. Each
one must repent for himself, and believe for himself, and be baptized
for himself, and answer to God for himself, both in time and in
eternity."iv
B.H. Carroll (1843-1914), first president of Southwestern seminary,
was a member of Waco Lodge No. 92 and Herring Lodge No. 1224, both
located in Waco, Texas.v Carroll was instrumental in the creation of
the Department of Evangelism of the Home Mission Board in
1906. Carroll was the author of more than 20 books, including The
Bible Doctrine of Repentance (1897), Baptists and Their Doctrines
(1913), and Evangelistic Sermons (1913). It is said that his favourite
causes were evangelism, prohibition, home missions, and Christian
education.vi
L.R. Scarborough (1870-1945) was a member of Gray Lodge No. 329 in
Houston, Texas.vii He served Southern Baptists as pastor of First
Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas, from 1901 to 1908; professor of
evangelism at Southwestern seminary from 1908 to 1914, when he became
president of the seminary. He authored a number of books, most of
which focused on evangelism, including How Jesus Won Men (1926), or
were collections of his sermons.viii
W.W. Barnes (1883-1960), professor of church history at Southwestern
seminary (1913-1953), was an active 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason.
W.T. Conner (1877-1952), who taught theology at Southwestern seminary
from 1910 until his retirement in 1949, was a member of Southside
Lodge No. 1114 in Fort Worth until his death. James T. Draper
Jr. referred to Conner as "perhaps the most famous theologian to be
associated with Southwestern Seminary." ix
William W. Hamilton, a Mason, was named the Home Mission Board's first
head of the Department of Evangelism in 1906. He served as president
of Baptist Bible Institute (BBI), now the New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary, from 1927 to 1943. While president, he saved BBI
from bankruptcy in 1932, when the school defaulted on $353,000 in
bonds. He was president of the SBC from 1940 to 1942.
Louie D. Newton (1892-1986), was president of the SBC (1947-1948) and
vice president of the Baptist World Alliance (1939-1959), served 27
years on the SBC Executive Committee, and was a member of Joseph
C. Greenfield Lodge No.400 in Atlanta. He received his 50-year Masonic
pin in 1980. He was also a York Rite Mason and a Shriner. He was the
chaplain of the Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta from 1939 to 1953,
when he was succeeded by fellow Southern Baptist James P. Wesberry.
James P. Wesberry, who died in December 1992, was pastor of
Morningside Baptist Church in Atlanta for 31 years, president of the
Georgia Baptist Convention for 3 years, recording secretary for the
Georgia Baptist Convention for 20 years, moderator of the Southern
Baptist Pastors Conference, and executive-director of the Lord's Day
Alliance.x He became a Mason in 1927. He was a York Rite Mason, 32nd
degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a Shriner. He succeeded Louie D.
Newton as chaplain of the Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta in
1953. Wesberry was succeeded as chaplain by another Southern Baptist
minister, James C. Bryant, in 1981.
Joseph Samuel Murrow (1835-1929) was an appointed Southern Baptist
home missionary to the Oklahoma Indian Territory, where he established
more than 100 churches, according to one report. Called "the founder
of Freemasonry in Oklahoma," he established the first Masonic Lodge in
the Indian Territory, served as the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge in
the Indian Territory, and wrote the Murrow Masonic Monitor.xi He was
raised a Master Mason in 1867. He served as Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of the Indian Territory from 1877 to 1878 and Grand Secretary
from 1880 to 1909.xii
John T. Christian (1854-1925), a Knight Templar, was chairman of the
informal committee of friends who met in 1915 to consider formation of
BBI. He was professor of Christian history and librarian at BBI from
1919 until his death in 1925. He donated his personal library of
15,000 volumes to BBI. The library on the New Orleans seminary campus
bears his name. Christian also pastored First Baptist Church,
Chattanooga; First Baptist Church, Hattiesburg; Second Baptist Church,
Little Rock; and other churches.
J.B. Lawrence, a Mason, was vice president of the SBC (1916-1917) and
executive secretary-treasurer of the Home Mission Board
(1929-1954). In 1943, Lawrence freed the Home Mission Board from debt
for the first time.
Richard A. McLemore, president of Mississippi College in Clinton
(1957-1968), was a member of Hattiesburg Lodge No. 397 and a 33rd
degree Scottish Rite Mason.xiii
David E. Moore was a well-known pastor in southeastern New Mexico
until his death in 1992 at the age of 103. He was pastor of Caprock
Baptist Church in Caprock, N.M., for many years and was assistant
pastor of First Baptist Church, Roswell, N.M., at the time of his
death. On his hundredth birthday, he was honoured with the title of
"Honourary Past Master of Roswell Lodge No. 18." xiv
Some insist that "Christian Masons must decide today whether they will
remain Masons and deny their Lord, Jesus Christ, or whether they will
do the will of their Father in heaven and leave Masonry." xv They call
for Christian Masons to reject the "hypocrisy" of being a Mason and a
Christian. "Either follow God or follow Masonry. Either live as a
Christian or live as a Mason." xvi
Taking an opposite position, a non-Mason Southern Baptist pastor
writes, "The Masons I know are good Christians that are as active and
perhaps more active than most church members and are instrumental in
the spiritual growth of their peers in their respective churches." He
continues, "It is time for us to lay aside our prejudices against
other organizations and denominations that differ from us, and focus
on the mission of the church. That is to make disciples, to baptize
them, and to teach them to reach others." xvii
i Baptist VIEWpoll, November 1991, and memorandum from Steve Whitten
to the HMB Administrative Council, February 20, 1992. ii Carter,
Masonry in Texas, p. 340. R.E. Baylor was a member of Baylor Lodge
No. 125. iii William R. Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. IV
(Trenton: Missouri Lodge of Research, 1961), pp. 254-255. The quote is
from an address by Truett at the Grand Lodge of Texas meeting in Waco
in 1940. The full text of Truett's address is found in Proceedings of
the Grand Lodge of Texas (Waco: Grand Lodge of Texas, 1940), pp. 148 -
156. iv Powhatan W. James, George W. Truett: A Biography (New York:
The Macmillan Company, 1945), p. 3. v D.D. Tidwell, "Dr. George
W. Truett," The Texas Grand Lodge Magazine, March 1960, p. 113, and
letter from James D. Ward of Waco, Texas, December 9, 1992. vi
Melton, Religious Leaders of America, pp. 86- 87. vii Letter from
James D. Ward of Waco, December 9, 1992. viii Melton, Religious
Leaders of America, p. 409. ix James T. Draper Jr. Authority: The
Critical Issue for Southern Baptists (Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell
Co., 1984), p. 64. x Sunday, September-December 1991, pp. 8-12. xi
Unpublished manuscript from Jim Tresner, ed., The Oklahoma Mason, n.d.
xii Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. III, pp. 249 -250. xiii
The New Age Magazine, September 1968, pp. 35-36. xiv Letter from Ray
D. Carpenter, Albuquerque, N.M., November 6, 1992. xv Ankerberg and
Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, p. 44. xvi Ibid. xvii
Letter on file.
> When initiating in the
> first degree, the oath is that you said that you were in darkness, you came
> to seek light. The problem is how is a christian in darkness after receiving
> Christ?
To much playing with words, perhaps. Light, in a masonic sense,
usually refers to knowledge. Again from the SBC REPORT: Harris quotes
from the Entered Apprentice ritual, "A poor blind candidate, who
desires to be brought from darkness to light and receive a part of the
rights and benefits of this right worshipful lodge, erected to God and
dedicated to the Holy Saints John." 1 Many critics interpret "from
darkness to light" as "from lostness to salvation." Coil gives a
Masonic definition for this phrase:
Light is everywhere the symbol of intelligence, information,
knowledge, and truth and is opposed to darkness which symbolizes
ignorance and evil. So, in the ceremonies, the candidate is said to
be brought from darkness to light.2
1 Harris, Freemasonry: The Invisible Cult in Our Midst, p. 41.
2 Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 375.
> What is your thought on that? Please continue discussion!
Finally - from http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/7849/family.html
Freemasonry has ever been the patron of learning. Its votaries long
ago discovered that ignorance was the mother of nearly all of the
evils and dangerous environments that afflicted humanity; that
education dispelled this evil, set free the victims of its influence,
and put a smile where terror and despair had planted sorrow. In its
unending efforts to eliminate such human afflictions, Freemasonry has
perhaps performed its greatest labor, breaking down the walls of
religious hatred and intolerance that for too long divided men into
opposing sects and hostile camps.
> Peace be with you
Peace again, but striving to stir up ill will. <hmmm>
Just wanting to shed some light on the problem -
Bill Maddox
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Discussion
Comments are disallowed for this post.
Comments are closed.