A NOTE FROM ED

Space is getting tight (on the paper edition of the newsletter) and I wanted to do more pages this month to pick up what is going on in the ministry. We went through a very tight time financially the last few months but have been brought into the black over the last few weeks by many of our faithful supporters. What a relief! God bless you/them for your faithfulness. Please, if you aren’t helping out financially and you can, please pray about being a regular contributor, keeping us over the top! For those of you on the web, you can make donations of any size through our bookstore, with Visa or MasterCard, or send in a gift to the address posted.

Last month, we had a catastrophic computer crash and had to reformat our 6.4 gig disk drive. In doing that, we lost tons of data files and software. We have been slowly recovering the files, reloading software and are still in trouble with all our PageMaker files (all our newsletters, etc) since we have misplaced our program CD.

We have been reformatting much of the web site and should have it up in a bit, with new sections and files. I am slowly scanning in some of the great first edition LDS books that I own and they will soon be available to you. Our son, Joshua, is doing that work for us, in between classes (he is a senior in College this year) and his web business.

Among the new items will be many of my audio tapes, free for the downloading, on many of the subjects we cover in our ministry.

For every 100 emails that come in, most are great emails from people who have something worthwhile to say or ask and in those emails, I take great delight!

But, perhaps 5 are so foul that they are zapped when I get no more than one word into the text. Another 5 are from LDS, Masonic or other writers who spend the entire email telling me what a wretched, filthy, lying, evil, rotten "getting rich on the backs of my enemies" type of fellow I am.

I have tried to answer these emails, usually asking them to be a bit more specific in their claims of my gross error and with rare exception, I never hear back from them unless it is on some other hysterical tangent, or find some edited portion of my response in an LDS anti-anti web site, somewhere.

I really do have a very active Christian life of praise, worship, prayer, study and service…inside and outside of this ministry and my every day is occupied in His service, with a fierce zeal for souls. I can no longer waste any of that time on answering the angry, unanswerable people who clog up my email inbox with their stuff.

The Mormons have announced that they are building another "30 new temples worldwide. The age of the McTemples is here.

They will also have a shorter 6 foot plastic Angel Moroni statue (Mini-Moroni’s, too!).

We are in a moral crisis as never before in the leadership of this country. One older and wiser pastor said that America is in such moral decay that our leaders are even better than we deserve. With the integrity of the highest office in the US made a mockery of by its latest resident, I shudder every time a newscast comes on about those issues.

Without being too political an observer, I can only wonder if the reaction would be the same if this were going on with Newt Gingrich or Clarence Thomas. You know, it isn’t his great economy that God cares about, it’s his moral integrity and right standing before a holy God. That should be our priority, too.

The writer is a retired English RAF officer living now with his wife in the United States. I shared the letter with my wife and several mature Christian Ministers who know us both and who love me enough to give me quick and sure correction. One brother, a co-author with me on one of my books thought on the letter for a bit and said,

However,

As a legally licensed minister of the gospel, when the leader of my nation signs a document that legalizes the partial birth abortion of viable, living infants, I am going to shout out a cry as loud as I can. When he authenticates homosexuality I am going to shout, "No!" When he and his wife use his powerful position in his role of Governor and President for their own gain, I’ll speak up. When he trades secret missile technology to China for political contributions from a foreign country, I am going to yell treason. When his life style is a mockery of my faith, when he wallows in adultery and lies to the nation and swears falsely under oath, I am going to speak out.

We need to look only into the owner’s manual for living our lives to have the answer. As ministers of the Gospel, it is our requirement to speak out against these failures in the morality of our leaders.. But, what does the Word of God instruct us to do? In the Old Testament, God raised up prophet after prophet to speak out against ungodly Kings, authorities over the people, who ruled in unrighteousness. God apparently didn’t want his people to be slaves to unrighteousness.

John the Baptist probably would have lived a lot longer if he had been quiet about Herod’s sin, his immorality, which was akin to what has been going on with our President. Our ministry friend would have to say John was cursed as I am.

Every disciple of Jesus died a martyr’s death because by disobeying the edicts of those above them who would outlaw the works and morality of the early church.

Foxxe’s Book of the Martyrs is filled with those who spoke out against the sins of their leaders and disobeyed the immoral laws of the land.

Yes, we must and we do pray for our leaders. As Christians, we certainly must forgive those who ask our forgiveness for sin, but there are consequences that come from sin that don’t clean up that easy. The consequences of the sins of our leadership are going to be with this nation for a long time.

I just received an email (from my own pastor) with the following item attached. They are the comments of Pastor Gordon MacDonald to his congregation, one of the three men personally ministering to President Clinton. While I may not personally agree with every point of his address, It is an extremely insightful perspective and a sound Biblically based response to the events at hand.

to the Grace Chapel Congregation, Lexington, Massachusetts

Sunday, September 13, 1998

We have passed through some of the saddest and disquieting days of our lives this past week. Those of us who were living in the time of Watergate thought we’d seen the worst, but, in my judgment, these days seem far more serious.

We have watched a dimension of the personal and private life of President Clinton reach the light of day and become emblazoned on the Internet and in newspapers across the world. We have listened to the comments of statesmen, commentators, comedians and the so-called "person on the street." Here and there have been sobering and wise observations.

Beyond those, however, has been the multitude of unthinking comments which either trivialize matters or dismiss them as inconsequential. Nevertheless, the issue of morality, of truth telling, of personal integrity have suddenly become central issues for all people.

No one could have been present and retained a disbelieving, a cynical, a hardened attitude toward this man who opened his heart and acknowledged his realization of his sin. Regardless of what happens in the future, that was a moment when the President attempted to fulfill everything that is demanded in the act of public repentance. For many there have been two inadequate reactions to what the President said: the one has been to engage in the offer of cheap, swift grace, a forgiveness that comes so quickly and freely that it provides no justice nor healing and spiritual redemption to the sinner. The other inadequate reaction has been that of dismissing the statement with a wave of the hand and assuming that it is a matter of political theatrics and manipulation.

To this latter reaction I have to say with all candor, Christ-following people have an obligation to treat seriously any attempt by a self-proclaimed sinner who asks for forgiveness. If the President’s repentance is false or short-termed, that will show in time, and we will have to swallow hard and admit that we were taken in. It wouldn’t be the first time nor the last that the Christian community extended its hand of grace and had it bit off. Some of you have been aware that I have had a number of personal encounters with President Clinton starting about eight months after he assumed the office of the Presidency. He had become acquainted with me through some of my books which he had read and through mutual friends. On occasion we would dialogue about issues important to the Evangelical community, and I was one of those who pointed out to him the ways in which he estranged many Evangelicals from himself. But most of our communication has been about spiritual matters, and my intersection with him has been more of a pastoral one-certainly, as I will later emphasize again, not a political one.

From the outset I want to be perfectly clear that there are others whose involvement has been more frequent than mine, such as Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church and my close friend, Dr. Tony Campolo. Until this moment I have chosen to keep my relationship to the President as confidential and quiet as possible. As someone has said, "You can talk to the President or you can talk about him, but you cannot do both."

On several occasions I have sat with the President either in the Oval Office or in the more private sectors of the White House and discussed matters mainly of a spiritual concern. Those conversations have included his personal life as a father and husband, his desire to be a man responsible to God in the exercise of his public duties. I have prayed with him as I have prayed with many of you. I have listened to him pray. I have discussed topics of a Biblical and a spiritual nature late into the night.

Those of us who have known the President have had our severe critics. "Why doesn’t someone stand up and confront him?" has come the question more than once. Why haven’t you played the role of the prophet, Nathan? I can tell you firsthand that those times have happened. But having done that, we have not chosen to rush to the public or to the press and disclose the content of conversations we consider private and personal. There are those who have gone from the presence of the President and immediately used the occasion to embellish their own notoriety before their constituencies. That is not the genuinely pastoral way. Some have demanded to know what has been said to the President as if they had some personal right. We have taken the position that these conversations are no one’s business and will continue to do so. My relationship to President Clinton until recently had always been rather loose and sporadic, and I was happy to know that there were others, such as the ones I previously mentioned, who talked to him more regularly.

Last Monday the President called me. He had read my book, "Rebuilding Your Broken World," a second time and felt that there were things in the book that we needed to talk about. Having had some extensive experience in the subject of what we Biblical people call brokenness, I could sense his own brokenness after the first few minutes of the conversation. Like most others who have been publicly exposed in a terrible sin, the President had faced up to the reality of his deeds in a series of steps-almost like descending a staircase.

The first step had been his August speech in which he offered contrite words and then sought to put some of the blame for the situation on the backs of Kenneth Starr and his political critics. Many of us knew instantly that the speech had been a serious miscalculation, that it did not reveal a genuine sense of sorrow or contrition. Within a few days it was obviously clear to him that this level of truthfulness was quite inadequate. That seems to have forced him to another layer of self-disclosure, first to himself and then to the nation. But it was clear that there were still miles to go. There was still too much emphasis on trying to control both the reality and the public’s interpretation of it.

Then about ten days ago, the larger realities began to sink in, and the President began to see the full extent of what he and the rest of the nation were facing. He began to express himself no longer as the victim, no longer as the target of a conspiracy, but as a sinner with no defense or excuse. You heard him say this on Friday. This is what I had sensed as we talked on Monday evening. That evening President Clinton asked me if I would become a part of a small (as little as three) accountability group that would deal with the spiritual realities of his life and help him walk his way through a personal restoration process. At this moment I believe it would be prudent to permit the other two members of the group to step forward and identify themselves at a moment they choose.

When we reached the end of our phone conversation, the President invited me to come to Washington on Thursday, the night before the Religious Leaders breakfast. I had been invited to the breakfast, but now the President sought a personal conversation.

On Thursday night it was my privilege to spend the night at the White House and to join the President and the First Lady for several hours of discussion. The President and I sat alone late into the night talking about the future, not in political terms but spiritual. The content of that conversation will be for the most part, totally confidential. From that conversation and one which he had the next morning with Tony Campolo, came the frame of the speech which Mr. Clinton gave on Friday morning.

I went to bed that night awestruck at the providence of God which brought me to that position on that night. (As an aside: my room at the White House was the famous Lincoln Bedroom. In that room is a fireplace over which is a plaque noting the room as the place where President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. I mused for a while on the need that comes in the life of anyone who has sinned greatly for a spiritual emancipation proclamation - the one which comes from God when we cry out in the sorrow of repentance.

As the old Gospel song puts it concerning the cross of Jesus Christ: mercy there was great, and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty-at Calvary.) For the foreseeable future I will be visiting with the President on a fairly regular basis, by phone and by personal encounter. Of the three members of the group, I bring an understanding of what it is like to face the public scrutiny when one has sinned. I have gone through-and continue to go through-the breaking process. I have known both the remarkable grace of forgiving, restorative people and the lash of those who choose other options. I am in a position to talk the language of repentance and what it takes to find a deeper and more purposeful walk with God in the midst of a personal tragedy.

My role, along with the other members of this unique group, is not political. We are not concerned with the political ramifications of the hour, only the spiritual-which is to say that we are more concerned about Bill the man, the husband, the father, the working man, than we are about President Clinton. Others who have their experience in political leadership will have to deal with those matters. No one will offer me any help by suggesting things I ought to say to the President about the political scene. My opinions about his future as the president are my own, and I will not speak about them with anyone except my wife and the members of the accountability group. It is no secret that the President has been disliked from the start by a majority of Evangelical Christians. His stand on abortion and homosexuality were the lightning-rod issues, and most people have taken an adverse posture ever since.

I have been seriously troubled when I have listened to people talk about this President-not in the civil discourse of acceptable political and philosophical adversity, but rather in terms of hatred and vengeance. It has been easy for some to say that God’s judgment will be upon this President. But will God’s judgment not be upon a group of people who call themselves Biblically-oriented, but who permit such rancor in their hearts?

I have chosen to believe that every word of the President’s speech on Friday was out of a genuinely contrite heart. I have seen his private tears, heard his personal words of remorse. And I have chosen to embrace this man, as a sinner in need of mercy. I have received him as I would try to receive any of you, should you find yourself in similar circumstances.

Have I worried about being used? Of course. Have I worried about those who might turn against me? Again, of course-and painfully so. Do Gail and I worry about seeing our names once again in print, as it was in Newsweek two weeks ago, reminding us of our own brokenness and shame eleven years ago? Again, of course.

Am I endorsing this President? No; that is not my intention in this statement. I have tried to keep this pulpit, which I love, free of political endorsements of any kind-much to the consternation of some and the suspicion of others.

In 1988 this church, called Grace Chapel, held a most remarkable service, called a Service of Restoration. It was a recognition that church leaders were choosing to encourage my return to the ministry of preaching the Bible. As part of the service, my dear, dear friend, Dr Vernon Grounds challenged me to be a carrier of the Gospel of the "Second Chance." He reminded me that Jesus was noted as a friend of sinners. And that the friends of Jesus are our friends. The congregation approved of his challenge enthusiastically. But no one would have imagined that that ministry of the "Second Chance," a friendship with sinners, might be focused on a President of the United States.

Over the years since that service Gail and I have made ourselves available to literally hundreds of men and women in leadership whose lives have been dashed to pieces by their sins and mistakes. Hardly a week goes by that either Gail or I are not contacted by someone in the country who begins the conversation in words like these, "I don’t know where to turn. No one around me knows how to handle the mess I’m in." We have come to love the subject of grace because along with repentance it changes lives and refuses to permit Satan the ultimate victory. And we are in a situation now where it would appear that Satan is well on his way to victory. If he is, as the Bible says, the author of lies and confusion, he is doing a grand job at this point. Our world has never needed clarity of spirit and purpose as it needs right now. And yet we have never had so much confusion. I would quite imagine that Satan and his minions are cheering at this moment as they watch sin creating such havoc.

Gail gave me this verse from the Living Bible. Paul wrote to Timothy, "Again, I say to you, don’t get involved in foolish arguments which only upset people and make them angry. God’s people must not be quarrelsome; they must be gentle, patient teachers of those who are mixed up concerning the truth. For if you talk meekly and courteously to them they are more likely, with God’s help, to turn away from their wrong ideas and believe what it true. Then they will come to their senses and escape from Satan’s trap of slavery to sin which he uses to catch them whenever he likes and instead they can begin doing the will of God." I am a small person in that very big world. But I will always try to stand for the proper balance of grace and truth and do all I can to see it work-if the sinner remains contrite and broken.

When I talk about second chance I am not advocating any position regarding impeachment or resignation. Again, I am talking first of all about the second chance a sinner is to be given through grace in his personal life. The future of President Clinton’s leadership will be in the hands of our Congress, and we must pray that God will give them corporate wisdom as they proceed. I just caution you to realize that none of the options facing the Congress is either obvious or easy. Don’t dare fall for easy answers; there are none. Every conceivable answer has long-term ramifications for our nation, for this world.

I believe my actions in coming close to President Clinton on matters of pastoral concern is in complete conformity with the precedents of the Bible: from Daniel who served three profoundly pagan kings to Samuel and Nathan who came close to two kings with startlingly different results. I have taken the President’s request to come to his side at this time very seriously. No one will know the hours of talk and prayer that Gail and I have invested this week as we have asked the hardest questions and tried to imagine the worst possible things that could happen to us. But we’ve tried to keep in mind that we have a stewardship, and despite the possibilities of unfortunate things happening, we must take a stand for what we believe is right and go forward step by step until we feel the leading of the Lord to do otherwise.

Let me assure you of these things. We are surrounded by a small collection of the wisest, Godliest associates here and from a few other places in the country. I am listening carefully to their counsel. And of course, I will continue to pursue my own careful accountability to our Board of Elders.

I do not intend to make any further public statements about my relationship to the President, apart from this one. Already I have refused to talk to the Press on the basis that my connection to the President is far too private to disclose. I will do my best not to cheat Grace Chapel of its rightful claim on my time and energy. What expenses there are in terms of travel are not coming from any Grace Chapel budgetary fund but from private sources. How might any of this affect you? It is possible that colleagues and friends of yours may take note of comments like the one made in the Boston Globe yesterday that your pastor is a "friend of Bill’s."

You can make that conversation into an opportunity to express yourself politically, or you can make it into an opportunity to express yourself spiritually. To say what I believe is the truth: that we are a people who believe that no person sinks so low and strays so far that they are not worth welcoming home when they come to their senses. This is the core message of our Bible; it speaks both to presidents and paupers-and all of us who lie somewhere in between those two extremes.

We are a million miles from the end of this tragedy in Washington, which will affect us and our children. But we have taken the first step in that journey this week. We have seen the worst news in the Starr report. And we have seen a tiny glimmer of hope in the words of a man who stood up and said "I have sinned," and then echoed the prayer we have been studying for the past three weeks (I hope you picked up on the connection): "Search me, O God, and know my thoughts. Try me and see if there be any wickedness in me and lead me in the life everlasting." What do Gail and I need from all of you? Understanding. In this statement I have tried hard to think of every conceivable question and concern that you would all have. But I know that I have left something dangling somewhere. I am not the wisest of people; only the Holy Spirit of God would make some of us adequate for this task. So we need prayer like you have never offered it before. And we need a modicum of respect and Christian love, even if a few of you are terribly upset with me that I have chosen to accept this responsibility.

(As I said in my note from Ed) Last month things were pretty bad financially around here and I sent a letter out to a number of our faithful supporters telling them of the difficulties we were having. We needed urgent help!So many responded with prayers, gifts and words of encouragement that we were literally put back in business, bills caught up, our spirits lifted up and our sleeves rolled up for the start of fall.A number of notes/letters were so great I thought I’d print a few. Carol, my wife, asked me to be sure to print Gina’s letter. She said that this was one person who understood what we have been living through for over 20 years. Don’t get me wrong. I delight in what the Lord has done in our lives over these years (in good times and hard times) and rejoice daily at the souls saved, lives and families restored in that eternal kingdom Gina speaks about. Rejoice with us in the sweet simplicity of the real gospel.

Dear Ed Decker and precious wife Carol,

I was so saddened to read through your most recent letter from Saints Alive. Both of you and your children have for years greatly sacrificed for our beloved Jesus Christ so that His Spirit of Truth could be released to set the prisoners free out of such terrible deception and darkness.Your greatest sacrifice was your willingness to be the "trail blazers" in the early years to begin exposing the lies over both Masonry and Mormonism. That important initial work was done at great cost, with most Christians not even understanding the depth of attacks from Satan and his demonic world that were sent as you entered into the beginning steps of Saints Alive.But it was your willingness to continue pressing forward into that battle, that allowed the present day exposure of Truth, when for years so much had still been in secrecy and hiding. There are so many like myself who could not have been set free without the information and resources that are now available. We would still be in complete darkness and even possibly not part of our Lord’s eternal kingdom.Your family endured extreme (and continues to endure!) sacrifices to always bring Light into the darkness so that precious souls could be saved. I come as just one of thousands and thousands who say thank you for your willingness to stay in the fires of affliction so that the veils of secrecy could be destroyed over our families and we could finally experience a wonderful blessing of being "setting free!" Without your faithful work that could never have happened, because as you well know the battles in this area of ministry are so difficult and intense and fierce because Satan fights hard to keep the secrets hidden.I am so saddened that you continue to be under such intense attacks. I can understand because as I battled to become free and also battling for our sonsbut esp. the firstborn that seemed to get the fiercest release of the generational sins being passed down the attacks have been non-stop for years.I have also shared your helpful information for years with many, many people and am also helping some other counselors work with people that are troubled because of Masonry in their background. All of these are very difficult battles to help those dear people break out of the bondage and strongholds. I am convinced because of the strong curses that are attached to anyone that exposes the "secrets’, that whenever someone such as your ministry begins to share what is hidden, Satan seems to release an extra assault of attack.I am again very grateful for your continued sacrifices and will continue to pray that God will in His mercy increase your prayer support and covering and that He will also begin to release a new anointing of His Phil : 4 "supplying all of your needs" over you, your family and ministry.All that you do is so important and must not stop, there are still so many that the Lord wants to touch through your work.

Dr. Walter Martin was not only one of the greatest Christian Apologists

for this age, but he was my personal friend and encourager.

His homegoing was a great loss to his family, the church,

and to his many friends like me.

dedicated to the continuation of Walter’s unique and valuable ministry.

Kevin Rische (rich-ee) received his B.A. in Organizational Behavior from Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota. He is currently finishing his M.A. in Christian Thought (Apologetics and Logic) under the direction of Dr. David Clark at Bethel Theological Seminary, St. Paul.

Jill Martin Rische is Dr. Walter Martin’s eldest daughter. She received her B.A. in Biblical Literature with an emphasis on the Old Testament and the Hebrew Language, from Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma. She will be starting work on her M.A. in Theological Studies at Bethel Seminary in the Fall, 1998. For additional information on the Religious Information Network

A new organization rises up and speaks out about polygamy in Utah. Tapestry of Polygamy (also known as T.O.P.) is a network of women, who are former polygamous wives. The T.O.P. network offers support and assistance to women who are struggling within polygamy and trying to leave. Appropriately named, it is a metaphor for the complex interweaving of women and children’s lives inside and outside of polygamy.

Although estimates vary widely, insiders claim there are more than 60 thousand practicing polygamists extending from Canada to Mexico, including seven western states of America. These estimates may be conservative, since most polygamist families live in secrecy and don’t admit to outsiders they are participating in the lifestyle. Often polygamist are eccentric, insular and often radical, however, many other polygamists blend unnoticed into American society.

T.O.P. has an office in Salt Lake City, Utah and with a network of professional providers offers a variety of vital services to impoverished women and children in transition. The services will include counseling, workshops, therapy, educational materials, legal services, assistance with employment and housing, healthcare, transportation

Have you ever let Jesus show you a new kind of love? Have you ever let Him show you that He can touch the inner part of your soul and you can end up being more of the person He has in mind for you?

As I sat praying a couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that I had never let Him touch the very core of my heart. I thought I had. I thought that by asking Him into my life that I had taken care of that. The night I prayed to Him to change me I began realizing that there was so much more to His love that I hadn’t even thought of at that point.

When the Bible tells us that the Lord is our strength, it means just that. I think that the greatest thing we can do for the Lord is to let Him show us what He wants to do with our lives. Being able to understand His Word and apply it to our everyday lives makes us holy, and our praises an acceptable sacrifice to Him. It’s only in His strength that we are able to do this.

One of the most remarkable events that He has performed in me since I accepted Him into my life has been the transformation of my mind. My understanding of the English language has changed dramatically. Words have a deeper impact on me. I started studying the real history of the Mormon church and tried to understand where they came up with the meanings of some of the words they use.

I found an interesting quote by Brigham Young that pinpoints the beginning of the changes. He said, "I hope to see the time when we shall have a reformation in the orthography of the English language, among this people, for it is greatly needed". Journal of Discourse 12:174.

While the church was already changing the meanings of words by this time, I believe this type of behavior was a means of solidifying the plan they had for these people. Not being able to decipher the correct interpretation of words prevents us from feeling the emotions that go hand in hand with the words.

I begged God that night to help me understand what true love really is, where could it fit in my life? I surrendered everything at that moment to Him. I knew I could trust in His strength to show me more of His way and what He had in store for my life.

My grief for the Mormon people runs deeper than before but now there is another grief. The grief I feel now is for my Lord as well. Their words about Jesus shock me. They have short changed God and His awesomeness.

They have put Him in the proverbial box where they think they can control Him and have brought Him down to their earthly ways. By thinking that Jesus was sexually conceived by ‘Elohim’ and not by the power of the Holy Spirit is beyond belief. (JOD 1:51). That’s not the kind of God that I choose to worship.

There is another God that has called my name. He’s the God of the Bible. His name is; ‘…Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace’. Isaiah 9:6.

I encourage you to do word studies. Here’s a word you can start with this month. Elohim, it actually has two meanings. I’ll even give you a head start!

Elohim: The fullness or the deity of God. The other meaning of Elohim is heathen god(s). For my dear Mormon friends; which Elohim are you worshipping?

The journey to His kingdom is incredibly peaceful and full of love.

You’ll never yearn again.

The Lord is doing such a great work in Utah

among some of the Christian Churches.

Here is a list of churches inside of Utah that would like to be prayed for.

Roosevelt Christian Assembly

When I became a Christian I decided to find more about the Masonic lodge. I was a member for 18 years and held every position in the lodge including Worshipful Master six times, a 32* member of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and a Shriner. I loved my lodge and had many good friends who were fine upstanding members of the community. Being a Mason I had friends all over the world. If I saw a Masonic ring all I had to do is say the right words and I had an instant friend who would go out of his way to help me.

Hey! My grandfather, father, father-in-law, and brother are all Masons. I remember as a child, wishing I could be a Mason and know all of the dark secrets that dad couldn’t tell me about. I also had an elderly friend about 92 years old when he told me that before he died he wanted to see me become a Mason.

When I first heard that the Masonic Lodge was not consistent with the Christian belief my reaction was, "I don’t believe it!". I’ve always believed in Jesus Christ and didn’t see anything wrong with what we were doing. I knew all of the rituals of the Blue Lodge and everything was just "play-acting" when we did them. So, I decided to look into this and show Christians how good of an organization Masonry is. It took almost a year of studying, researching and prayer to come up with my decision. Deep inside I knew what I had to do for my Heavenly Father and Savior. The decision was easy but telling my friends and family that I could no longer be part of the Masonic organization was a very difficult task.

In the Blue Lodge, which is the foundation and requirement for all divisions pertaining to Masonry, any man, except an Atheist, madman, or a fool, may become a member. The rituals continually refer to the Supreme Architect of the Universe or God. The problem is that this God could be Buddha, Ra, Molech, Baal, or Satan himself. In Exodus 20:3&5 God says: "You shall have no other gods before me." "For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." As the candidate goes through the degrees he is informed that he is not yet in light.

In Ephesians 5: 6-12, Paul writes: " Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. For you were formerly in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth) trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret."

In each degree the candidate must take an oath swearing that if he, or any other brother, reveals any of the secrets of that or any other degree, they will be executed in a brutal fashion. In Matthew 5: 34-37, Jesus says: "But I say unto you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, ‘yes, yes’ or "no, no"; and anything beyond these is of evil."

Also, Paul says in l Corinthians, 3:16-17: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are."

After receiving the first three degrees of Masonry, the Mason is now eligible to enter into the York Rite and or the Scottish Rite. In the Royal Arch degree of the York Rite, the Companion Captain of the Host is asked if he is a Royal Arch Mason and he replies "I am, that I am.". Moses, in Exodus 3:13, asked God what name he should give to the people of Israel when they asked what the name of this god is that he brings to them. God replied: "I am that I am."

Also in the York Rite ritual, in the raising of the Royal Arch three men join hands in such a manner to form a bungle, then the first person says Yah, the second, Bell, and the third, On-Yah stands for Yahweh which is another of the many names of our God the father of Jesus Christ, Bel, is the name of Baal, a pagan deity. And On or Om, the name of an Egyptian deity.

Also, In the Scottish Rite, one of the officer’s title is Rabboni which is a name given to Jesus by Mary Magdalene found in John 20:16. The using of his name and combining it with other gods or pagan deities would seem to make any Christian understand that this would certainly be blasphemous. Masonry also tells the candidate in the third degree lecture that he will enter into the kingdom of God by his own merits.

In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul says: "For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." I once counseled a friend through all three degrees of the Blue Lodge. I was excited when he came up to me and told me that he was no longer a Mason, but was saved. He told me when he became a Mason he thought that he was automatically going to heaven because of all the information that was given in the three degrees.

In conclusion, I called the Grand Lodge of Ohio and asked if I could talk about Jesus Christ in lodge and if we could end our prayers in Jesus’ name. Their answer was a definite no because not only Christians are Masons, but so are Jews, Moslems, Hindus and etc. I encourage anyone who is a Mason, to look into these facts and compare them with the Word that God gave us.

The Masons do a lot of good things for the community and encourage brotherly love just as Christians should.. Many Masons don’t take the oaths seriously and don’t even remember the rituals that they went through. But, as a Christian and the facts that have been presented, being a part of Masonry should be out of the question. I thank you for your time and attention and hope that this has helped you in your understanding of Masonry and its conflict with Christianity.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like any further information.