NOVEMBER-DECEMBER NEWSLETTER 1995
A Note from Ed Decker
I hasten to prepare this newsletter, so that it can reach you before the Christmas bulk mail shutoff. Seems odd to be thinking about Christmas when it isn't even Thanksgiving.
My trip to the Philippines was an exciting time of both ministry and spiritual refreshing. I spoke at several Pastors' conferences and held meetings, seminars and ministered in churches in both the Manila and Baquio areas. I also taught a week long apologetics class at The Asian Pacific Theological Seminary, APTS where students from many of the Asian/ Pacific Rim countries are studying for ministry.
It was such a joy to be able to hand a copy of the book, Fast facts On False Teachings, to each pastor, worker and student. A book of that type would cost most of these people a week or two of income. Materials we take for granted are treasures to so many of them. Pastors and students would often thank me, tears in their eyes, so grateful for that gift.
A number of pastors I met recalled that they were students at schools where I had taught on earlier trips, now ordained and serving in their callings.
During my stay at APTS, I also had the privilege of going on a Medical Outreach to one of the the nearby mountain area churches. What a truly blessed ministry that is! What a need! So many people would come, for the Doctors were able to distribute the medicines needed without cost. The many terrible illnesses we saw like blindness, that could be prevented with just simple things like vitamins. But, like everything else, there isn't money for Doctors and medicines.
If you could have only seen the tears of gratitude in a young mother's eyes for the gift of a single bottle of vitamins and a little plastic bag of pills for her sick child,your heart would break, just as mine did.
Those dedicated Filipino pastors serving in those areas of of poverty and need must be Angels sent from heaven. In the little hillside church we visited, with only a large blue plastic tarp for a roof, the worship had a purity about it that made my heart weep.
When the offering time came, I saw that we visitors, the missionaries, the doctors and nurses, both Filipino and American reached deeply into wallets to bless this little church with gifts of equal sacrifice to the small coins given by the people of that village.
On behalf of those people and the many Christian workers I was able to train and equip in the areas of the cults, I want to thank you who made the trip possible through your finacial gifts and your many prayers.
I had excellent health during the entire trip andeven survived in a major typhoon that left over 1,000 dead, 250,000 homes destroyed and 20 million people left without electricity for an extended period of time. Throughout all that devastation, the Christians in the Philippines stand strong for Christ, battling for the souls of the lost.
Can we ever do less?? I pray, NO! never!
Christmas 1995
"And the Angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2: 10-11
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Remember Jesus Christ is the reason for the season May the joy of Christ's birth be with you and yours during this blessed holiday season
Every step of Masonry has its ritual initatation, the mildest, of course being at the Blue Lodge level. Even this is bizzare, to say the least. In order to join the Lodge, each Mason must first be initiated through an initiation ceremony. This initiation ceremony in which over six million men have participated, is similar throughout the world.
The typical ceremony begins with the initiate being first divested of his jacket and his tie and any money or metal articles he has. His left trouser leg is then rolled up over the knee, his shirt is opened to expose his left breast and his right shoe is removed and replaced by a slipper. Then the person who is to be initiated will have a blindfold put on him and then a noose will be put around his neck. This is called a “Cable Tow” The blindfolded initiate (They call this being “hoodwinked”) is brought, with the noose around his neck, to the outer door of the Lodge.
The candidate, thus attired, is said to be in darkness, an allegory of Masonry that signifies that everyone outside of Masonry is in darkness and only Masons have the true light of the world. Only they have the true knowledge that will bring light to the world.
And so, the new Mason is brought to the outer door, seeking the light of the lodge, and there the Doorkeeper, or Tiler, will put a sword or a sharp point to his breast and lead him into the lodge room where an altar sits in its center.
The lodge members await the candidate in the darkness that surrounds the altar, which is lit from a single light above. Behind the altar stands a man called “The Worshipful Master.” He is the master of the lodge and presides over the initiation.
When the initiate is brought before him, he bows before “The Worshipful Master” and he says something like this, “I am lost in darkness,and I need the light of Freemasonry, I am seeking the light of Freemasonry.” He is then told he is entering into a secret organization and that he must keep the secrets he is going to be taught.
At this time, he is required to take a blood initiation oath; every Mason who joins the Lodge takes his thumb or his hand to his throat and he then repeats an oath that has been repeated by every Mason who has joined the Lodge.
In the Entered Apprentice or first level of the Blue Lodge, it includes the following words: “Binding myself under no less a penalty than having my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by its roots, and buried in the rough sands of the sea..”
When the new Mason goes into the second, or the Fellowcraft Degree of Masonry, the oath includes the following words: “Binding myself under no less a penalty than that of having my left breast torn open, my heart plucked out and given as prey to the wild beasts of the fields and the fowls of the air...” Then in the third degree, or the Master Mason’s Degree, every Mason must swear an oath including the following: “Binding myself under no less a penalty than that of having my body severed in twain, my bowels taken from thence, and burned in ashes...”
Masons state that there is nothing wrong in being a Christian and also being a Mason. And, when they are exposed to some of the anti-Christian secrets of Masonry, they say, “Well..those are in the high degrees. We don’t know about those things. I’m just in The Blue Lodge.” We are sorry, but that is just not true.
The Blue Lodge Mason who also claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ,has to ask himself some basic questions. First of all, “How can I put a blindfold on, come before a man I call The Worshipful Master”, say I am lost in darkness and need the light of Freemasonry?”
The Bible brings us a very different message about light and darkness, one that brings with it the hope of joy: And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.(1 John 1:4 - 7)
How can a Christian Mason say he is lost in darkness and seeks to join the Lodge, because he needs the light of Freemasonry? The Bible says if you are a Christian and say you are in darkness, you are living a lie, and the truth is not in you. Because, if Christ lives in your life, you have The Light.
The second thing The Christian Mason must ask himself is this: “If you are going to join the Lodge, is how can you come before a man called The Worshipful Master, and bow before him in a religious ceremony (remember the altar in the center, with the single light from above shining down on it) and say you are lost in darkness? “
Jesus said “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:24)
Jesus says that we cannot serve two masters. You can’t be a follower of Christ and then bow before a man you accept as your Worshipful Master. The mammon Christ warned about fits right in the lodge. What is it if it isn’t the prestige,wealth, power and position among men promised by lodge membership?
Third, how can a Christian take a pagan blood oath? How can a man who is a follower of Jesus Christ swear he accepts as a penalty , to have his throat cut from ear to ear, his bowels ripped open, given to the beasts in the field?
Most Masons respond to this by saying that the oaths are just kind of spooky/College Fraternity type stuff that mean little or nothing. What foolishness! It means something to Jesus Christ. This is what he said in the matter. The Mason would do well to take strong heed: Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. (Matt. 5:33 - 37)
Take note that Jesus clearly describes the Masonic oaths and clearly states that these cometh of evil. Not from fun, not from some kind of macho male bonding, but from evil. What would possess a man to stay bound by blood oath to this stuff, once exposed, except it come of evil?
This isn’t something that accidently found its way into scripture. In the fifth chapter of the book of James , it is repeated:
“But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. (James 5:12)
God’s Word says that the penalty for taking Masonic oaths is condemnation. God isn’t amused by this. He absolutely forbids taking these pagan blood oaths ofMasonry.
But what is it that must be kept so secret? Why is it that Masons are required to take these pagan blood oaths of secrecy not to reveal the secrets of Masonry even before they’re told what they are supposed to keep secret? Why must these men bow down in ignorance of the secrets to which they are being bound?
Why would a man who would never buy a car or a home or enter into a business agreement without first studying all the terms, kneel, blindfolded, in a lodge room with a noose around his neck, and swear obedience to things he has no understanding of? Crazy, isn’t it!
What could ever possess a sane man to do something like this?
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The Truth - Finally!
Every Mormon is encouraged to go to the Stake Patriarch to receive a personal Patriarchial Blessing, that prophetic, spiritual roadmap for every Mormon on the path to godhood. Here is one that finally (and accidently) told it "the way it is." Given in 1991 by LDS church patriarch, Ray E. Davis, it said in part,
"You will also have an opportunity to kneel at the altar in the holy temple of God across from the one that you have chosen for an eternal mate and there be seared for all time and eternity and thus form the basis for an eternal family."
The Goose and The Gander
For those who just read the article on the secret ceremonies of Freemasonry, you can now understand why Masons were so upset with me when I began to publicly share what I had done in the LDS temple rituals.
They both come from the same bolt of cloth. Everything I said on pages 2 and 3 about Freemasonry hold equally true for Mormonism. That is one of the key reasons that Mormonism and Mormons cannot be Christian. A hard truth, I am sorry to say, but truth all the same.
1.Every year, I set the last two weeks of December aside as a time of prayer, lifting up your prayer needs to the Lord. Praying regularly for you is part of my own, personal prayer life. Please, if you have a special prayer need, write it on the back of the return card or email to me at edecker@nwlink.com and send it to me today.
Where Have All The Mormons Gone?
One of the things that came up during my visit to the Philippines was the local interest in the many Mormon Church buildings now throughout the counrtry. Like other Pac/Rim nations, the Philippine LDS church structures are very Americanized, Larger, better looking than the competition.
However, one investigator visited a number of LDS churches in the Manila area during services and discovered something. Most of the churches were all but empty! In a sanctuary designed to hold several hundred people, most services were attended only by an average of 35 to 50 attendees. Where have all ther Mormons gone?
It's the same thing we have seen in other countries like Tonga, Samoa, Chile and Brazil. The Mormons may be baptizing new members with their strong, high pressure misionary program, but they are not staying. Based on the numbers of converts claimed and the number who attend, I'd guess the church is retainuing only 1 out of ten converts.
Even then, if what we hear is true, many of those who stay have a financial intertest in staying. For example, one LDS family in Manila was staying because the husband had been hired to work in the construction of another Church building. The family income had never been higher.
Another thing that the Filipino pastors shared with me was that the Mormons are not out ministering among the poor, but restrict their activities primarily to missionary work among the emerging Filipino Middle Class and the wealthy Upper Class areas.
Seattle! Tune in to Ed 's weekly radio program
I am now doing a weekly one hour teaching and call in program on KCIS, (630 AM Dial) a Seattle Christian station. If you are in the Seattle area, listen for me afternoons each Monday, from 3:00 to 4:00. I am working with KCIS host, Eric Kirchner, working on the format of my book, Fast facts On False Teachings..
This is a repeat of an article in our last UPDATE Report.
We have real computer problems. Our PC is a pre-286 2 slot large floppy system with no HD and must be replaced. Our Macintosh IIsi system, the one we do all the writing and publishing on, was once the top of the line. Now it is gasping along, trying its best to keep up with the workload. I am growing desperate.You who are computer types will understand our frustration and may know what what I am talking about from here on.
We need the following items to keep the Macintosh system going. I mention them individually because someone out there may have one or more of the items available or can get one for a price we can't even touch.
1) a scanner, 2) a CD -ROM drive 3) a new internal Hard Drive, the bigger the better [ our 80 meg is maxed out], 4) a laser printer or at least an ink-jet printer. 5) external, removable cartridge storage drive (SyQuest type, 200 mb size) and 6) an 8 mb SIMMS memory upgrade kit. 7) also, a newer PC.
Those items only total about $5,000. But, getting them out of our regular budget is as likely as flying to the moon. We can sure use some help.
Since the UPDATE report, We have been blessed with a laser printer, and internal 850 MB HD for the MAC and a newer 286 PC. Can you help us with any of the other items?
January 1997 update: We now have everything but the scanner and have switched the MAC systems for a brand new PC/windows 95 system. Still need a scanner for it, however. We are cleaning up our MAC II system and passing it on to another ministry.
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