First of all, because I have made it known that I am a Freemason and because I am using this site as a place where I can post my views about Freemasonry, I need to make it very clear that I do NOT speak for Freemasonry in any way and that the opinions expressed here are purely those of a deranged mind… Mine. I speak for myself and no one else; although, if you do want to follow me and support my views, please send me money and these views can be yours as well.

Now, on to my beef.

It has been a few weeks since my last post and since then President Obama’s “Health Care Plan” was passed. Now, this is not one of those “OH MY GOD! WE ARE ALL SOCIALISTS!!!” posts. As a matter of fact this is an anti-socialist-capitalist-democrat-republican-liberal-conservative, God Bless America post that is sure to piss someone off.

Now I also need to make it clear that I have NOT read the 900+ page book; which, incidentally is 900+ pages precisely for the purpose of keeping the normal citizen from reading it and expressing their opinions. Anyway, this post is not, necessarily, about the “Health Care Plan” as much as it is about the way our Government is ran, so I don’t need to take the week off from work to read a book that most of our law-makers never bothered to read either.

To create a law that forces its’ citizens to purchase a widget for a private industry or face fines and imprisonment is and should be unconstitutional and illegal! We The People would be revolting in the streets, burning torches and drafting Declarations Of Independence if this happened in the 1700’s. No taxation without representation is all it took the first time. Hell, I bet if this happened when our fore-fathers were alive they would have burnt Washington DC to the ground and started all over.

In this country our government creates laws, such as children must wear helmets while riding bikes or go to jail. You must wear a seatbelt when driving your car and wear life vests while boating or go to jail. No smoking in public places or no smoking 20-feet from an entrance to a public place or it’s off to the dungeons with ye! You must shovel the snow and ice from your sidewalks, any child under 5-foot must be in a specially designed child-restraint seat or it’s “Off with his head”!

Sure smoking is bad for your health and an all around icky thing to do and having your kids wear a bike helmet saves them from injury. If you don’t shovel your sidewalks someone might slip and injure themselves. Seatbelts and child car-seats are proven to reduce injuries in a car wreck as well as save lives. Notice a theme here?

First of all President Obama doesn’t give a damn whether I live or die. As a matter of fact, I bet ya, he won’t even show up at my funeral. Hell, he won’t even know I am gone. There is not one single politician or law-maker who truly gives two shits about my personal well-being. So why are they creating laws that protect me from injury? Simple, because someone pays them a boat-load of cash to pretend they are acting for our best interest when in actuality they are designed to save the insurance companies money.

They [the insurance companies] pay people millions of dollars to “persuade” law-makers to pass laws that protect their [the insurance companies] bottom line and save them billions on health related claims. Come to think about it maybe it is not the insurance companies that I have been mad at all these years, maybe its just smart business. Pay out millions to save billions. Capitalism at its finest! Perhaps, instead, it’s the greedy bastards creating the laws who are to blame.

For instance, say I owned a factory that made sweatbands and I wanted to find a way to sell more of those sweatbands. I figured out a way to prove that my sweatbands could save someone life and promised my local law-maker a nice steak dinner once a week if he would force anyone who jogged in the city to buy and wear my sweatbands. Next thing you know it is now law that if you jogged in the city you had to buy sweatbands.

Who is at fault? Was it the business owner for finding a way to sell more sweatbands? I don’t think so. He had the money to pay-off the greedy law-maker who, in turn, created an absurd law, forcing joggers to pay this business owner to jog in the city. Thats just smart business if you ask me. As for the crooked politician, now that’s a different story. Personally I think he should be publicly hung, his body burnt and his ashes dumped out on the floor of a road side rest area’s shit house.

Now I know that a law-maker forcing joggers to wear sweatbands may seem to be a little far fetched but in actuality its not so far off, as a matter of fact its pretty tame compared to what is actually happening. To be a free citizen of this country you must pay a private industry cash every month for a piece of paper to drive a car or get a loan from a bank for a home for your family.

Congratulations must go out to the insurance companies, now if you want to drive a car or own a home you gotta buy their sweatbands. Best of all, their [insurance companies] sweatbands are specifically designed to fall apart ever y30 days so you have to buy a new one every month…

But wait…

These laws only effect people who own homes and/or drive cars. What about all those millions of potential customers out there that don’t own homes or drive cars?

The simple solution would be to run the health care costs so sky high that no one can afford it and offer a service that would help them [the people] pay the bill. Next you offer a steak dinner to any law-maker who votes “yes” on a law that would force ANYONE who wants to be a citizen of the United States of America to buy sweatbands or face imprisonment! They could even all it “Health Care Reform” and show pictures of the poor people, who can’t afford sweatbands, dieing in the streets because they can afford proper health care.

Ladies and Gentlemen this is not Socialized Medicine. This is Capitalized Medicine American style. If it was truly socialized medicine there would be no need for health insurance companies. Health care would be free to everyone, rich or poor. Well, free as in paid for by the taxes you pay of course. But that is money that is paid straight to the government just as it is for our police and fire protection.

I work for a small business owner, installing home security systems. There are two employees of this company, me (the technician) and the owner (salesman, secretary, office manager) I don’t have health insurance and “the company” can not afford to offer me insurance. From my understanding, in this case, because the company is so small, I will be forced to purchase my own health insurance or face imprisonment (I use the word imprisonment because after I refuse to pay fines they will imprison me).

Okay, so the cost will be lowered to be “affordable”.

I make $8.50 and hour, which is respectable here in Nowhere, Ohio, and at 40 hours per week I make around $1190 per month. Now take away $400 for rent, $20 in water, $100 for electric, $400 for food (for myself, three growing boys and wife) and $280 in gas All that totals $1200 per month just in the need-to-haves and I am already 10 bucks in the hole a month. If this new insurance plan is going to be affordable they [the insurance companies] are gonna have to pay ME for their sweatbands!

I hear ya, find a new job! Well some one has to work for this guy or he will go out of business. Just because he doesn’t have the advertising money that ADT or Brinks has, doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have the right to operate a business. Or, maybe it does. We are Capitalists after and the point of Capitalism is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Inflict the poor with laws that force them to pay even more to be a citizen of this great country and, if they are too poor, lock them away in a dark dungeon someplace where the rich won’t have to look at them.

What our government is doing to it’s citizens is, and should, be illegal and unconstitutional and we need another Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin to stand up once again and burn DC to the ground. But, that will never happen. There is simply too much money floating around the politicians and the people we are forced to elect are all greedy bastards that know how to play the game.

Want to be rich in this country and not like working for your money? Become a politician and get it handed to you to pass laws that don’t effect you anyway. “Lets see I make a gazillion dollars a week and pay out a few million a month… Hell Ya! Whats a measly 100 bucks a month? Thats chump change to me everyone should be able to afford that.”

The only job requirements are the ability to speak in a crowd, dress nice and have absolutely no empathy for your fellow man. Oh yea, the most important quality is a love for money.

Would someone mind sending me the lyrics to the Canadian Anthem? It’s for damned sure that Obama, or any other politician for that matter, would even know I was gone. Well, until tax time anyway. Actually I’m poor and get a refund so they may just pay to move me so they don’t have to look at me or pay my food while I live in their dungeons.

President Obama… You should be ashamed of yourself!

Oh, I can hear it now. The law-makers puffing out their chests and proclaiming all that is good about this plan. The fact that you can not be turned down because of a preexisting condition is a great thing. Then proceed to tell hard luck stories of people who lost their sweatbands, and because they were high risk to lose it again were not allowed to purchase them anymore. Because of this they were not allowed to jog and thus ended up dieing of heart disease.

Sure, the preexisting thing is a great idea. How else could the insurance companies get the entire population to buy their widgets? Of course they had to bend a little and were happy to do it. Spend a million to make a gazillion. And how else could the law-makers convince the people that it’s a good thing? By polishing up a terd and presenting it as a fine jewel. All for a nice steak dinner.

The first time the Insurance Police come knocking on my door wanting their money is the day I pack up the kids and head to The Great White North. Perhaps by then the Canadian people and supporters will have developed an underground railroad to help those, who wish to be truly free, gain safe passage out of the promise land.

Oh now there is a word. Free! Freedom! Our government claims that we are the freest country in the world. After all I have the right to say what I feel and it is because of the freedom that our government affords to us that gives me the right to do so.

Lets think for a moment what freedom means.

1. Okay, so I have the right to worship what and where I choose: As long as it doesn’t offend someone else, it’s the proper Christian God and the proper taxes are paid to the proper people.
2. I have the right to say what I feel: As long as someone doesn’t feel that it could be considered a national security issue. Hell, even our private phone conversations are being recorded to used as evidence against us.
3. I have the right to bare arms: Which is so damned vague that no one really knows what it means. It could meant that I have the right to own, carry and shoot any firearm that I choose. Or, it could simple mean that I am allowed to wear short sleeve shirts in public.
4. I have the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: God only knows what that means but it sure sounds good. I think though it means that as long as I pay the man I have the right to be happy. I sure as hell wont be very happy living in a dungeon because I couldn’t buy health insurance.

Many Americans have died protecting these rights for me and for that I should be grateful. Honestly however, there is only one group of Americans that actually died protecting those rights. Those are the brave men and women who gave up everything they owned during the American Revolution. After that our military men and women were sent off to foreign lands to impose our way of life on other people. Personally I care as much for how some dictator treats his people as The President of the United States care about my personal well-being.

If they are being treated so bad, why don’t they stand up and do something about it? We didn’t like England telling us what to do and charging us unfair taxes, so we stopped and did something about it. It’s not like they were committing genocide on us or anything. We just didn’t like the taxes, revolted and got rid of England’s rule and for Christ’s sake we were out numbered a hundred to one!

However I truly thank God for those men and women who serve our country to protect and defend our rights. I just despise the war pigs who send them [our children] off to fight in the name of the almighty dollar.

Got a genocide problem? Got Oil? Here I come to save the day!

Got a genocide problem? Oh, you’re poor… Ummm. All lines are busy at the moment.

Well I better stop now before I really piss someone off and make the National Security Watch List.

So I will just finish by saying…

But… I’m just a man and I could be wrong.

Until next time…

-SF

PS. If you are a politician and truly care about my well being please feel free in sending me money so show me how much. Remember, the more you give the more you care. Donation links are on the right.

There are many theories and hypothesizes surrounding the famous Mayan calendar and it’s abrupt end. Are we going to see a catastrophic pole-shift? Will our Sun just blink one last time and go out forever? Will a massive asteroid smash into the earth? Is this the date that the clouds will part and the heavenly hosts descend to wage the final Judgment? Or, will it just be another day that will come and go like all the other scares just like Y2K and others?

One thing is for sure, it is going to be a day of mass burials for all those that flipped out and committed suicide the day before. We have seen this throughout the years when a voice, especially of religion, proclaims that the world will end on this certain date. He either gathers a group of people for a mass suicide or they all gather on a high roof, to await the “mother ship” and, when it doesn’t show, jump to their deaths because they felt left behind.

One of the more popular views is that our sun is going to finally die, sending us into perpetual darkness, spinning our planet out into space on a journey that will only end with us smashing into another celestial object, get eaten whole by a sub-microscopic… sub-atomic… a really itsy-bitsy chunk of dark matter or falling into a black hole, which could send us back in time so we cold live this all over again.

This theory is truly a catastrophic event that could possibly happen, our Sun is rather old after all. However, it is made up of burning gases and other stuff, and for it to just blink out seems to be a stretch. Unless of course, the Landlord rejects our lease and has a really, really big fire-extinguisher. If our Sun was to burn out, I think it would take a few years to finally burn itself out of fuel. The other issue would be that it will go Super Nova, which in that case, would give us enough time to say, “Holy Sh–” and then it would be all over with. No pain, no regrets, just lights-out and we walk through the bright tunnel to meet Grandma.

The polar shift theory is interesting if only for us in the cold that will be laughing our rear ends off at all those poor souls, freezing in the Caribbean and wanting to go to Maine for their tropical waters and warm climate. Although, this event would cause massive earth quakes, flooding, major weather events and volcanoes, this is hardly an all-encompassing life ending event. This is no reason to kill yourself though, just start buying property in North Dakota and get ready to build tropical resorts.

Asteroids are always something to worry about. I mean, at any time some dude looking in a telescope, could notice that the pin-prick hole he has been starring at for the last hour seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Turns out that we only have 24 hours to live, which, in that case would be a good time to live out your fantasies, wish your family good luck in the after-life and wait for the fireworks.

Another theory is that all the Planets will align and the resulting energies will tear the universe in half instantly. This theory does hold some weight because this celestial event is scheduled to happen December 21, 2012. Although, the last time all the planets aligned a few years ago (the Sun wasn’t aligned then) people claimed that the end would follow and the “mother ship” was going to come to take them away. But then, nothing happened and we all laughed at the notion, just as we did for Y2K.

What about biblical prophecies? Could this be the day of final reckoning, when the Lord of Lords returns to take his children to the New Jerusalem? Well, unless Jesus meant to leave out the Mayans when he said: “… and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” -(Revelation of John 3:3, KJV), which I doubt. It would have made it a lot easier if he said; “no one will know, except for the Mayans, when I will return.”

One of the least talked about ideas is that Yellowstone, which is after-all, a super-volcano, will erupt. I like this theory because it has blown up every 600,000 years or so with the last eruption 640,000 years ago. It is defiantly due and when it does go it will result in many, many deaths; not only instantly but over a two or three year time period, throwing, at least, the North American continent into another Ice Age.

The other reason I like this theory is that, although they were incredibly smart, they still thought the world was flat, worshiped Gods for the things they didn’t understand and had no clue that people lived on the other side of the world. For them, Yellowstone erupting, would truly be a life changing event. Not only for them but for the entire world that they knew of.

Personally, I feel that the guy that wrote the Mayan Calendar, sat there in a dark, candlelit room, where he has been for the last month and a half, drawing boxes and filling in numbers, finally looked up in the gloom and, noticed his fire had long ago gone out. Getting up he suddenly felt the pain in his back and legs and, with his eyes burning from the strain peered back to his writing-table and the calendar which he has spent so much time on decided, screw it! I’m done! If they want it to go any further they can do it themselves!

When the scribe brought his work to the king, he was given his proper acclaims and awarded a place with the Gods. Then after he left the King looked at his new calendar, looked at his closest advisor then looked back at the massive calendar and started laughing uncontrollably!

“Dude! All I wanted was a stinking date book to keep track of the beheading schedule!”

I fully believe that there is nothing to fear and, like everything else, the calendar had to end sometime. So before you go and end your life early as to not live through the horror of watching the world end, stick around and at least watch the planets align. You will never get the chance to see this again, one way or the other.

Now, if you are of Mayan descent and are offended by me making light of your ancient culture, please don’t go nuts and post this site on the Mayan National Security Watch List. I will say I am sorry now and follow with…

But, this is just my theory.

I am a man after all… I could be wrong.

Till next time…

SF

I have read another book about religion and Freemasonry, this one is a bit more peculiar. It is called The Hidden Life In Freemasonry and was written by C.W. Leadbeater in 1926. I know my last post claimed to be the last dealing with religion but this work is worthy of discussion.

C.W. Leadbeater is a 33rd degree Master Mason of the European Lodge and claims that he is reincarnated, with his earliest remembered life in Ancient Egypt as he claims in the second paragraph; “The only one of those previous lives of mine with which we are here concerned was lived some four thousand years before Christ in the country which we now call Egypt.”

From this book I learned that possibly, to some extent, Masons believe in reincarnation. Whether this is a universal or secret belief is something that I need to explore a bit more, however, there is a picture hanging in my Lodge of a man that no one in the lodge, including our District Education Officer, could name.

It is a rather large, very old portrait in an ornate frame that is sitting by itself in the north east corner and is easily dismissed. What struck me first was how he was dressed and the large jewel around his neck. It was definitely of Masonic origin but much more adorned than most of the others I have seen in recent photos.

Leadbeater writes; “That the rituals and symbols should have been preserved to us with so wonderfully little alteration is surly a marvelous thing; it would be inexplicable but for the fact that the Great Powers behind evolution have taken an interest in the matter, and gradually brought people back to the true lines when they had swerved somewhat away from them.”

One “soul” which he mentions is the Master of the Wisdom or Comte de S. Germain which title he appeared under in the 18th century. Names that he mentioned appointed to this title started around the third century A.D. are; Albanus (or later known as S. Alban), Proclus, Roger Bacon, Christian Rosenkreutz, Hunyadi Jones, a monk named Robertus, Francis Bacon, Prince Jozsef Rakoczi, Pere Joseph and a Baron Hompesch (which the author met and had a long conversation with in 1901).

Leadbeater goes on to say; “In Co-Masonry we refer to Him as the Head of all True Freemasons throughout the world (abbreviated as the H.O.A.T.F.) and in some of our Lodges His portrait is placed in the east, above the chair of the R.W.M., and just beneath the Star of Initiation; others place it in the north, above an empty chair.”

Again, the portrait in my Lodge sits above an empty chair in the NE corner. I have searched all the names in Google Image Search and Bing’s Image Search and none of the images I found match however, the portrait of Prince Rakoczi does have some of the same features. Regardless of the lack of Internet matches, I believe that this portrait is of the “Master of the Wisdom”.

If this portrait in question is truly that of the “Master of the Wisdom”, did the fore-fathers of my Lodge believe that this man was the reincarnated “soul” of Albanus, a man of a noble Roman family, born at the town of Verulam in England?

As we read further into this book he confirms one of the other arguments, against Freemasonry, by some of the Christian anti-mason groups. Leadbeater talks many times about God being in Man and of the Hindu belief that God is in Everything and Everything is in God. To be assured of salvation you must get in contact with the God within yourself.

I am having a hard time placing any stock in this authors opinions however. Many subjects are brought up but are dismissed because they are going to be or have already been discussed in other books that he wrote. This work seems to be a lot of “look how smart I am” and “buy my other books.”

It is an interesting read if only for the insight provided to the belief of reincarnation and life in Ancient Egypt. The ironic thing is, is that he claims that he was born in 4k B.C. and most, if not all, of our rituals originate from that era of which he participated. But yet some of our rituals were lost to time because of the lack of written instructions. If he lived in that time why doesn’t he just tell us how it is supposed to be, that way we could get it straight from the horses mouth?

Possibly, this concept is well over my head and the reason I don’t believe is because I don’t understand, but as a Mason it is not for me to say that he is right or wrong in his belief and to explore and accept the world around me. However, personally I place this idea in the same boat as time travel which, I believe, will never be possible simply for the fact that if it will exist it would have always have existed.

Five million years after we discover the secrets of time travel, someone would have gone back in time and stopped Hitler and it would have never happened. Someone would have gone back in time to be the first to discover time traveling to be eventually credited to the same cave-man that invented fire. The burning of the library at Alexandria would have been stopped or at least all the documents would have been saved and we would have known exactly how the ancient Egyptians built the Pyramids.

But, as always, I could be wrong (I am a man after-all) so I guess I will just keep reading and questioning.

Till next time…

SF

Inspection has finally come and gone and I have learned something very important about myself. No matter how well I think I have something memorized and how much time I spend practicing my part, there is a factor of stage-fright that tips the scales in the favor from looking and sounding like a confident, intelligent and competent member of society to a complete and utter fool.

When I was elected as JW, three months ago at the request of the WM (because no one else wanted it), I began learning my parts so that I may be of some sort of benefit to the Lodge and to be able to give new candidates the best experience possible when coming into the fraternity. It is an honor and a responsibility that I take very seriously, simply because I believe that if you are going to do something, do it to the best of your ability and always give 100%.

We had to meet at the Lodge by 5:00pm Saturday to get everything ready for inspection. However, I had promised my boys that I would take them out Saturday to the cat shelter and adopt a kitten for their first pet. During the winter months, the shelter runs on limited hours and is only opened from 4-5 on Saturday. Thinking, of course, that I would have plenty of time to get the cat (which by the way, is a beautiful, snow-white, blue eyed, five-month-old male named Frankie) and get back home in time to make it to the Lodge, go over my lines and calm my nerves.

Without stating the evident errors of my ways, I came to a skidding halt in front of the Lodge, promptly at 6:15, a full 15 minutes till inspections started. After cramming a couple chicken-legs down my throat and sucking down a few spoonfuls of mashed potatoes and gravy I headed into an already full Lodge room.

I am a huge football fan (GO BUCKEYES!) and, up until now, I’ve always thought that “icing the kicker” was the dumbest thing I had ever seen. That extra time on the field-of-play would do nothing but help the kicker focus on the task at hand and increase his chances on making the game winning field goal. I now see why I don’t coach football.

I have attended many of the inspections in Ohio’s 12th District and if there is one theme that all of them had in common, it is the fact that they never start on time. Our inspection was no different.

Everyone was just standing around shootin’ the shit, enjoying each others company and generally having an all-around good-time, that a 6:30 start time came and went and I was left sitting there or, better yet, “icing” there in my chair, going over lines in my head, over and over and over again until 7:15 or so when the gavel fell and inspections were finally underway.
I have been performing the full opening and closing in regular stated meetings for three months now and have not had any problems to speak of; well, except my first time when I forgot “in the west, W” and instead simply pointed and said, “ummmmm, over there!”.

Expecting this to be no different, I almost lost it when we opened in short form! Flying through the super-fast, mega-powerful computer database that is my brain, I realized that I had nothing to do as JW in short form. It threw me off just a bit but I was going to be okay. All I had to do was skip a few lines ahead and get ready for the break.

When the WM called for me to send everyone on break, I quickly rapped and and started saying my lines, feeling confident and calm. That is until I started to announce the closing of a Lode of MMs! Catching my mistake, I proceeded to call the Craft from R to L! I quickly corrected myself once again, called them from L to R. Then, for what seemed like forever, I finally remembered the JDs name to have him inform the T.

This was indeed going to be a long night.

After I forgot to ask the candidate if he was duly prepared and went straight to the next line, mind you, without ever realizing that I had done it, things started getting better. I started going over my lines of the lecture in my head. Denote, represented, originate, went over and over in my head until the lecturer finally knocked on my door and the only thing I could think of was denote, represented, originate and nothing else. Luckily all he needed to do was feed me the first word of each sentence and I knew the rest.

After I finally resigned to the fact that I missed the game winning field-goal, and that I was the weak link in this inspection, I got through through the closings just fine, accepted all the congratulatory remarks and shoulder pats with the ever popular “we have all been there” statements, I slunk outside to smoke a cigarette.

Everyone else did an excellent job and the first-time lecturer only needed prompting twice, maybe three times, and all in all we got a very good rating from our inspecting officer.

Going over the events from Saturday night, I have been trying to figure out exactly what I did wrong. I know I have a fear of speaking in public, but usually that just results in me speeding up my lines to try and get it done and over with. That night, I was forcing myself to slow down, speak so that everyone could hear me, pronounce my words correctly and intelligently and trying to relax myself and not think about anything but my lines.

I think, perhaps, I over-thought it and (where I should have just went with what I knew, relaxed and had fun with it) in an effort to be perfect, made a complete fool of myself in front of a bunch of men that I wanted so desperately to impress.
I have a MM degree to give on Wednesday. I know my lines and feel confident that I can give them without fail. This time however, I will not over-think it, arrive on time and just try to have fun. Besides, I left my book at the Lodge so even if I wanted to I couldn’t.

Oh yea, and for all those other inspections that I’ve attended and, sitting on my perch high atop of Mt. Climbupandfalloff, over-critiqued all the other nervous guys stumbling on words and needing prompting, wondering why they didn’t study their book better, I need to say I’m sorry. This isn’t as easy as I thought it would be, by a long shot. Their minor mistakes seemed to pale compared to the stellar display I gave.

Until next time…

SF

The more I read, about Freemasonry and religion, the more of the same patterns begin to appear in different texts from different time periods. Mainly, issues of the symbols and obligations are being shown as anti-Christian. Something else I have seen is that Christianity is the only mainstream religion that has a problem with Freemasonry. In this text I want to bring up some of the biblical quotes referenced to in these anti-masonic writings and discuss, what I believe, is the true meaning of the scripture. I also will try and turn the tables on common organizations, using biblical scripture, to prove their involvement in the occult and anti-Christian practices.

Freemasonry is a fraternity that is dedicated to make good men better through only accepting men that have not committed a felony and have faith in a supreme being and by using the tools of the Lodge, as analogies, as the proper way to live ones life.

Masons only accept a candidates that are free from felony, for the simple reason as to only accept good natured men. This proves to the lodge that he is aware of the laws of the land and that he holds those laws as true and just and will defend those laws at all costs. Masonry only accepts men that live by the laws placed upon them by the governing bodies of their home country, because if they can not live their life by following the rules of the Nation, they can not live by the laws of the Books of Sacred Law, placed upon them by God.

Faith plays a huge role in Masonry, mainly because; we believe that to truly be a good man, one needs to have faith in God. During the obligations, the candidate is asked to place his hand on the Book of Sacred Law and to make a pledge to his deity that he shall fulfill his duties to his Brothers, neighbors, community and country. What good is an oath given to a unbelieved in God with no regard for the writings in his book of laws? Freemasonry looks only for those they can trust in to better the fraternity and the community.

The symbols used in a Lodge of Freemasons are used to give the candidate a means by which they can visualize the way Masons are required to live life. Teaching us to be upright in all our dealings; to divide our time evenly with work, family and study; to treat all men with equality, regardless of their personal color, creed or nationality; and to life life in moderation, never overindulging in one aspect, such as in food or drink.

The Book of Sacred Law is simply the book that is placed upon the alter on which the obligation is given. This book is the book of which the candidate holds to be the true bible according to his personal religion, be it Jewish, Catholic, Buddhism, Christian, Muslim, or… well… thats all I can think of at this time, but the point is that if your religion has a sacred book, use it here. Again we are a fraternity of good men and we believe that good men exist all over the world, not just in places where Christianity lives.

Because of the requirement that one must believe in God (as to not offend our brothers of other faiths and keep our fraternity open to every good man we use the term “The Great Architect of the Universe” to mean God) to be a Mason, the Catholic Church deemed us a religion. In an attempt to spread the Church into more aspects of our lives, they demanded that we acknowledge the Catholic Church as the One true church. When the Grand Lodge refused the order, we were deemed an occultic religion, of worshiping other Gods and supporting idols. Christianity soon followed.

Today there are many anti-mason authors out there who are writing entertaining books, following their Christian beliefs, using quotes from esoteric Masonic authors, like Albert Pike, and spouting out biblical texts that proclaim Freemasonry worships Satan, has an anti-Christian agenda and killing any man who utters the name Jesus Christ.

While it is true that Masons do not allow the discussion of Jesus, it is also true that we do not allow talk of religion of any kind. In the same way that religion is not discussed in most business meetings or political assemblies. Masonic meetings need to take the different beliefs of its members into account and, in a way to avoid segregation, disallow any talk of religion. For this reason, Christians claim that this is how we are pushing Jesus out of our Lodge and have anti-Christian agendas.

I have already discussed worshiping Satan in an earlier post so I will not delve into this issue any further, however I will say that this is a huge issue and through twisting references and using biblical texts out of context, they make a very strong argument. So much so that, if I was not as hard-headed and decided to look up their quotes and read their references, I would have believed their claims and never became a Freemason.

Freemasonry is no more a religion than the government, for they are the ones who make up the laws of the land, judge its suspected criminals and condemn its convicted. Freemasonry is simply a way for good men to bond with other good men whom they can trust and respect without fearing persecution of personal religious beliefs, national origin or political agendas.

In his book Scarlet and the Beast the author talks about idol worshiping and biblical texts that tell us how God feels about such things:

The only symbols God forbade were those that were said to represent Him. In Deuteronomy 4:12, Moses reminds Israel that when the Lord spoke to them at Horeb, they:
“heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude [symbol]; only ye heard a voice.”
(Deuteronomy 4:12)
In 4:15-16 and following,
Moses explains the injunction against figures or images:

“Take ye, therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude [symbol] on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female…lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them….”

(Deuteronomy 4:15-16)

Symbols, figures, or images of God were of pagan origin and usage, leading to the worship of creation or even to the worship of demons in place of God. Therefore, God forbade His people of such practice.

I do not argue this point at all however this scripture has nothing to do with Freemasonries because we do not worship anything in the Lodge and the only symbols that are used in Masonic Lodges are tools of the trade and show us, through analogies, how to live our lives as a Freemason.

Now, however, I want to point out something else mentioned in the bible that many, if not all Christians have either forgotten about or choose to ignore. In Deuteronomy Chapter 22 verse 5 we learn how women are to dress.

The woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination to the LORD your God.

(Deuteronomy 22:5, AKJV)

There are many other parts of the scriptures in Deuteronomy that many choose to ignore such as…

You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together.

(Deuteronomy 22:10, AKJV)

You shall not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woolen and linen together.

(Deuteronomy 22:11, AKJV)

If any man take a wife, and go in to her, and hate her, And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name on her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: …

But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she has worked folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shall you put evil away from among you.

(Deuteronomy 22:13-14, 20-21, AKJV)

You must have a spade among your other equipment and when you relieve yourself outside you must dig a hole with the spade and then turn and cover your excrement.

(Deuteronomy 23:13, NETfree)

There must never be a sacred prostitute among the young women of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute among the young men of Israel. You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute or the wage of a male prostitute into the temple of the LORD your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the LORD your God.

(Deuteronomy 23:17-18, NETfree)

When you enter the vineyard of your neighbor you may eat as many grapes as you please, but you must not take away any in a container.

(Deuteronomy 23:24, NETfree)

You must not have in your bag different stone weights, a heavy and a light one. You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one. You must have an accurate and correct stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the LORD your God is about to give you. For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent to the LORD your God.

(Deuteronomy 25:13-16, NETfree)

So, as we see from the rest of the book of Deuteronomy, if a woman is not a virgin at the time of marriage we MUST stone her to death, you ARE allowed to consort with prostitutes, as long as you don’t bring them to church. You ARE allowed to steal your neighbors grapes as long as you don’t take any with you and, most importantly, you can NOT have separate measuring cups in your kitchen, and for God’s sake NEVER EVER plow your fields with a John Deere and a Ford at the same time!

I don’t mean to make light of biblical scripture but I am sick and tired of those holier-than-thou people who vomit out the words of God, picking and choosing what to put in and take out. If you claim to be a Christian and try and force everyone around you to to live by your book, then you too must live by those same words completely and fully – All women must wear dresses only or go to HELL!

Beside, I am not Jewish so the laws of the Old Testament do not apply to me, because in his sermon on the mountain in the book of Matthew, Jesus declares that Christians shall follow his new laws and not those of the Old Testament.

When I think about it, it is rather easy to show how any given organization has roots in the occult, satanism, or witchcraft. All it takes is a bit of imagination and the ability to jump to conclusions. For example on the Green Peace website they refer to God on over 60 separate pages but never once do they tell us WHAT God they are worshiping, but obviously, because of there close contact with nature, they have Wiccan affiliations. According to the Wiccan code, Principle #2 stresses the importance of care of the environment and was prepared over four decades ago.

It is obvious by the descriptions of the Knights Templar’s emblem of the cross, given by Albert Pike, that the Red Cross has adopted the same swastika design adopted by the Nazis of Hitler. So with this reasoning we can assume that anyone involved with the Red Cross are Jew hating, white supremacists and believe that genocide is the way to true world peace.

This is all complete hog-wash I know, but when these same arguments are posed about a secret society, such as the Freemasons, people whole-heartily believe it. We kill what we fear and we fear what we don’t understand. Ignorance is the breeding-ground for hatred and unfounded judgment, and we all know what Jesus says about judging…

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why behold you the mote that is in your brother’s eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you say to your brother, Let me pull out the mote out of your eye; and, behold, a beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of your own eye; and then shall you see clearly to cast out the mote out of your brother’s eye.

(Matthew 7:1-5, AKJV)

Well thats it for now and I think I am done with the religion / mason thing. Seems that people are only regurgitating irrelevant bible scriptures that do nothing but confirm that the conclusions and facts that they came up with, about Freemasonry, are indeed heretic and occultic in nature and prove Satan worshiping. However, the conclusions that they come up with are based on speculation and putting hidden meanings where none should be, and using Mason authors quotes out of context to make their point stand out more.

To prove my point, I want to show you how, using the anti-masonic societies techniques, I am a Satan worshiper.

From the text on this site I actually said that, in referring to my Masonic teachings… that we worship “Lucifer the Devil”!

The funny thing is that I can also show that the people who run Gospel.com loves Satan as well. Just go to their site and search for documents that say, I love Satan, and you will get over 1000 page hits.

Anyway, thats enough for now, I think next I will start looking into the allegations of the Masons plotting a New World Order under a One World Government. This might be a little harder to dispute for the simple fact that I am only a 3^rd degree MM.

Till next time…

SF

Being recently raised to a Master Mason of the 3^rd degree in Centerville Lodge #371 in the great state of Ohio, I have been trying to absorb all the Masonic information I can to better learn all that I can about this ancient fraternity. My goal is to become a better person by following the teachings of the Masonic Order, not only for the betterment of my personal life but also for the betterment of my family, through the fellowship some of the groups available through Masonic channels such as DeMolay and the Eastern Stars.

I had not heard much about Freemasonry till a few years ago when I was asked to run the sound system for a Mason dinner at the University of Rio Grande. I was intrigued by all the members they had and, living in a small community, I knew or had at least heard of most of the men in the room. Every last one of them, that I knew, where all good men and well respected in the community. Men for whom I trust, respect and generally enjoyed being around.

After the dinner was complete I inquired but joining and was promptly told what my next course of action should be and soon after I was raised to the 1^st degree to start my journey as a Freemason.

I am a Christian and belong to the Methodist church and I am also an educated man who never takes someone else’s word on anything without first researching all the facts. This holds true for politics, general life and religion. If the pastor says that according to this verse in the bible I should do this, the first thing I do is look it up for myself, figure it out and make up my own mind.

I get this trait from my mother who, in her younger years, was a Minister, Christian radio talk-show host, bible study moderator and all around good Christian. She was the one who taught me to believe in my faith and, if something doesn’t feel right, research the topic and make my own conclusions, to trust those conclusions and defend those conclusions at all costs. However, with this advice came a stern warning to always keep questioning my beliefs, never stop reading and never be afraid of saying that I am wrong and that my conclusions are always going to change when new information presents itself.

When I told my father about joining the Freemasons I asked him if we had any other family members that were also Freemasons. His reply was “no, we were all Christians.” This puzzled me a bit because I never thought or heard of Freemasonry as a religion and promptly went to work researching this claim.

Boy, did I ever open a can of worms!

Just do a simple search for the words freemasonry and religion and you will find no less than 842 gazillion results!

Picking the first few and quickly scanning the pages, I began to find references to some of the rituals that I had already taken part in and found some interesting claims from “past masons” explaining the symbolical meanings of those rituals and of the lodges “furniture”. Oddly enough I found that most of what I was reading had to do with the Masons being devil worshipers, terrorists and all around bad guys.

I found references to certain books that I quickly either bought or downloaded and began reading everything I could to gain enlightenment on this newest adventure of my life.

This blog is dedicated to my findings, good or bad, and will serve as a diary, if you will, to my travels as a Freemason.

YAY! only one week until I turn into a bubbling blob of bodily fluids in-front of a room full of masons!
I have never been the center of attention, as a matter of fact I have always avoided being the center of attention at all costs. I prefer to stay in the back and watch everyone else make a fool of them self.
Well, it seems that, for someone who likes to keep a low profile, telling the WM that you would like to get more involved in the Lodge, on the day of elections, isn’t such a hot idea.
When no one wanted to take the JW’s spot the WM looked at me and said “Now would be a good time to get involved!”
So, three months into being a MM, now I am the JW! Wasn’t much of a big deal until I found out that inspections were coming next week and I will be performing the FC degree to a packed house!
Public speaking is not my thing so I hope I will do OK and not have a brain fart and forget my own name…

till next time.

SF

Before I delve into Scarlet and the Beast I want to share some of my findings of one of the biggest problems some people have with Freemasonry. I speak of Lucifer, or more specifically the word or term “Lucifer”.

Albert Pike uses this term, in his book Morals and Dogma, a total of five times in two different chapters. In chapter three, Albert Pike is using analogies about Hypocrisy saying;

… to profess the principles of Masonic beneficence, and close the ear to the wail of distress and the cry of suffering; …

and continues with…

…to inculcate humility, and in pride surpass Lucifer; to pay tithe, and omit the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith…

and completes the lengthy analogies with…

[Hypocrisy] is indeed to be like unto whited sepulchers, which appear beautiful outward, but are within full of bones of the dead and of all uncleanness.

In this chapter he is using the term Lucifer as a name for Satan or the Devil, I believe. Contrary to Webster’s definition of the term;

Lucifer /Lu´ci·fer/ (?), n. [L., bringing light, n., the morning star, fr. lux, lucis, light + ferre to bring.]

1. The planet Venus, when appearing as the morning star; — applied in Isaiah 14:12 by a metaphor to a king of Babylon.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning ! how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations !

Oddly enough Isaiah 14:12 is the only reference to the term Lucifer I could find in 48 different Bibles including the American King James version.

Later in chapter 19, Pike writes his most famous quote that anti-mason groups love to cite;

…LUCIFER, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darknesss! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual or selfish Souls ? Doubt it not!

Reading this single quote alone without further investigation, as a Christian, would scare the bejesus out of me and turn me away from Freemasonry completely. However, upon further reading, we see that he is actually questioning the term Lucifer, meaning “light-bearer”, to the evil that is Satan or the Spirit of Darkness. The sentence before this quote explains it fully;

…those who receive the nineteenth Degree, the Apothesis of that Sublime Faith which aspires to God alone, and despises all the pomps and works of Lucifer.

The way I read this complete passage, in context, is that in the 19^th degree one should aspire to God and despise Satan. Then he questions giving Satan, the lord of Darkness, the beautiful name of Lucifer, the brilliant shining star which, as it falls over the horizon, brings on the beauty and the glory of the day.

The term Lucifer shows up, in the bible, in the book of Isaiah where an Angel of God is speaking to the King of Babylon about his fall from grace, comparing him to the morning star “falling from the heavens”. I understand how Satan is also compared with this analogy because he was once an Angel of God who fell from grace, but to soil the name Lucifer forever because of this, is wrong.

When writing, authors try to use the most descriptive words to convey feeling or imagery. One would never think to use the analogy of “Lucifer” to Jimmy Lee Swaggart after his fall from grace in the memorable sex scandal in 1988. But, that is just what book of Isaiah is talking about. O Jimmy, how could you consort with prostitutes and fall from your faith like the great light-bearer “Lucifer”? Then forever equate the name Lucifer to Jimmy Swaggart.

As my Masonic teaching have showed me in the short time I have been involved, is that we are, as Masons and Eastern Stars, seeking light. The light of our personal God, what ever we may call him. When people hear a prominent Mason, like Albert Pike, use the term “Lucifer” in it’s correct context meaning “light” and that we, as Masons, seek the light, they immediately put the two, unrelated texts, together and claim that we worship “Lucifer the Devil”.

But, this is just my opinion and I could be wrong. (I am a man after-all)

So for now I will keep reading and questioning everything.

Being ever-mindful that just because I believe this, other people might not.

Till next time…

SF

I have been attending many of the installations and inspections here is the 12th district and have been able to see a lot of the ritual work being done here in Ohio and I have been meeting some real nice guys and eating some real good food

I have witnessed all three degrees multiple times and as of yet have not seen anyone drink blood, sacrifice any goats or pray to the dark lord of the Abyss… humph! maybe next week.

I have however been reading “Scarlet and the Beast” by John Daniel, and have a few things to talk about later once I do some more research. You can find information about this book at http://www.scarletandthebeast.com/ .

Till next time…

SF

I received a CD with audio recordings from a court hearing and needed to create a audio CD that would play back in a standard CD player.

The audio recordings were .wav files recorded with For The Record and is playable through FTR Gold free player.

This player would not install using Wine 1.0.1 so I used a Virtual Box on WindowsXP, installed the program but when I tried to play the files Virtual Box didn’t like my sound card and wouldn’t play the audio.

On FTR’s website I found an addon that would save the audio to WMA format which played fine through Ubuntu.

Job done.