LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY swisscelt)

Two events recently in the news have "shown a spotlight" upon the Free & Accepted Masons, which is most properly termed a confederation of fraternal organizations dating back at least to 1717. Unfortunately, there has been much misreporting on the nature of Freemasonry. Most of it, no doubt, is unintentional; the product of ignorance of an organization to which many in previous generations, but few of my generation, have sought membership. Some of it, I suspect, is deliberate.

Before I proceed, I'd like to dispel some of the myths I've seen recently reported as news. If you're not familiar with Freemasonry, please ( take a minute to review some notes I've prepared on my personal journal. )

Much has been made lately of the anti-Semitism some charge is present in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Many allege that these anti-Semitic views lie within Gibson in reflection of his father, Hutton Gibson. While the younger Gibson's anti-Semitism is open to question, some astounding statements have been positively documented to the elder Gibson. A recent [9 March 2003] article in the New York Times Magazine reports Hutton Gibson as believing that the World Trade Center was not destroyed by al Qaeda, but by remote control; presumably by those with access to key structural points in the One and Two World Trade Center buildings. Hutton Gibson is also on record as saying that the Second Vatican Council was "a Masonic plot, backed by the Jews."

It is against this backdrop that the second news event, an attack on a Masonic lodge building in Turkey, ironically appears. Though officials at this point believe it is not the work of al Qaeda, Muslim radicals are believed to be behind the attack. Their motive in carrying out the attack may be the hatred many radical Muslim sects hold against Judaism, and the popular but libelous misconception that Freemasonry is a Jewish conspiracy. It is worth noting that Hitler also shared this view.

Alas, such misconceptions of Freemasonry as antithetical to one's cherished religious views are not limited to the Muslim world, nor are they merely a part of an earlier age here in the West. Much of the American Christian Right also denounces Freemasonry, although at this time it is not popular in such circles to express the anti-Semitic sentiments associated elsewhere in the world with anti-Masonry. One evangelical tract, entitled An Open Letter to a Christian Mason, is typical of the presumptious and hateful attitudes some Christian conservatives in the United States express against Freemasonry. "You see, while you claim to be a Christian, we know that you are a Mason and we have come to know something about Masonry," the letter states. "Our research has allowed us to know that Freemasonry has a plan of salvation. [...] You have chosen to walk in darkness. You are not walking in the light. Because you are not walking in the light, you are not in fellowship with Jesus Christ. Since you are not in fellowship with Jesus, it is impossible for us to have fellowship with you." The letter concludes most spitefully, "As a Mason you are not following the teachings of Jesus, but rather are standing in agreement with a false gospel which leads men to hell."

Given such attitudes by those Christians who might be seen as supportive of Israel, one can imagine the level of malice Christians who believe in the Blood Libel, and the charge of "deicide" damning the Jewish people, also hold towards Freemasonry. Some deplorable examples:

The Zionist Messiah will confide that it is God's Chosen People, the Jews, who collectively are "Christ." According to the Kabbala and the Zohar, the Jews created "God" in their image and, in turn, this "God" of the Jews is the reflected image of divine man (the Jews) himself, for Jews are said to be "partakers of the Divine Nature."

This, then, is the ages-old, two-fold goal and final secret mystery of the Masons: First, through the worship of Mammon-Ra, god of forces (Daniel 11:39) and of money and riches, is to come the synthesis of all religions, superintended by a Jewish Messiah. Then will come a Jewish Utopia: World Government, of the Jews, by the Jews, and for the Jews, forever and ever. Amen.

But regardless of their plots and their Grand Scheme, the Lord of Hosts, our Savior Jesus Christ, true God of the Universe, has a resounding surprise in store for these Masonic criminals. The scriptures describe these evil men as "natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed" (II Peter 2:12). Their fate is clear. The scriptures say their plots shall utterly fail, their Empire shall be dissolved, their covenant and agreement with hell disannulled, and they "shall utterly perish in their own corruption." - Texe Marrs, Masonic Jews Plot to Control World

The ultimate aim of the Freemasonic craft, according to Paul Fisher, is 'the overthrow of all spiritual and political ‘tyranny’ so that there will be a universal social republic.' (Behind the Lodge Door, p. 40). [Solange] Hertz maintains that this Revolution 'was disseminated in Europe largely by Sephardic Jews acting through secret societies…' (Utopia, p. 64). Fisher cites James Billington’s observation that 'so great, indeed, was the general impact of Freemasonry in the revolutionary era that some understanding of the Masonic Milieu seems an essential starting point for any serious inquiry into the occult roots of the revolutionary tradition (cited in Lodge Door, p. 218)...' - Tim and Barb Aho, Freemasons Take over Vatican & Jewish Messianic Expectation

Also on the latter site, the ironically named "www.blessedquietness.com", is a disingenuous disclaimer to those who'd rightly accuse them of anti-Semitism: "I want to make it very clear that this page is NOT about bashing Jews. Those Jews who accept Christ as their Savior, WITHOUT adding cultic trappings, are received into the promises of the Church like anyone else." What utter rubbish, coming from a site chock-full of some of the worst anti-Semitic garbage I've ever seen, and even featuring a crude illustration of a "wolf in sheep's clothing", bearing the Star of David on its leg, ready to hungrily devour a sheep wearing a crucifix.

Anti-Semitism takes many forms. It is saddening, and perhaps ironic, that one notable such form is the propaganda levelled against a worldwide fraternal organization which has welcomed Jews, Christians, Muslims, and many others alike with opened arms.