“The fraternity is also designed in such a way that there is no end or limit to the number of duties or roles which any individual Mason may someday take on. There is always a new group, a new Officer role, or a new set of Degrees to consume vast amounts of his attention and time. If a man so desires, he could easily devote his entire life to nothing but Masonry in some form or another.
Generally speaking, other Masons will constantly goad their brethren into taking on as much work as possible. This constant stream of encouragement can be hard to resist, and a man with weak boundaries will quickly find himself devoting many hours to all the various tasks which he has volunteered (or been ‘volun-told’) to do.
In a short amount of time, a zealous Mason may find that Masonry has become the cornerstone of his very existence. It has become his work, his social circle, his relaxation, and his life. And this is precisely where the greatest danger lies; that in having Masonry consume his life, a man may find himself involved in nothing else.
All this time, his mind is being exposed to a particular set of ideas and philosophies which..as you will understand by the time you are done reading this book..cannot possibly deepen his relationship with Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. In many ways, Masonry draws men further away from the Christian God rather than closer towards him.
To believe otherwise is to be ignorant of both Masonry and Christ. To prove to you that this is the case, let us peel back the first veil and see what lies beneath the surface of Freemasonry.
My research for the second edition of On The Masons And Their Lies consisted largely of reading and interpreting Albert Pike’s compendium Morals and Dogma, a task which I bitterly hated but believed to be necessary. Morals And Dogma is a collection of Albert Pike’s commentary and thoughts on the first 32 Degrees of the Scottish Rite, which he was largely responsible for designing and revising.
He himself admits that he was ‘about equally Author and Compiler‘ of the book, as enormous sections of it are simply quoting from other authors on a large variety of topics.
In all fairness, it must be stated that Pike’s thoughts are not every Mason’s thoughts, as the fraternity itself teaches no strict theological dogma and does not act as a spiritual monolith. However, no American has had such a profound impact on the Scottish Rite as Pike, and I would argue that his understanding of Freemasonry far surpassed that of your average Mason.
I personally believe that many of the ideas which he either writes or cites in Morals and Dogma are the true philosophical underpinning of Freemasonry – and that many in the highest ranks share his beliefs on topics such as Gnosticism, Alchemy, Hermeticism, and Kabbalah.
Many such high-ranking men – Pike included – have openly and publicly admitted that the low-ranking Masons are deliberately misled, while the true philosophical ‘wisdom’ of the fraternity is restricted to its more elite members.
Such statements will be carefully and deliberately unpacked throughout this book.
My other primary sources, in addition to my own personal experience in Freemasonry, are Manly P. Hall’s The Secret Teachings of All Ages and J.D. Buck’s Mystical Masonry.
Both of them were 33rd Degrees Scottish Rite Masons. It is the highest Degree which the Scottish Rite can bestow, and both of these men had some very troubling things to say about Jesus Christ and those who choose to follow Him.
Due to the vast expense of Masonic Philosophy, I have separated On The Masons And Their Lies into a number of segments. If you are a priest or pastor reading this with the intention of helping men in your parish to leave the Lodge, it will be up to your discernment – and your parishioners’ level of understanding – which of these sections to focus on in your efforts.
Thus, this book is meant to illuminate the truth regarding Masonry’s Ideology, Theology, Christology, and Soteriology. There are additional sections, which I have called Holy And Unholy Mysteries and Light And The Lost Word, on core differences between Masonry and Christianity which are also crucial to understand.
By the time you are done reading this book, you will know more about Freemasonry than most of its members do. If you are a Roman Catholic or a Protestant reading it, I hope that it also gives you a preview of the grace and beauty available to you within the Orthodox Church, and that it spurs you to inquire further about our ancient faith.
We will begin this journey with a look at Freemasonry’s Ideology…but before we explore that topic, please allow me to briefly introduce myself.
I did not come across this knowledge by accident, and I hope that my story may serve as a cautionary tale for others.
It is only through my own personal mistakes and errors – combined with God’s boundless mercy on me for having made them in my ignorance – that I was eventually able to recognize, identify, and explain the various concepts and ideas which will be detailed to you shortly.”