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PART TWO: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT MYSTERY RELIGIONS?
In I Timothy 6:3-4, aul gave instructions to the young minister, Timothy saying:
"This is the sort of thing you should teach and preach, and if anyone tries to teach some doctrinal novelty and does not follow sound teaching (which we base on our Lord Jesus Christ's own words and which leads to Christ-like living), then he is a conceited idiot! His mind is a morbid jumble of disputation and arguement, things which lead to nothing but jealousy, quarreling, insults and malicious innuendoes -- continual wrangling, in fact, among men of warped minds who have lost their real hold on the truth but hope to make some profit out of the Christian religion." (J.B. Phillups)
Paul affirmed that he based his teachings on the Words of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be careful that we do the same. *In matters of faith and/or doctrine, where the Word of God is absolutely silent, we must broach no opin- ions; in matters of faith and/or doctrine where the Word of God is absolutely clear we must embrace no reservations, exceptions or exemptions.*
A. SECRET ORGANIZATIONS AND THE WORD OF GOD
What does the Bible teach concerning secret -- occultic -- organizations? There are hundreds of passages of Scripture that deal with them indirectly. Four New Testament passages deal directly with occultism; they are:
"As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless geneol- ogies which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do." (I Timothy 1:3-4)
"If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and excercise thyself rather unto Godliness." (I Timothy 4:6-7)
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (II Timothy 4:3-4)
"This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth." (Titus 1:13-14)
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In understanding the Bible's teaching on the occultic,the key word in these passages is "fables". There is a fifth occurrence of this word in the New Test- ament. eter in affirming the nature and inspiration of the Scriptures said:
"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty." (II Peter 1:6)
B. FABLES -- MUTHOS
"Fables" is the translation of the Greek word MUTHOS (#3454) which means:
"a speach, word, saying, a fiction, a fable; an invention, falsehood: the fictions of the Jewish theosophists and Gnostics, especially concerning the emanations and orders of the aeons." (*Thayers's Greek Lexicon*)
MUTHOS is derived from the word MUEO (#3453) which means:
"to initiate into the mysteries, to teach fully, instruct, to accustom one to a thing; to give one an intimate acquaintance with a thing. (Ibid)
Both MUTHOS and MUEO are derived from MUO which means "to shut the mouth." In all secret societies, especially Freemasonry, if the mouth is not shut voluntarily, the threat is made that it will be shut violently. Another im- portant theological word which is derived from this stem is MUSTERION (#3466) which means "a secret or mystery, through the idea of silence imposed by initi- ation into religious rites." MUSTERION is defined by *Thayer's* as:
"A hidden thing, secret, mystery: generally mysteries, religious secrets, confided only to the initiated and not to be communicated by them to ordinary mortals."
In this group of words the key is MUTHOS. Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, in the *Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible*, gives this lexical entry for MUTHOS:
"Mostly used in the New Testament as a lying fable with all its falsehood and all its pretenses to be what it is not. Thus in I Timothy 4:7 fables are described as profane and belonging to old women. In Titus and II Peter the result of sophistry or cunning fables for the purpose of deceiving. In I Timothy and in II Timothy 4:4 the use of the word is equally degrading and contemptuous. Although LOGOS and MUTHOS begin together with the thought, intel- ligence, mind, they part ranks since the first ends in the kingdom of light and truth and the second in the kingdom of darkness and lies.
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* Expositor's Greek New Testament * says of I Timothy 1:4:
"There is a strong temptation for mystics to justify to themselves the continued use of an antiquated sacred book by a mystical interpretation of whatever in it has ceased to apply to daily life...* They read the holy scriptures, and explain the philosophy of their fathers in an allegorical manner, regarding the written words as symbols of hidden truth which is communicated in obscure figures...* the promoters of an eclectic synthesis of the then fashionable Gentile philosophy and of the forms of the Mosaic Law." (Vol. IV, p.92)
These are excellent descriptions of the Masonic Lodge. As such they demonstrate that the deceit, the syncreticism, the symbolism and the secretive- ness of the Masonic Lodge qualify it as a practice condemned by the Word of God. No Christian body that embraces the inerrancy of the Word of God can ignore that Word's condemnation of the Masonic Lodge.
In this study, it will be shown that Freemasonry is a practitioner of the Black Arts. It will be shown that the Masonic Lodge teaches that when the Bible says God "revealed" something, it really means that he "re-vailed" it -- He hid it from all but the initiates of the Masonic Order. It will also be shown that Masonic Masters teach that when the Bible states, "Out of Egypt will I call my Son." God referred to His bringing the mystery religion of Sun worship out of Egypt. They teach that Moses brought the occultic practices of Egypt into Isreal and "re-vailed" them with Hebrew religious words. Many other such bizarre "re-interpretations" of the Holy Scriptures have taken place as the Masons apply their occultic symbolism to Biblical vocabulary. The only cult which has a more bizzarre interpretation of Scripture to is the cult which sprang from Freemasonry which is Mormonism, founded by the Freemason, Joseph Smith.
In *Barnes Notes*, Dr. Albert Barnes states:
"The word rendered fable means properly speech or discourse, and then fable or fiction, or a mystic discourse. Such things abounded among the Greeks as well as the Jews, but it is probable that the latter here are particularly intended. These were composed of frivolous and unfounded stories, which they regarded as of great importance, and which they seem to have desired to incorporate with the teachings of Christianity...* One of the most successful arts of the adversary of souls has been to mingle fable with truth; and when he cannot overthrow the truth by direct opposition, to neutralize it by mingling with it much that is false and frivolous."
The syncretism -- "the mingling of fable with truth" -- of masonry is well known. The tragedy is that the Christian church, in a misguided desire for "peace", has allowed the leaven of the occultic -- the leaven of the Freemasons -- to mingle with born-again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. This has "neutralized" the power which God, the Holy Spirit, wishes to pour out upon God's people.
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Titus 1:10-16 is a perfect description of the Masonic Lodge. In Titus 1:12, reference is made to an aphorism about the Cretians, which states:
"The Cretians are always liars...:
This quote is from the Greek poet, Epimenides. This aphorism was earned because the Cretians maintained that the tomb of Jupiter was located on their island. They taught that Jupiter and all the gods were only mortals that had beed raised to become a god. Thus the Greeks maintained that the Cretains were always proclaiming a falsehood by asserting this opinion.
In modern times the Cretains are with us. Their lie abounds. Not only does the Mormon cult teach that man can become a god; but the Masonic lodge with its various degrees, recreates the "aeons and eminations" through which it is taught that man can become god. This will be explained in detail later in this presentation.
C. CONCLUSION: * MUTHOS * CONDEMNED BY THE WORD OF GOD
Paul's warnings to avoid fables, condemns the secret societies which propagated these fables. The mystery religions were not the way to God; they were the product of the pride of man. The modern day counterparts to the mystery religions are legion. There are numerous men, women and children who through their initiation into the Masonic Lodge, Eastern Star, Rainbow Girls and Demoley, are participating in the very activities which the Word of God condemns. This is the thesis of this paper, and it will be the purpose of the remainder of this presentation to prove to anyone's satisfaction that freemasonry is not only inconsistant with Christianity, but that freemasonry is the avowed enemy of Jesus Christ and of Christianity.
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