Reason Number Six: Freemasonry fails to affirm the uniqueness of the Old and New Testaments

Albert Pike writes in his first draft of the reworked Scottish Rite degrees:

“We cannot read literally the views of God contained in the Hebrew writings.” (Magnum Opus, Albert Pike, XIV, p. 23)  

Pike states that the Hebrew writings cannot be taken literally and, thus, seriously.  What is contained in the Hebrew writings concerning the nature of God cannot be received at face value.  Pike also attacks the core of biblical integrity when he suggests in Magnum Opus:

“The Jews, as a nation, did not believe in the existence of one sole God, until a late period in their history.  Their early and popular ideas of the Deity were eminently coarse, low, and unworthy.”   (Magnum Opus, Albert Pike, XIII, p. 8) 

The monitors of the Scottish Rite lay a foundation of disbelief in biblical revelation.  In this mid-twentieth century monitor we read:
 
"Whether he speaks to us through a man must depend, even at first, on human testimony, and afterwords on heresy, or tradition." (Liturgies of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry, Charleston, 1944, p. 189) 

This discounts the revelation of God through the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.  The view of the Lodge is that the Bible is not the Word of God.  Whether He has spoken is only a matter of conjecture.

The Scottish Rite also attacks the New Testament, and attempts to plant doubt in the mind of Lodge members concerning the veracity of its contents.  In the Scottish Rite degree Knights of the East and West, we read:

“It was held by a vast number, even during the preaching of Paul, that the writings of the Apostles were incomplete, that they contained only the germs of another doctrine, which must receive from the hands of philosophy not only the systematic arrangement which was wanting, but all the developments which lay concealed therein - mysteries handed down from generation to generation in esoteric fashion.”  (Book of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry, McCleanachan, 1885, p. 241)

Freemasonry suggests that the writings of the New Testament are incomplete.  The New Testament contains only germs of a more important doctrine, a doctrine of esoterism, which is another word for the occult.  The writings of the apostles are deemed incomplete.  This attempts to lay the axe at the foot of Scripture.

Furthermore, Freemasonry attacks the flow of biblical history, and states that God was wrong to divest the promised land of the Canaanites.  Despite the fact that the Canaanites practiced infant sacrifice, Freemasonry calls into question the veracity of Scripture and God’s goodness and justice.  The monitor states:

“It sees with the eye of memory the ruthless extermination of all the people, of all sexes and ages-because it was their misfortune not to know the God of the Hebrews, or to worship him under the wrong name - by the savage troops of Moses and Joshua.”  (Book of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry, McCleanachan, 1885, p. 429)

Freemasonry concludes that dated theologies and religious concepts are not adequate for modern life, and they need to be replaced with new truths. 

“The old theologies, the philosophies of religion of ancient times, will not suffice us now; there are errors to be made way with, and their places supplied with new truths, radiant with the glories of heaven.”  (Book of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry, McCleanachan, 1885, p. 429)

Masonry teaches that no individual can assert that he is right about a spiritual issue, as others may differ with him.  He cannot have confidence that he holds correct views on spiritual things.  The Scottish Rite in the McCleanachan monitor states:

"No man is entitled positively to assert that he is right, where other men, equally intelligent and equally well-informed, hold directly the opposite opinion.”  (Book of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry, McCleanachan, 1885, p. 431)

Freemasonry fails to affirm the uniqueness of the Old and New Testaments in another critical point.  Rather than affirm God’s work in biblical history, it states that the Essenes represented the greatest expression of intimacy with God. 

“The best thought ever attained of human life visited by the divine light, was founded by this sect of Jewish saints.  No believers that ever were have more profoundly felt and more perfectly trusted the indwelling presence of God.  This was the finest, as it was the most sober and practical mysticism this earth as ever seen.”  (Liturgies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Charleston, 1956, p. 138) 

This paragraph dismisses the church under the power of the Holy Spirit.  It negates the teachings and disciples of Jesus.  It repudiates any move of God within the entire flow of sacred history, and in its place advocates an extra-biblical tradition.

Albert Pike and the Scottish Rite also take Christian terms and use them for different things.  There is a Masonic bread and wine meal, but it is not the Lord's supper.  There is even a Masonic baptismal service, which purifies a child.  Even basic concepts in the book of Revelation are changed:

“The Book of Seven Seals, which only one can open, is Masonicly explained as representing a Lodge or Council of Masons, with the all-puissant alone has the right or power to convene or open.”  (Book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, McCleanachan, 1885, p. 238) 

Another example of this tendency is found in the Royal Arch degree.  In this degree, the esoteric meaning of the keystone of the arch is given.  In the 19th century, the keystone was America's best-known Masonic symbol.  Albert Pike considered the keystone the symbol of occult Masonry.  The degree is considered esoteric, as referenced in the book Keystone of the Mark by J. Fairbairn Smith, F.P.S., P.G.H.P. 

In this book, Smith cites Royal Arch degree work, which gives this statement:

"The Keystone which was cast into the rubbish of the Temple finally became the Chief Stone of the arch."

One cannot help but notice the similarities with Scripture.  However, the text has been changed in subtle ways.  Psalm 118:22 is a Messianic prophesy and reads:

"The stone that the builders rejected has become the capstone..."

In the Bible, the word is stone.  In Masonry it is changed to keystone, so as to match their esoteric doctrine.  In the Bible the stone was merely rejected.  In Masonry it is rejected in the rubbish of the temple.  In the Bible the Messiah is the capstone, but in Freemasonry he becomes the chief stone of the arch.  In both cases, the references are to a person.  Who is the person rejected in the temple who becomes the chief stone of the arch?  Freemasonry feels free to change the text of Scripture and thus shows its lack of respect for the uniqueness of God's Word.

Furthermore, Albert Pike in the first draft of the degrees included an obligation in the Rose Croix degree that is startling:

“…and death upon a cross completing my punishment.” (Magnum Opus, Albert Pike, XVIII, p. 9)

At this time we have no idea of whether this obligation ever made it into the official ritual, but it clearly gives us a glimpse into the mind of the man who wrote so much of it.  Clearly, Freemasonry does not affirm the uniqueness of the Old and New Testaments and seeks to place doubt in the minds of those who bring that belief with them into the Lodge.  Masonry takes upon itself the freedom to change Scripture and biblical themes in subtle ways.