Temples and Masons

Temples and Masons

Is the Lord pleased with the parallels between Masonry and Temple Work?

Matthew 5:33-37 "Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:  But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne:  Nor by the earth for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.  Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.  But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."

• If taken literally, God could not be pleased with oaths of this nature.  Should we take this literally?  Should we take God at His word?

Leviticus 19:12 "And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord."

• From which it is demonstrated that we should consider extremely carefully if what we are doing in the His name is truly approved by him.

Moses 5:28-32 "And it came to pass that Cain took one of his brothers' daughters to wife, and they loved Satan more than God.  And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die; and this that thy father may not know it; and this day I will deliver thy brother into thine hands.  And Satan sware unto Cain that he would do according to his commands.  And all these things were done in secret."

• Who asks for an oath to be made by thy throat? Lucifer
• Who asks for an oath by thy head? Lucifer
• The secret is established to hide the sin from The Father
• Because they loved Satan more
• Is it written anywhere that God would ask of you such an oath?

Moses 5:49 "For Lamech having entered into a covenant with Satan, after the manner of Cain, wherein he became Master Mahan, master of that great secret which was administered unto Cain by Satan; and Irad, the son of Enoch, having known their secret, began to reveal it unto the sons of Adam;"

• The secret is administered by Satan
• It has a purpose, to murder
• It is displeasing to God

Moses 6:15 "And the children of men were numerous upon all the face of the land.  And in those days Satan had great dominion among men, and raged in their hearts; and from thenceforth came wars and bloodshed; and a man's hand was against his own brother, in administering death, because of secret works, seeking for power."

• It gives Satan great power when things are done in secret

And here is a reference from the Book of Mormon...

2 Nephi 26:14 "But behold, I prophecy unto you concerning the last days..."

• Therefore, what follows in this chapter applies to modern times, which means it directly relates to us!

2 Nephi 26:22-24 "And there are also secret combinations even as in times of old..." "he leadeth them by a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever."

• Mason rituals literally led a blind folded man into the ceremony by a flaxen cord.  Could this symbolism included in this verse directly implicate a connection to what was occuring in Nauvoo and what has been inherited from Nauvoo?

2 Nephi 26:23 "the Lord God worketh not in darkness"
Verse 24          "he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation"
Verse 26          "hath he commanded any that they should depart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship?  Behold, I say into you, Nay.

• Is it right to withhold a person from the synagogue if they don't pay tithing? What if they drink coffee or smoke? Is it right?  What does this scripture mean by None?  Does keeping something secret make it sacred?  Does sacred need to be secret? 

As pointed out in 2 Nephi 26:14, this is a prophecy about the last days, or our day.

In 2 Nephi 26, the sins of Modern Israel (the Church among the Gentiles, not the country Israel), are declared:

Pride above all others (verse 19)
Deny power of God and teach own wisdom (Verse 20)
Joining with secret combinations (verse 22)
Casting others out of the synagogues (verse 26)
Rejection of the Law of Consecration (verse 30-31)
Idol worship in the form of prophet worship (verse 29)
Murder in the form of oaths and acts (verse 32)
Whoredoms in the form of polygamy and adultry (verse 32)
Excluding groups from partaking based on race (verse 33)
Take the name of God in vain with false covenenants or not keeping covenants (verse 32)

All the commandments are violated and it is outlined clearly in 2 Nephi 26 that this applies to a modern people from the Gentiles, and from among those Gentiles, those who claim to be of God in the last days.

Ether 8:13-26...It doesnt get any more clear than this chapter!  The whole chapter is an explicit condemnation of secret combinations.

Ether 8:2 Notice a king gains the people with flattering words. 

Ether 8:13-14 "...Will ye swear unto me that ye will be faithful unto me in the thing which I shall desire of you? And it came to pass that they all sware unto him, by the God of heaven, and also by the heavens, and also by the earth, and by their heads, that whoso should vary from the assistance which Akish desired should lose his head; and whoso should divulge whatsoever thing Akish made known unto them, the same should lose his life."

Verse 19 "For the Lord worketh not in secret combinations, neither doth he will that man should shed blood, but in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man."

• Forbidden it...this is written in strong language.

Verse 20 "they are had among all people"

• Does "all" mean in this sentence?  Does it mean only among the people of a certain nation, or a certain religion or a certain geographic area?  If it is among all people, then in what manner is it among my people or the people I personally identify with.  Is it worth my time to determine in what manner, my people might be in error by accepting these things into our practices.  Are "my people" excluded from the category of "all people"?

Verse 24 "Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you, or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up."

• "when ye shall see" and "shall be among you"...in otherwords, these things are among our people, and this would mean our situation is awful.
• Many more things are written about this in Ether Chap 8, these are merely abbreviated notes.

From these readings alone, it does not appear that such things are of God.  We are warned that these things will be among us.  If we do not see these things, it is because we are willingly turning a blind eye to the truth which is laid out before us in the Book of Mormon.