Text: "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast." -(Proverbs 12:10)
Animals are God’s creatures: He made them and they belong to Him. He cares for them and ordered in the Law that a day of rest he provided for all laboring animals. He commanded that if His people saw their brother’s ass or ox fall under the weight of their burden they were not to "hide themselves from them" but "thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again." (I Corinthians 9:9; Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:4)
God forbade wanton killing of animals when He prohibited killing a mother with her young and thus He staved off the destruction of a species from the earth. He forbade that the ox that "treadeth out the corn" be muzzled; and He made provision for the wild animals when He ordained the Sabbatical year and said, "that which groweth of its own accord of the harvest thou shall not reap ...and the Sabbath of the land shall be meat for you...and for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in the land..." (Leviticus 22:28; Deuteronomy 25:4; Leviticus 25:5-7)
Since the day God gave man dominion over the "fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth," animals were given to man for his use. Animals are our servants. Some are especially useful to man alive such as the dog and the horse. Others are especially useful to man dead such as the deer and the fish of the sea. And, still others are useful to man both dead and alive like the fowl that furnish us their eggs as well as their flesh, and the oxen that furnish us labor as well as food. (Genesis 1:28)
In our text, the profession of a righteous man is analyzed by his treatment of animals, for a man who is righteous indeed will be righteous in deed. A righteous man will regard the life of his wife and of his children; he even "regardeth the life of his beast." A righteous man is a good man because he is a man of compassion. Mercy flows in his bowels and therefore he is no stranger to the exercise of pity.
Cruelty is not found in the breast of a righteous man. One may act like Balaam who beat his ass, but the angel will chide him and pronounce his way "perverse." A good man, like Abraham’s servant, will care for the comfort of his animals. Like Jacob, he will be solicitous of their condition, and will not overdrive them. It is the tender mercies of the wicked that are cruel. (Numbers 22:32; Genesis 24:32; 33:13,14)
One need not preach a sermon to the birds of the air or to the fish of the sea like Francis of Assissi, but a good man will be a kind man. The Law of God is the "law of kindness," and those societies that have been penetrated by it have enacted laws against cockfights, dog fights, bull fights, and other forms of conduct resulting in the cruelty to animals. They are wicked, and not righteous men who whip, goad, spur and generally brutalize animals. (Proverbs 31:26)
"The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works." "Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, even Thine altars, O Lord of Hosts." "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." (Psalm 145:9; 84:3; Isaiah 40:11)
God sent the springs into the valleys to give drink to every beast of the field. He planted the cedars of Lebanon where the birds make their nests. He made the high hills a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies. The animals "wait upon the Lord" who gives them their meat "in due season," and in this respect brute animals are wiser than many of the sons of men. (Psalm 104:11,16,17,18,27)
"I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live:" wrote the Psalmist, "I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord. Let the sinner be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord." (Psalm 36:7)
1. Question: What according to the highest Masonic authority is "Freemasonry?"
ANSWER: "Masonry is a search after light. That search leads us directly back, as you see, to the Kabalah (Jewish book of occult knowledge). In that ancient and little understood medley of absurdity and philosophy, the Initiate will find the source of many doctrines; and may in time come to understand the Hermetic Philosophers, the Alchemists, all the Anti-Papal Thinkers of the Middle Ages, and Emanuel Swendenbourg."
(Morals And Dogma Of The Ancient And Accepted Scottish Rite Of Freemasonry, by Albert Pike, Grand Commander, 1859-1891, p. 741)
2. Question: From what source does Masonry draw its Secrets and Symbols?
ANSWER: "All truly dogmatic religions have issued from the Kabalah and return to it; everything scientific and grand in the religious dreams of all the Illuminati, Jacob Boeheme, Swedenborg, Saint Martin, and others, is borrowed from the Kabalah: all Masonic associations owe to it their Secrets and their Symbols." (Morals And Dogma, p. 741.)
3. Question: What is this "Kabalah" or Cabala as it is spelled in English?
ANSWER: "Cabala is a medieval and modern system of theosophy, mysticism and thaumaturgy (magic)." (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary. p.153)
4. Question: Since Freemasonry has a system of religion which is thoroughly dogmatic, as Sovereign Grand Commander Pike has stated above, then we ask: "Is it Christian?"
Answer: "Freemasonry is not Christianity, nor a substitute for it." (Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Dr. Albert G. Mackey, p. 162)
5. Question: The Bible appears on Masonic altars in supposed Christian lands. Is Masonry based upon the Bible?
Answer: "Masonry has nothing whatsoever to do with the Bible, that is not founded upon the Bible, for if were it would not be masonry, it would be something else." (Digest of Masonic Law, pp. 207-209)
6. Question: Since Freemasonry is not based upon the Bible, yet it is a religious institution as we have seen, then we ask: "What is its revelation, or What is its holy book?"
Answer: "Beautiful around stretches off every way the Universe, the Great Bible of God. Material Nature is its Old Testament... and Human Nature is the New Testament from the infinite God." (Morals And Dogma, p.715)
7. Question: Seeing as we do that Freemasonry’s revelation and holy book is only material and human nature we then ask: "What is its god?"
Answer: "Freemasonry proclaim as it has ever proclaimed from its origin, the existence of a Creative Principle under the name of the Great Architect of the Universe." (The Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Lusanne, 1868)
This title "Great Architect of the Universe" was coined, not by a Mason, but by an Alchemist Rosicrucian named Hesse Komensky. (See: Conspiracy Against God and Man, by Clarence Kelly, p. 47)
8. Question: If the Masonic god is only a creative principle, then Freemasonry doesn’t accept the personal God of the Scriptures, does it?
ANSWER: "The only personal God Freemasonry accepts is "humanity en toto... Humanity therefore is the only personal god that there is." (Mystic Masonry, by J.D. Buck, p. 216)
9. Question: To what other gods might Freemasonry’s Great Architect of the Universe be compared?
ANSWER: "In speaking of the name, "Great Architect of the Universe," Albert Pike had this to say, "It is but an old term revised. Our adversaries numerous and formidable as they are will say and will have a right to say that our Creative Principle is identical with the Generative Principle {god) of the Indian and Egyptian." (Isis Unveiled, Vol. II by Blavatsky, p. 377)
10. Question: Are candidates informed of Freemasonry’s true religion and god when they enter the Blue Lodge?
ANSWER: "The Blue Degrees are but the court (yard) or portico (porch) of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them." (Morals and Dogma, p. 819)
11. Question: If the Blue Degrees are only Sham Masonry especially designed to deceive the ignorant masses who do all the legwork recruiting, fund raising, etc., then who are the true interpretations --if there be such—reserved for?
ANSWER: "There true explication {explanation) is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry." (Morals and Dogma, p. 819)
12. Question: Do the Adepts and Princes --Thirty Third Degree
Council and above--look down on those of the lower degrees as being vulgar and ignorant?
ANSWER: "The symbols of the wise {the Adepts and Princes) are the idols of the vulgar, or as meaningless as the hieroglyphics of Egypt to the (ignorant) nomadic Arabs." (Morals and Dogma, p. 819) The parentheses are ours)
13. Question: Why are Masonic meetings usually held in upper chambers?
ANSWER: "Lodge meetings at the present day are usually held in upper chambers ... Before the erection of Temples the celestial bodies were worshipped on hills and the terrestrial ones in valleys." (The General Ahimah Rezon, by Daniel Sickles, p. 75)
14. Question: What is a Masonic Lodge?
ANSWER: "Every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion, and its teachings are instructions in religion." (Morals and Dogma, p. 213)
15. Question: What does a Masonic Lodge actually represent?
ANSWER: "And so in our day every Masonic Lodge represents the Universe. Each extends, we are told, from the rising to the setting sun." (Morals and Dogma, p. 209)
16. Question: In the Third Degree of Blue Lodge Masonry the Candidate is required to impersonate a character known as Hiram Abiff. Who is this Hiram Abiff?
ANSWER: "The Masonic legend stands by itself, unsupported by history or other than its own traditions; yet we readily recognize in Hiram Abiff the Osiris of the Egyptians, the Mithras of the Persians, the Bacchus of the Greeks..., whose passion, death and resurrection were celebrated by these people respectfully." (Traditions of Freemasonry, by Past Grand Master Pierson, p. 240)
17. Question: Seeing, as we do, that Hiram Abiff of Masonry and Osiris of Egyptian sun worship are one and the same, we ask: "What do they actually represent?"
ANSWER: "This legend was purely astronomical. Osiris {Hiram) was the sun, Isis (the weeping virgin) the moon. Typhon (represented by the three ruffians) was the symbol of winter which destroys the fecundating and fertilizing power of the sun, thus as it were, depriving him of life." (Lexicon of Freemasonry, by Albert G. Mackey, p. 130) The parentheses we have added to show you the symbols and characters in the lodge ritual which round out the legend to its original Egyptian form.
18. Question: Is Freemasonry’s religious system based upon primitive sun worship?
ANSWER: "The veneration which Masons entertain for the east confirms an opinion previously announced that the religious system of Masonry comes from the east and has reference to the primitive religion whose first occupation was the worship of the sun." (French Manual of Freemasonry, by Baxot, p. 154)
19. Question: One is told in the Blue Lodge that by the Compass he is to circumscribe the boundaries of his passions and desires, and that by the Square he is to square his dealings with his fellow man. What do the Compass and Square actually represent?
ANSWER: This old Hermetic symbol appears on page 839 of Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma and according to Pike, "Is a Symbol of the double nature anciently assigned to the Deity as Brahm and Maya among the Aryans, Osiris and Isis among the Egyptians. As the Sun was male, so the Moon was female."
Therefore, you can see that the Compass and Square according to Sovereign Grand Commander Pike have nothing whatsoever to do with your passions, desires or your square dealings. They represent the male and female principles in Nature Worship: the sun and the moon, Osiris and Isis!
20. Question: Does Freemasonry equate Jesus Christ the Son of God with Krishna, sun-god of India?
ANSWER: "It has been shown that every act in the drama of the life of Jesus and every quality assigned to Christ is to be found in the life of Krishna." (Mystic Masonry, by J.D. Buck, pp. 119, 138) Freemasonry not only equates Jesus Christ with the pagan god Krishna, but also with hundreds of other nature gods, as well as Mohammed, Gautama Buddha, Confucius and others; yet will not allow his name to be mentioned in a well-governed lodge.
SYNOPSIS
According to their own highest authorities, Freemasonry is:
1. A search after light which is not to be found in Christ or the Bible, but in the Jewish Cabala.
2. Freemasonry’s religious system shares the dreams of the Illuminati, the Jacobins, Swedenhorgism and Martinism of which dreamed of destroying organized religion, governments and controlling the world.
3. Freemasonry is not Christian; neither is it based upon the Bible. Its revelation is Nature, its god is a nature god the same as that of the Hindu, Egyptian and Syrian.
4. Freemasonry intentionally misleads those beneath the 33rd Degree Council into thinking that they know something of the institutions, purpose and secrets when in reality they know nothing whatsoever.
5. The Masonic Lodge represents the Universe, and the religion practiced there is Naturalism or Nature Worship, the candidate himself impersonating the sun-god Osiris (Hiram) in the third degree.
6. Freemasonry equates Jesus Christ with the pagan Krishna, and will not allow his name to be mentioned in a well-governed lodge.
Should you be involved in, or lend your support to such an institution?
We earnestly pray that you will find the right answer.
For further information about Freemasonry, write:
Institute of Biblical Truths
& Learning Inc.
1533 Mercer Way
Decatur, Georgia 30035
"The True Mason is not creed-bound. He realizes with the divine illumination of his lodge that as a Mason his religion must be universal: Christ, Buddha or Mohammed, the name means little, for he recognizes only the light and not the bearer. He worships at every shrine, bows before every altar, whether in temple, mosque or cathedral realizing with his truer understanding the oneness of all spiritual truth." (The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, by Manly P. Hall, 33rd, Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Co, Richmond, Va., p. 65)
"When the Mason learns that the Key to the warrior on the block is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his craft. The seething energies of LUCIFER are in his hands and before he may step onward and upward, he must prove his ability to properly apply {this) energy." (Lost Keys, p. 48)
"To You, Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, we say this, that you may repeat it to the Brethren of the 32nd, 31st, and 30th degrees --The Masonic Religion should be by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the LUCIFERIAN Doctrine.
"Yes, Lucifer is God, and unfortunately Adonay is also god. For the eternal law is that there is no light without shade, no beauty without ugliness, no white without black, for the absolute can only exist as two gods...
"Thus, the doctrine of Satanism is a heresy; and the true and pure philosophical religion is the belief in LUCIFER, the equal of Adonay; but LUCIFER, God of Light and God of Good, is struggling for humanity against Adonay, the God of Darkness and Evil." (Instructions to the 23 Supreme Councils of the World, Albert Pike, Grand Commander, Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry, July 14, 1889. Recorded by A.D. De La Rive, La Femme et l’Enfant dans la Franc-Maconnerie Universelle, p. 588)