Free Masonry and the God-Shaped Hole: A Personal Testimony

This entry is part 9 of 31 in the series Freemasonry

The following is the first hand account from Christian and former Freemason Jay Lloyd:

I grew up attending a Southern Baptist Church. Like many of my peers, I could quote scripture and I thought I knew all about Christianity. However, looking back, I can see that my faith really fell into the category of moralistic therapeutic deism. I was not a Christian nor was I spiritually satisfied. I was a teenager in the seventies and one of the big questions of that period was “What’s it all about man?” I thought there was something bigger in life than religion and that all religions were basically the same, kind of like ice cream – just pick your flavor. As I came into adulthood, I was searching for something that was transcendent, something that had a weightier meaning and a greater purpose than what I encountered in my mundane workday life. I came to believe that I could find fulfillment in the Masonic Order.

I come from a long line of Masons. All of my uncles (on both sides), one grandfather, one great grandfather, and one great great grandfather were Freemasons. Since my family members were so involved and since I was searching spiritually, the Craft appealed to me. I had been taught that masons looked after each other in business and personal affairs. That kind of brotherhood was attractive. So, at the age of 24, I asked a friend from work who was a Freemason how I could become one. He submitted my application and I was voted into the Order in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. It was there that I completed my Entered Apprentice Degree. Before I could progress further, I moved. My Fellowcraft, and Master Mason degrees were conferred upon me in Jacksonville, Florida at Mandarin Lodge no.343.

In order to be initiated into the degrees of Blue Lodge, I had to swear to keep secret the tenets and rituals of Freemasonry. I swore blood oaths to do so. The swearing of these blood oaths was required. I remember in particular that one oath involved my being hung by the neck where the tide ebbed and flowed twice in 24 hours, my throat being slit from ear to ear, and my body being hung for the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air to devour so there might be no more remembrance of me whatsoever should I divulge the secrets of Freemasonry. I was instructed and given secret words and handshakes at each level. The placement of the thumb moved from the first knuckle to the second and finally the third thru each degree. The only secret word I remember was the master mason word which was “Ma-Ha-Bone.”

The whole order is built around the legend of an ancient extra-biblical character named Hiram Abiff and the building of Solomon’s temple. This supposedly biblical legend gives Masonry perception legitimacy to religious men. I remember going through the degrees and thinking and hoping that the next degree would be the one that would finally satisfy the longing I had to find some kind of real meaning. Disappointment came when I was “raised” from figurative death to the degree of master mason. It was really a big letdown. I was encouraged to go further into the higher degrees of Masonry, through the Shriners, but these degrees were considered more honorary and I was disillusioned by this point anyway

Within two years of joining the Order, my wife gave birth to our second child and my dad died. I remember going fishing with a friend of my dad’s on the day after his funeral. While we were fishing he said, “Hey all that stuff about Heaven and Hell, it don’t matter. It’s how you live your life, that’s what matters.” I agreed with my mouth, but my heart and mind were screaming, “All that matters is heaven and hell!” When my daughter was 6 weeks old, my in-laws came to town and it was time to go to church. I had agreed to raise my family in the church and they held me o my promise. We visited a local church. The congregation sang a song of greeting:

“Oh, how He loves you and me, Oh how He loves you and me. He gave his life, what more could he give?

Oh, how He loves you; Oh, how he loves me; Oh, how he loves you and me.

Jesus to Calvary did go, His love for sinners to show. What He did there brought hope from despair.

Oh, how He loves you; Oh, how he loves me; Oh, how he loves you and me.

Jesus to Calvary did go, His love for sinners to show. What He did there brought hope from despair.

Oh, how He loves you; Oh, how he loves me; Oh, how he loves you and me.”

Everyone was smiling and greeting one another while I just wanted to cry. That Sunday the preacher preached on the Prodigal Son. I didn’t know if I was prodigal or if I even believed but I knew I needed to; I came to Christ in that service. From that day my life changed. The way I saw things changed. Masonry no longer drew me. About six months after I came to Christ, the Worshipful Master Mandarin Lodge no.343 came to me and asked me why I hadn’t paid my Masonic dues. I told him that I had become a Christian and had found the real meaning of life. He said there was nothing contrary to this in Freemasonry. I said, “Great, I will be at the next meeting and get up and share with all present what had happened to me and the good news of salvation through Christ and Christ alone.” He told me that I would not be allowed to do that. So, I told him that when I could I would gladly come and pay my dues. That was thirty-two years ago and I haven’t heard from him or them since.

When a person gets his meaning and purpose from any source other than Jesus, it is just another form of works righteousness. Freemasonry involves rituals and secrets that give it a pseudo spirituality and meaning which can further harden an unregenerate person’s heart. Many of the people that are Freemasons, in fact I would venture to say a majority, see their affiliation with the Order as giving them merit before their fellow man and most disturbingly before God.

My conclusion on the matter of Freemasonry from Ephesians 5:3-13:

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.””

To any man that claims the name of Jesus and is involved with this cult, I encourage you to separate yourself and repent. I am not judging you; I am judging an activity that I know to be heretical and anti-Christian. It is a false righteousness that is leading many to a sinners Hell because of a reliance on something other than Christ and His sacrifice for you to be right with God. Like all cults, it is full of sincere “good” people. They are sincerely wrong.

I pray my experience will serve to help others to leave the cult and give Christians ammunition to dialogue with friends and loved ones who are trapped in Freemasonry.

In Christ,

J.L.

[Edited by Seth Dunn]

*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.

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