Lodges Examined by the Bible

In the United States there are about 800 different secret societies and nearly half of the adult men and women of the United States are affiliated with them according to Rev. James Putt, Th.M., in the scholarly pamphlet Masonry. He quotes the Grand Lodge Bulletin of Iowa that for 1936 there were 2,665,511 Masons. Masonry is the oldest secret order, the largest, and the parent of the others. The lodges claim to be centers of morality, claim to subdue the passions of men, claim to give great light on spiritual things, and by many are claimed to be great aids to Christianity. The lodges themselves often profess to show the way to Heaven. They speak much about God, have Bibles as lodge furniture, have priests, chaplains, worshipful masters; their buildings are often called temples. And now we are to examine the lodges in the light of the Bible, the Word of God. And we ask the question, "Is it a sin for a Christian to have membership in secret orders?" For a child of God to be a member of a lodge, a secret order, is a sin. - Pages 11-12.