peyton randolph wrote:
Freemasons do not worship the Devil.
Weeeelllllll......
Albert Pike 33°
“That which we must say to a crowd is - We worship a God, but it is the God that one adores without superstition.
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 initates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian Doctrine.
If Lucifer were not God, would Adonay whose deeds prove his cruelty, perdify and hatred of man, barbarism and repulsion for science, would Adonay and his priests, calumniate him?
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: darkness being necessary to the statue, and the brake to the locomotive.
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, July 14, 1889. Recorded by A.C. De La Rive in La Femme et l’Enfant dans la FrancMaconnerie Universelle on page 588
“Lucifer, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the son of the morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with it’s splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual or selfish Souls? Doubt it not! Morals and Dogma page 321
“Albert Pike 33°”
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As I explained before, there is no higher degree in Freemasonry than Master Mason (the Third Degree). Additional degrees conferred by appendant bodies are not higher. At best, they are supplementary. Some are voluntary. Others are by invitation only.
In addition, Pike was one Freemason who is long dead. He does not speak for all Freemasons on any topic.
Next, let’s consider context.
Were you aware that the term “Lucifer” comes from the Latin term for “Light-Bearer”? That it also means “Son of the Morning” or “Light of the Morning”? Did you know it was first used this way in the 5th Century in the Latin Bible (the Vulgate)? Hint: It did not refer to the Devil.
Do you know who first started to use the term “Lucifer” to describe the Devil? Poets Dante and Milton hundreds of years later. Talk about poetic license.
Before you twist the words of one man out of context to damn Freemasonry, educate yourself.
Otherwise, you will sound as ignorant as the man who thinks a 19th Century “liberal” is the same as today’s “liberal.”
Words change meaning over time, and not necessarily for the better.