I grew up in a town in Arizona where it seemed legitimate to think that all the elites in the community were Masons.
At that time, I had no idea what went on inside a Masonic Lodge, but considering the caliber of the men I knew as members of that organization, I saw them as special people.
Being in charge of law enforcement in the service of the appointed and elected throughout his career, and because he was a businessman, my father was a pillar of the community. My father, along with at least one uncle and a group of cousins were all from the Blue Lodge. My mother and three of my aunts were members of the Etoile d'Orient order, which is essentially an organization accepting women, sisters, mothers, daughters, etc., without this criterion being exclusive. In high school, I became actively involved in DeMolay Lodge and my wife is a former member of the Filles de l'Arc-en-ciel.
My father passed away in 1963. He was more than a father to me. By losing him, I was losing my best friend. Before the death of this best friend, one of his last wishes, addressed to my mother, was that her two sons become Masons. At that time, I still didn't know anything about what was going on inside a lodge; but papa kept saying that being a Mason had made him better. He was not a 'church goer' as the common phrase goes - we were not a Christian family. However, he was a really good man, honest, courteous and well respected even by those who opposed him in strengthening the laws.
Fifteen years later, far from Arizona, my father's wish came true. In 1978, I was initiated into the rank of Apprentice of the Blue Lodge in which my brother was already serving as a member. In September, I passed to the rank of Companion and on November 10, 1978, I was raised to the rank of Master Mason . That evening, a Masonic pine that had belonged to my father was presented to me. With tears in my eyes and joy in my heart, I could finally say,
'Rest in peace now, old friend; your two sons are Masons now '.
At this point, I still knew little about Freemasonry. I had always heard that she was a brotherhood of men whose teachings were drawn from the Bible. I knew nothing more, even as I was required on the evening of my initiation as a prerequisite for admission to the lodge, to take an oath that I would eagerly submit to the ancient customs and consecrated customs of the Brotherhood. '. I took an oath without even knowing what these 'uses' and 'consecrated customs' were. I don't remember dad going to the lodge that much, especially in his later years. I don't even remember a discussion about Masonry over dinner. However, I have never heard him speak negatively about the lodge. I did not hear anything negative from family members on the lodge except one uncle;
As I was to learn later, there was no way out of knowing the truth unless I was an outside observer like Uncle did. So many members remain ignorant! What made my vulnerability worse was my naive trust in the Masons I knew before I joined. Until I was called upon for 'critic hunting' or something similar, I didn't let myself be concerned with the fundamentals of the lodge.
To move from one degree to the next, there is a lot of work to be done in the Blue Lodge. 'Skills' must be memorized; it is a series of precise questions which are put to you and for which the answers must be broken down, close to word for word.
In some lodges, it is requested that these skills be demonstrated immediately, in front of the members in plenary. We took these tests during lodge sessions only.
I demonstrated my 3rd grade skills during the December program evening and it was an opportunity for the Venerable Master elect to establish me as his Young Assistant for the following year (1979). Tonight's test did not include oral exercise; then I was asked to present the teaching tools of the first three grades as well as the duties corresponding to these grades.
In 1980, I was working as a chaplain1. Holding this post involved a lot of memorization, circumambulations 2, prayers and a lot of other things. I also learned the duties of the Senior Deacon at several levels, etc. That summer, I focused on learning about the first degree courses I was going to give in the fall, after the summer break at the lodge.
During those first two years, I also had to memorize the teachings on the Apron.
In 1981, I was admitted as Junior Supervisor, thus becoming one of the three main managers of the lodge, it was my first appointment. If memory serves, I began submitting candidates that year. In other words, I exerted constraints in each of the degrees, played the role of Venerable Master during the rituals of initiations or advancement of the candidates. As my year as Senior Supervisor comes to an end (1982), I have already learned all about the work of the degree, which left me enough time to take care of the brothers from one of the grand lodges in Nevada in 1983. I did so as Venerable Master.
At the end of my year in the East, the apron of an Old Master was given to me. The title accompanying the said apron was also attributed to me. I do not remember that there was such a wonderful day in my life, put on by the day of my marriage, and those of the births of our two children. I felt both humble and yet very proud.
Regardless of the distinctive appearance and size of the Blue Lodge from which they were affiliated, the Old Masters represent the group of men most worthy of a lodge and now I was one of them! But something else happened in January 1984 that would definitely change my life. That special thing, I bless God, was Jesus Christ!
In the last days of December 1983, just after my tenure in office ended, my Lord and Savior began to reveal to me the truth about him and the truth about the lodge. He 1 The chaplain, or chaplain, is a priest in charge of a chapel or a “personal parish”:
noble house, linguistic community, school, movement, military unit, etc. ...
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapelain
2 Circumambulation consists of turning around a symbol or within it. It is a rite that can be found in many religions and beliefs.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumambulation showed me for example that the teachings of Freemasonry do not strengthen in the Christian faith nor do they bring me closer to Him. I was following heresies from an organization that invoked something called the Grand Architect of the Universe; he told me that GAOTU3, as they call him, is neither the Father, nor the Son, nor the Holy Spirit. Rather, a forged god that Muslims, Buddhists and other non-Christians are comfortable invoking. He showed me that instead of receiving the Truth from His Holy Word, I was rather amazed at the distortions of the Bible.
My decision to leave the lodge was not easy. She was influenced by several events. For two good weeks, my world had been turned upside down. Pros and cons overwhelmed me on both sides in the spiritual battle for which I was the field and the arbiter. I can remember the events that really troubled me. I decided to rationalize and to this day, some ailments remain unresolved such as:
At the beginning of the year I was Junior Warden, a Former Lodge Master, who was concurrently in charge of the Grand Lodge, could sit aside during the Lodge sessions and chat with one or two of his friends. Unfortunately, the name of the Lord was often spoken in vain in their conversations. One night I heard these words several times over a period of time. As it was refreshing, I confronted him under the Hall. In a few words, I said to him: 'If I still hear these words coming out of your mouth during the lodge, I will write about it and you will be kicked out of Masonry'. In all seriousness, I didn't even know if such a move was possible, but that's what came out of my mouth! You could hear a pin drop. Everyone who had heard this confrontation was shocked,
Instead, listen to the remarks that were addressed to me: 'After all Duane, he is Old Master'. 'After all Duane, he is an Officer of the Grand Lodge'. In all fairness, if it had been possible for me to collect my warnings and say them in private instead, I certainly would have done so, even as hers had been said openly in the lodge.
This is the way the Christian should do it. But I didn't have much of a Christian back then, even as I pretended to be. From then on, this incident became like a puzzle for me, for it seemed to me that the Masonic titles allowed him to blaspheme. Until today, I find it difficult to define the question.
As chaplain, one of my duties was to give thanks before meals during our monthly potluck. This dinner, which took place every fourth Friday of the month, was reserved for Admission to the Grade of Apprentice. This gave the members and their wives the opportunity to meet the new initiates and their families. I was not in a position to assume this obligation at the beginning of the year because of the travel time (I had a job outside the city). The first potluck that I supervised was educational and unpleasant, however. I said thanks before the meal and participated like everyone else. After dinner, a Former Master asked me to meet him in the room next to the lodge. It was there that he told me of his concern about the mistake I had made that evening.
Asking him for details, his response which would serve as a wake-up call and a warning to all Christians was: 'You prayed in the name of Jesus Christ'. 'How was that a problem?' I asked him. Il 3 GAOTU: Great / Grand Architect of the Universe - A Supreme Being responsible for the creation of the Universe; (freemasonry) A general term for Deity, whatever a person's belief system is.
replied, 'She might shock our Jewish members.' I then looked at the altar, where an open Bible was placed. I said to him: 'PM (no names needed), in a few moments we will start the work of the lodge with The Holy Bible on the altar - complete with the New Testament: what do our Jewish brethren think?' He replied, 'It doesn't matter, it could be a Quran. I replied, 'But THIS IS NOT the Quran . It is the Holy Bible '.
I was confused and moved away from him. This 'indication' was subsequently confirmed by the senior officer who approached us during our conversation. I asked myself later, 'what didn't I get in all of this?
This is how I realized for the first time that there was no mention of the name of Jesus Christ in the prayers I had to learn as Chaplain.
When I look back, I can recognize a set of things that justify my lack of judgment in this matter.
I now recognize that I was only a nominal Christian at that time. It is true that I was already baptized but with what motivations? Perhaps it was just an ordinary event of little interest, for it is obvious that my baptism was not a sign of a true acceptance of Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior. In addition, I was more focused on memorizing quantities of rituals rather than analyzing them to understand their deeper meanings.
I honestly admit that I was not alerted to the absence of the name of Jesus Christ in my prayers during the lodges until the moment I was FORBIDDEN TO PRAY in HIS NAME. This ban extended even to the potluck where the rituals of the lodge are absent.
Oddly enough, I didn't consider the prayers to be real prayers, it was nothing more than rituals. I memorized and we were trained to memorize word-for-word perfectly. I did not pray in the name of Jesus Christ during the lodges just because no prayer mentioned his precious name. I just learned and recited rituals.
However, I did not fail to be rational. When I prayed in the lodge, I knew to whom I was addressing my prayers. About the Quran? I don't care what happened in the other lodges. 'In MY lodge the Holy Bible is on the altar!' At the potluck the following month, I prayed so as not to offend anyone. After the meal, I called the PM aside and asked him if the prayer had been well done. He replied that everything had been perfect. I asked him if he thought any of our Jewish friends could have been offended in any way by the prayer. He replied: 'No' and assured me that everything had been done well. Then, dazedly, I asked him a question about the roast meat that the lodge had served as a main course; I asked: 'PM, tonight during the lesson, our new Masons will be taught - as soon as they are stationed on the northeast side of the lodge - that all lodges are dedicated to Saints John - Saint John of Jerusalem and Saint John the Baptist. Now touching on the question of Jesus Christ, we know CLEARLY the position of the two (John) don't we? ' This time the PM was the first to go.
I remember when I was a Senior Warden. At this level, I longed for the rank of Venerable Master. And this disturbed me enough already. I never saw myself as the Master of anyone and obviously I was far from Venerable. Shouldn't such a title be attributed to God and to God alone?
There was also this incident at church on a Sunday just after service. My wife and I were walking to our vehicle when we met a young man who worshiped with us and who was my son's teammate on the church softball team. As proud as I was to belong to a lodge, I gave myself the freedom to talk about it. The young man looked at me inquisitive, and said things like, 'Freemasonry is a sect'. Immediately, I had a sudden urge to slap him, but pulled myself together; I consoled myself by convincing myself that he was just ignorant. Today, it is clear that if anyone was misunderstood that day, it was certainly not the young man.
I remember the bloody, even deadly, vows I made. I remember how many times I administered them. It was revealed to me that these vows were contrary to the written Word of God. This same Word of God on which the Order claims to base its rituals, commands Matthew not to make any vows at all. Precisely, we must beware of wishes that could change the color of one of our hair. What about the horrible consequences of failing to meet obligations? : '… May my throat be slit, my tongue be torn, and my body buried in the sand of the sea at low tide…'; 'may my left breast be torn, my heart and my vital organs torn off, and my body given to the vultures…'; '… My torn body, my guts torn, etc., etc., etc.
Someone had to tell me that the sanctions were not in fact very serious and that their purpose was to incline the candidate to respect the obligations religiously. Not important ? If the penalties of the vows were light, then why swear in the name of God?
With the intense battle in me, I was going to experience more 'ups' and 'downs'. I could read negative things about the lodge in some Christian books. Checks made in my Masonic Bible, I encountered some twists of the lodge which made the truths nuanced.
However, when I turned to the Bible, I then realized that what I read in Christian books was genuine. But I consoled myself saying: 'it's just a fraternity'. It is not a church. I go to church on Sundays and I go to the lodge on Fridays, this is the difference '.
But something else came to mind. There is, for example, this memory of conversations I had with a man who was more senior than me. During the 'refreshments' we would talk about Freemasonry, lodge activities etc. One night he asked me, 'What does the lodge represent to you?' I thought about it for a moment and said, 'I don't really know how to say it, but I think if a man can't be a church member, he should at least be in a lodge. He nodded and smiled. On another similar occasion he asked me: 'How do you understand the second section of the Master Mason rank?' I said, 'You know what? that's what I've been thinking about for a while, and everything that comes to mind is death, burial and resurrection, just like the meaning of baptism in church. '
Once again he nodded and smiled.
One day I fell on my knees by the sides of my bed and cried out to God, in the name of Jesus Christ, that by His grace he would show me the truth. With my eyes closed, I heard a loud noise and saw the words: 'Blood Oaths', in red letters. It was His answer.
I stood on my knees, walked over to our living room, and sat down. I was shaking. I knew at that moment that it didn't matter anymore that the majority of my family were in the lodge. I also knew that it didn't matter anymore that so many colleagues and employers were Masons.
I also knew that I didn't care now that my associates for the last five years turned their backs on me following the decision I was about to make. Because we were certainly Brother Masons, but we were not just, we were only a gathering of fallible people.
I got back to my knees. I was crying, I was devastated. I cried out to God in the name of Jesus Christ, begging him to forgive me if I had offended him. I heard, 'Yes Duane, you offended Me and yes, I forgive you'.
I submitted my letter of resignation to the lodge and a day or two later began to receive calls, especially from Old Masters for whom I had the greatest respect. They were pleading that I did not go far in my decision. The first made some moving remarks. After I explained to him that my reasons for leaving Freemasonry were related to the Bible and to my new faith in Jesus Christ, he continued and told me three things:
• You don't need to believe in everything that you read in the Bible;
• Christianity is a religion invented by people of a certain time (ie the Roman Empire), as an instrument of manipulation of populations, in order to keep them submissive and not rebellious;
• There is no evidence that a person named Jesus Christ ever existed…
A day or two later, another Old Master called me. He explained to me how useful my knowledge of rituals was in the lodge, etc. We walked for a while and in all fairness he was close to winning me over. But I told him what I had been told by the first Old Master and his response was: 'Oh no, Duane, Oh no. No, he's wrong. It is true that Jesus existed and that He was a good man.
Among two of the three Old Masters whom I held in great esteem at that time, one knew Jesus simply as a good man; the other didn't even know if He existed.
Which means that neither of them really knew him.
I know who He is, and I have no doubt that he is alive. He is my Lord and my Savior and He lives in me. I cannot grasp what my status was on that Christmas night many years ago when I experienced death, burial, and resurrection in the baptismal font of a church in Yuma, Arizona, and I tremble. when I consider the intention behind the symbolic death, burial and resurrection that I experienced in the Masonic Lodge in Las Vegas, Nevada. But what I do know is that on Friday January 13, 1984, on my knees in my dining room, when I cried out to the True and Living God for His forgiveness, He forgave me - without conditions, without obligations. And when I asked Jesus Christ to come back into my life, He come.
I'm not perfect. God only knows how corrupt and sinful I have been. On my best day, every effort to imitate my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, every good works effort ended in waste offering. But in the worst of my days, by His grace and love, I am forgiven. Amen.
Outside the lodge, members call him 'A good man', 'a great reformer', 'a peerless teacher', etc., but they never recognize him as Mighty God, Lord God Almighty. , Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of All, or King of kings inside the lodge and that is why I am no longer going there. Prayers are not the only problem, not even the most concerning. Because for the believer in Jesus Christ, 'forgetting' to mention the precious name of Jesus may pass, but VOLUNTARILY OMITTING His name is overt rejection.
I regret, God my Father, to have willingly omitted Your name in prayers. My prayers O Precious Jesus, whether in private or before an assembly gathered in Your name, will never again be made to please the pagans, but will be according to the Holy Spirit. I will certainly pray for the souls of those who despise you, but I will recognize your Supreme Authority in all things. I beg again to forgive myself and make you a promise that I will not go back. In the name of Jesus Christ and for His glory, in the name of the Lord God Jehovah, in the precious name of Adonai, in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I pray, Amen.
My name: Duane Washum. I am an Ex-Mason for Jesus. This was my testimony. Thank you Jesus.
Duane Washum may be contacted by email or letter at In Search of Light Ministries Box 28702 Las Vegas, NV 89126 This translation is the work of:
Amour de Christ from the 'Children of Paradise' Blog address: www.amourdechrist.canalblog .com The original of this testimony is in English at the following address:
http://www.emfj.org//washum.htm
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