Latter-day Templar

Blog Posts MasonicFind What I Learned During My Year as a Worshipful Master What It's Like Being the Worshipful Master of a Lodge? The History Between Freemasonry & the Mormon Church What is the Role of a Worshipful Master in a Masonic Lodge? Who Speaks Authoritatively for Freemasonry? Why do Freemasons Refer to Each Other as "Brother"? Can Non-Masons Wear Masonic Symbols? Masonic Justice (Masonic Virtues Series) Why Do Masonic Lodges Have Altars? How Can Masonic Lodges Increase Membership? How to Leave Freemasonry (The Right Way) Spanish version: El modo correcto de dejar la masonería Why the Volume of Sacred Law is Important to a Freemason Is Freemasonry a Cult (& Can Christians Pray in Lodge)? What is a High Priest in Royal Arch Masonry? The Benefits & Costs of Being a Part of a Small Grand Lodge 7 Ritual Memorization Tips for Freemasons Why are American Lodges Dedicated to the Holy Saints John? 5 Wrong Reasons to Become a Freemason The Order of the Pug (A ...

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I was directed this morning to a post by Mormon Stories  entitled "Temple Ceremony/Masonry." Despite the controversy surrounding John Dehlin, I feel that if this misinformative article from his organization is being used, then a response certainly needs to be made to correct its false claims. LDS temples play an integral part in the Mormon experience, hosting the religion’s most sacred rituals and ordinances. So far, not so bad (aside from the improper terms being used to describe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Only members who have participated in a multi-tier personal interview process with patriarchal leaders are granted permission to enter. This is most members of the Church. The interview process consists of two interviews: with one's bishopric or branch presidency; the other with one's stake presidency or district presidency. The interview consists of a small series of questions to determine whether the Church member believes in Jesus Christ...

Today a link was shared with me that goes to a video entitled " Mormons and Freemasonry, a Satanic Cult ." For some reason, I was expecting something new; not only were these expectations not reached, but I found that over half of the video is dedicated to other subjects completely irrelevant to the Church's relationship with Freemasonry. The video wastes the viewer's time by starting off talking about how Joseph found his seer stone (a topic that is completely irrelevant to the subject of Freemasonry). The video later makes the following claim: "On March 15, 1842, Joseph joined the Masons, which is an organization that believes that Jesus is not divine, and is on the same level as Buddha, Mohammed, or any other religious teacher." This is a false claim. Freemasonry does not advocate any such belief, given that it is neither a religion nor a substitute for one . Since Freemasonry is not a religion, it does not take any stance concerning Christ being on a hig...

Over the past few years, a user on Reddit's ExMormon community has been posting, deleting, and reposting the same thing over and over again. So I decided to take to my blog so that I can just repost a link containing my response any time I come across the same claims that pretend to be uncontested. "Did you know that prior to April of 1990 members used to pantomime in the Temple slitting their own throats and disemboweling themselves? "… "Did you know that members used to say[,] 'I suffer my life to be taken' if they broke the Covenant and obligation of Secrecy they were taking?" This was referred to as the symbolic penalty and is a part of the Masonic teaching method . Just as in Masonry, it was only ever symbolic (in this case, of the importance/value of our covenants with God) and was never carried out by Church authority. By this portion of the ceremony, the value of sacred things was instilled into the culture of the Church. "Did you know that...

As a Latter-day Saint, I have been directed more than once by enemies and critics of the Church to " Chapter XVIX: Masonry and the Mormon Temple Ceremony ." As a Freemason, I find this webpage appalling for three reasons: William Morgan is referenced as if he were a credible source; this despite the facts that: He was never a Captain in the American military , yet still he used the title (stolen valor) He lied his way into a Royal Arch chapter by pretending to be a Freemason (which he later admitted was not the case) . It makes various claims about Freemasonry that simply are not true, such as: There is no such thing as a washing ceremony in Freemasonry. There is no representative impersonation of Adam in Freemasonry. Note that the website provides a source for this claim: the Knight of the Sun  degree. This is a degree of the Scottish Rite, which is a body appendant/concordant to Masonry. This organization was not yet available in Illinois in Joseph Smith, Jr’s day nor befor...

On March 1 this year I had the opportunity to be interviewed by David Snell for the YouTube channel Saints Unscripted . It was just published earlier this week and can be found here . I had a lot of fun interacting with David and also with Jake Watson, the videographer for the channel.