I don't agree at all, and I"m sticking to the FACTS with proof.
Again Albert Pike's book - Morals and Dogma.
Every Masonic Lodge is a Temple of religion; and its teachings are instructions in religion (pg 213)
"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 its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish Souls? Doubt it not!" -Page 321.
(Freemasons search for "light" or Illumination)
"To make this also their motto: Do that which thou oughtest to do; let the result be what it will." -Page 333 (This is very similar to the wiccan creed of "Do what thou wilt" and also Aliester Crowley who made the motto "Do what thy wilt shall be the whole of the law". This contradicts "thy will be done" and promotes one making themselves God, as lucifer did.)
Couple just those few things with the pentagrams used the oaths sworn, and twisting that Lucifer and Jesus are one in the same, and you have yourself a gnostic/luciferian church.
And I think I and others in this thread have answered all of your claims made about Pike, Masons, etc.
And Lucifer, as we have explained already was never originally the name of the Devil. There's even a Lucifer of Italy, as I pointed out before, who is venerated as a Saint by some, at least in the Roman Catholic church. He was a renowned fierce opponent of heresy. You clearly don't understand the history of the word lucifer.
As for your quote from pg 321, how about providing a little more context for those words. Like so:
The Apocalypse is, to those who receive the nineteenth Degree, the Apothesis of that Sublime Faith which aspires to God alone, and despises all the pomps and works of Lucifer. 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 its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, for traditions are full of sensual or selfish Souls ? Doubt it not! Divine Revelations and Inspirations: and Inspiration is not of one Age nor of one Creed. Plato and Philo, also, were inspired. The Apocalypse, indeed, is a book as obscure as the Sohar. It is written hieroglyphically with numbers and images; and the Apostle often appeals to the intelligence of the Initiated. “Let him who hath knowledge, understand! let him who understands, calculate !” he often says, after an allegory or the mention of a number. Saint John, the favorite Apostle, and the Depositary of all the Secrets of the Saviour, therefore did not write to be understood by the multitude.Now we know that Lucifer, as in the Devil, can appear as an angel of light, and that his light can blind the feeble. We know that the churches throughout history (traditions) have had their share of believers who have been selfish and sensual at one time or another in their lives (just as those who are not Christian have been) leaving them open to being led astray by the Devil's false light. Also, Pike is clearly surprised that the name "Lucifer" is associated with the Prince of Darkness.
And we have proof, furthermore, that the word "lucifer" with a lowercase letter L is used to refer to Jesus. See here:
2 Peter 1:1919 Et habemus firmiorem propheticum sermonem : cui benefacitis attendentes quasi lucernæ lucenti in caliginoso loco donec dies elucescat, et lucifer oriatur in cordibus vestris:In English:
19 And we have the more firm prophetical word: whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.From that "day star" link:
The name Lucifer originally denotes the planet Venus, emphasizing its brilliance. The Vulgate employs the word also for "the light of the morning" (Job 11:17), "the signs of the zodiac" (Job 38:32), and "the aurora" (Psalm 109:3). Metaphorically, the word is applied to the King of Babylon (Isaiah 14:12) as preeminent among the princes of his time; to the high priest Simon son of Onias (Ecclesiasticus 50:6), for his surpassing virtue, to the glory of heaven (Apocalypse 2:28), by reason of its excellency; finally to Jesus Christ himself (2 Peter 1:19; Apocalypse 22:16; the "Exultet" of Holy Saturday) the true light of our spiritual life.But,
and this is a critical distinction, when Jesus is referred to as "lucifer" it is always with a lower case l. Jesus is
NEVER referred to as "
Lucifer" with a capital L. The Devil, meanwhile, is the capital L Lucifer. Albert Pike is referring to the capital L Lucifer in his text, as we can plainly see.
As for your page 333 quote:
Urge upon your Brethren the teaching and the unostentatious practice of the morality of the Lodge, without regard to times, places, religions, or peoples.
Urge them to love one another, to be devoted to one another, to be faithful to the country, the government, and the laws: for to serve the country is to pay a dear and sacred debt:
To respect all forms of worship, to tolerate all political and religious opinions; not to blame, and still less to condemn the religion of others: not to seek to make converts; but to be content if they have the religion of Socrates; a veneration for the Creator, the religion of good works, and grateful acknowledgment of God’s blessings:
To fraternize with all men; to assist all who are unfortunate; and to cheerfully postpone their own interests to that of the Order: To make it the constant rule of their lives, to think well, to speak well, and to act well:
To place the sage above the soldier, the noble, or the prince: and take the wise and good as their models: To see that their professions and practice, their teachings and conduct, do always agree:
To make this also their motto: Do that which thou oughtest to do; let the result be what it will.
Such, my Brother, are some of the duties of that office which you have sought to be qualified to exercise. May you perform them well; and in so doing gain honor for yourself, and advance the great cause of Masonry, Humanity, and Progress. The key difference between "Do what thou wilt" and "Do that which thou oughtest to do: let the result be what it will" is that the former, Wiccan motto does not use the word "ought". In the context of the latter, Mason motto, placed in the greater context of the preceding passage from Pike's book, the word ought implies that the person the passage applies to has some obligations or duties to fulfill, which are listed in the preceding sentences before the motto. In other words, the person in charge ought to fulfill these duties and not worry about what the result will be. The Masons themselves, particularly the leadership, are not permitted to do what they wilt.
Now, as I said, I do have problems with freemasonry, namely the ecumenism and the implication that all religions are equal (indifferentism). Furthermore, I do see possible elements of gnosticism in freemasonry, and the Pike passages I quoted may imply some of this. The page 213 passage that you mentioned is, in particular, a troublesome one, especially if they really do treat all religions as equal.
However, let's be careful to distinguish what they are not. They are not a church or cult which worships the Devil, and they are not some sinister group bent on world domination. I don't see elements of the occult here (though doubtless there are masonic occultists), just the possible embracing of a few heresies. The Freemasons, by all that I see, are at worst a deistic association that is a relic of the Enlightenment era. If you read
Morals and Dogma, I think you can see this.
As for the pentagrams, I believe others have spoken well enough about this subject, so I will not go into much detail. The pentagram is not something unique to Freemasonry, and neither is it purely a modern Pagan/Wiccan symbol either. Christians once wore them to symbolize the five wounds of Christ. The first recorded usage of it was in ancient Sumer. The Christians even though that their pentagrams would keep demons away!
I mean, I hesitate to recommend this, and it certainly wasn't my only source in providing all that I have written in this post, but a quick trip to Wikipedia on some of these topics could clear up some of what you are saying.