So where did we go wrong? How did the America of today fall so far from its Judeo-Christian roots? Today we blame America’s problems on Democrats, Republicans, immigrants, Islam, the wealthy, the poor, neocons, etc. Each of these and many more reasons are given to explain America’s downward spiral, but none of these really explain why immorality exploded in the 20th century.
Although a Judeo-Christian world view sees mankind as fallen and naturally inclined to lawlessness and rebellion, America, up until the early 1900’s still had a cultural code based in Biblical morality. America’s colleges, schools, and universities in many cases were founded by deeply religious people with a Biblical world view in mind. Then something happened which undermined the religious foundation of our society.
Sadly, the catalyst for this “separation” of religion from public life came nearly a century earlier as a result (in part) of a power struggle between Protestants and Catholics. In a particularly ironic twist Protestants in their animosity towards the Catholic Church led the charge to disallow the “sectarian” use of public funds for religious education. Author Paul Fisher explains:
“Protestant preachers urged their members to preserve the nation from the blight of Romanism, asserting that the Valley of the Mississippi was to be either a sacred depository or sepulcher for their own religious and Christian principles, which now were endangered by the Roman Catholic Church.17
Among the most notable opponents of the rise of Catholicism in the West was the famous Boston Presbyterian clergyman, Rev. Lyman Beecher. On August 11, 1834, following a series of anti-Catholic sermons by Beecher, the Ursuline Convent at Charlestown, a Boston suburb, was set afire and sacked by a mob. Even the cemetery was violated: graves were dug up, coffins were opened, and their contents exposed.18
In his best-selling book, A Plea For The West, the Boston clerical firebrand wrote: ” . . .the conflict which is to decide the destiny of the West will be a conflict of institutions for the education of her sons, for the purposes of superstition, or evangelical light; of despotism or liberty.”19
He insisted that the Catholic clergy, because of their “unlimited power” over the consciences of the immigrants, “would exert decisive political influence.” He further warned:
If we do not provide the schools which are requisite for the cheap and effectual education of the children of the nation, it is perfectly certain that the Catholic powers of Europe intend to make up the deficiency, and there is no reason to doubt that they will do it, until, by immigration and Catholic education, education, we become to such an extent a Catholic nation, that with their peculiar power of acting as one body, they will become the predominant power of the nation.20….
On August 19, 1835, an editorial appeared in the Detroit Journal and Courier, a Whig publication, which said foreigners and Catholics were “chosen instruments of the demagogues to strengthen and perpetuate their ruinous influence over the people of this country.”22
A public school teacher in Buffalo taught the children under his care that “the Catholics, no matter where they dwell, are considered lower in the scale of mental cultivation and refinement than the Protestant,” and that “the degradation is due to their being deprived of the Bible by their priesthood.”23 (Fisher, Paul A.. Behind The Lodge Door: The Church, State and Freemasonry in America TAN Books. Kindle Edition.)
For nearly 100 years this sectarian animosity between Protestants and Catholics was fueled behind the scenes by Masonry as a means to separate religion from public life. By the late 1800’s the animosity had grown to such an extent that it provided futile grounds for the founding of the American Protective Association (APA) by 32nd degree Freemason Henry Bowers. Paul Fisher comments on the founding of the APA:
“The APA’s statement of principles said membership in the Catholic Church “is irreconcilable with American citizenship,” and that he organization was opposed “to the holding of offices in Nation, State, or Municipal government by any subject or supporter of such ecclesiastical power.”
In 1889 the National League for the Protection of American Institutions (NLPAI) was found which built upon the anti Catholic rhetoric promoted by the APA. It’s stated goals in part read, “to secure constitutional and legislative safeguards for the protection of the common school system…and to prevent all sectarian or denominational appropriations of public funds.”
Due largely to success of Catholic missionaries in their efforts amongst the native American Indians, the Board of Managers of the League and Commissioners of Indian Affairs were instrumental in the passage of the Enabling Act of 1889. This act required the constitutions of new states admitted to the union to prohibit the use of public funds for sectarian (Catholic) purposes.
Keep in mind again in the context of 1889 “sectarian” was the code word for Catholicism. In 1896 the Indian Appropriations Bill was introduced in the Senate which prohibited the sectarian use of public funds for the education of Indian children. As quoted by Paul Fisher, Nebraska Senator William Allen, one of the lonely and courageous voices of reason at the time, had this to say about the bill:
I was in hopes that the time had passed in this country when sectarian bigotry would make its appearance in the Congress of the United States, and when any man could be moved to give utterance to sentiments that possibly he is not willing to express on all occasions in consequence of the particular or peculiar political situation existing at this time.
I am not a Catholic. I am the son of a Protestant minister. Whatever religious education I have came from Protestant parents and teachers. But I supposed the time had come . . .when no man is to be arraigned in this country in consequence of his religious faith, and when every man and woman may be permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his or her own conscience without being arraigned or charged with entertaining a belief that is hostile to the perpetuity of American institutions and American freedom.
I know of no organization that has done more to bring about civilization in this country than the Catholic Church. I am not its advocate; I am not a member of it; and I cannot say that I have any more sympathy with it than I have for any other church. In fact, my sympathies go out to the church of my father and mother. [But] when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock they found the missionaries of this church scattered among the barbarous tribes of this country. They had preceded the landing of the Pilgrims and the landing of the immigrants at Jamestown. They were carrying the Gospel among the heathen of this country; they were devoted to the work of civilizing and bringing the Gospel of Christ to the uncivilized tribes inhabiting this country.
We may disagree, as to church creeds, as to church government; we may disagree as to the proper construction to be placed upon certain passages of the Scriptures; but we certainly cannot disagree upon the question that the time has come in this country . . .when no man is to be proscribed, directly or indirectly, in consequence of any religious faith he may entertain.113 (Fisher, Paul A.. Behind The Lodge Door: The Church, State and Freemasonry in America (Kindle Locations 1692-1697). TAN Books. Kindle Edition.)
Although this anti-sectarian (catholic) sentiment was the foundation upon which Masonry began its assault on Christianity in public sphere, it wasn’t until the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt that the Masonic goal of total separation of church and state came within grasp.
Up until the presidency of Mr. Roosevelt rarely more that 2 or 3 justices of the Supreme Court were Masons. But by the end of Roosevelt’s presidency, court was comprised of a majority of Masons. From 1941-1971 there were at least five Mason on the court. From 1949-1957 seven or eight of the justices were Masons.
If we had to point to one man as the catalyst for the moral decline of America in the 20th century, Franklin D. Roosevelt, a 33 degree FreeMason, would be an auspicious candidate. His packing of the Supreme Court with Masons had a profound influence on church and state in American life and it was the subsequent court rulings which lead to the rapid decline in American morality. Again Mr. Fisher explains:
“Masons dominated the high bench from 1941 to 1971. That was an era when traditional Judeo-Christian values were removed from the curricula of public schools—and from public life generally. That amazing (and rarely discussed) facet of American jurisprudence was discovered completely by accident when the author was conducting research on the religion clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution. “
…”Careful study showed that the Court’s 1947 Everson decision1 was the keystone opinion upon which almost all subsequent religion-clause cases have been based. However, close scrutiny of the clause and the history of its conception and adoption failed to uncover convincing evidence to support the Court’s view that the Constitution erected a “wall” which separates things religious from things civil in our society. For example, neither Constitutional history nor legal precedent prior to Everson support the following words frequently quoted from the majority opinion in that decision: “The ‘establishment of religion’ clause of the First Amendment means at least this: . . .
No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion . . . In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect ‘a wall of separation between church and State.’ Reynolds v. United States, supra at 164.”2
Following Everson, the Court repeatedly leaned on the “wall” to impose its will, and prohibited public financial assistance to children attending schools teaching traditional religious values. As a consequence, the high bench: outlawed released time for children to attend religious classes within public school buildings;3 declared atheism and secular humanism to be religions protected by the First Amendment;4 prohibited recitation of prayer in public schools, even though the prayer in question was approved by leaders of the three major faiths in the United States;5 and banned recitation of the “Our Father” and oral Bible reading as religious religious exercises in public schools.6 Related cases denied State funds to religious-oriented schools for teaching aids, periodicals, maps, etc.; banned singing of Christmas carols in public schools; prohibited public school teachers from teaching in religious schools; and held that a law permitting employees to observe the Sabbath as a day of rest impermissibly advanced a particular religious practice, and thus violated the religion clause.
Those decisions by the Court seemed to demonstrate a bias in favor of a totally secularist society, and my research could uncover no convincing evidence that the First Amendment ever was intended to quarantine religion from public life, a proposition being advanced suddenly by the Court in the 1940s. The Court’s curious tilt stirred nagging questions: Why did the high bench suddenly take up an interminable series of religion-clause cases in the middle of the 20th Century? (Fisher, Paul A.. Behind The Lodge Door: The Church, State and Freemasonry in America (Kindle Locations 111-119). TAN Books. Kindle Edition.
A Religious Coup
As already noted, Mr. Fisher discovered the answer to his “nagging” questions in the efforts of Masonry. It was Masonry and its religion of secular humanism that undermined the Judeo-Christian values upon which America was founded. Indeed Masonry executed a silent religious coup in America in the mid 1900’s, thus imposing the religion of secular humanism on America. American public schools and universities soon became tax payer funded temples of secular humanism which have aggressively undermined Judeo-Christian morality in our society.
In 1946 the Masonic magazine The New Age quoted French premier Andre Tardeiu regarding the influence of Masonry in history:
“Freemasonry does not explain everything; yet, if we leave it out of account, the history of our times is unintelligible.”
It is incredibly important to keep in mind here that secular humanism is the religion of Masonry. If you need a refresher, read the following quotes keeping in mind that between 1941-1971 men who had sworn multiple bloods oaths to the tenants of Masonry and its religious world view held a majority on the United States Supreme Court:
Masonry directs us to divest ourselves of confined and bigoted notions [Christianity], and teaches us, that Humanity is the soul of Religion. We never suffer any religious disputes in our Lodges, and, as Masons, we only pursue the universal religion, the Religion, of Nature. (William J. Hutchinson (1732-1814) Mastor of the Concord Masonic Lodge.)
“The only personal god Freemasonry accepts is humanity in total. God, the Great Architect of the Universe, personifies himself through man. Humanity, therefore, is the only personal god there is.” (Mystic Masonry, by 33 degree Freemason Dr. J. D. Buck (1838-1916)
“The keynote of Masonic religious thinking is naturalism which sees all life and thought as ever developing and evolutionary…The Bible is not today what it once was. Current higher criticism has made obsolete the idea that the Bible is a unique revelation of supernatural truth.” (33rd Degree Freemason Leonard A. Wenz, New Age Magazine February 1968)
“Freemasonry has taught each man can, by himself works out his own conception of God and thereby achieve salvation” Freemasonry: Its Aims and Ideals, J. S. M. Ward, p 187)
“Man is never closer to God than when he kneels, spiritually naked, at the altar of Freemasonry” (Masonic Services Association vol. 19 p. 14)
“Masonry is identical to the ancient Mysteries” (33 degree Freemason Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma p. 624)
“…every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion; and its teachings are instruction in religion.” (33 degree Freemason Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma p. 213)
“The truth is that Masonry is undoubtedly a religious institution, its religion being of that universal kind in which all men agree” (Albert Mackey 33rd degree Mason “Textbook of Masonic Jurisdiction p.95)
“Man is God in the making” (33 degree Freemason Manley P. Hall, Lost Keys of Freemasonry p. 92)
“The dunces [apostles] who led primitive Christianity astray, by substituting faith for science, reverie for experience, the fantastic for reality… have succeeded in shrouding in darkness the ancient discoveries of the human mind.” (33 degree Freemason Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma p. 732)
The Edge of the Abyss
Today, thanks in no small part to the secret machinations of Freemasonry, America stands at the edge of a moral abyss. Indeed, Masonry does not explain everything, but America’s decent into immorality cannot be understood without seeing the great influence Masonry played in the departure from our Christian roots.
As Christians today we must not underestimate the adversary or his devices. I started this series by showing that humanism is the false religion Satan introduced to mankind in Eden. This article has focused on secular humanism and Masonry as one of its most influential proponents of this world view.
A century ago the adversary with the help of Masonry used American Protestants and Catholics against each other resulting in the loss of religious freedom in the public sphere. Into this religious vacuum secular humanism was forced with a vengeance and it has since become the official religion of America.
Today the adversary has pulled out the old play book of religious sectarian conflict. It’s no longer Protestants versus the Catholics, but Christians versus Islam. Instead of promoting the “dangers” of Catholic immigration we are obsessed with immigrants from Islamic countries. Instead of claiming Catholics are a threat to democracy and the social fabric of America as our ancestors did a hundred years ago, our anger is directed towards Muslims. My questions is once the dust settles on this sectarian conflict what freedoms will Americas be required to forfeit this time? I think an honest appraisal of the events since September 11, 2001, will lead to the conclusions that we are forfeiting personal liberty in our new war on religious “terror”.
Listen, I’m not saying that Islamic terrorism is not a real threat or that our borders should be open without reasonable laws and standards for entry, but we must not allow ourselves to be caught up in the passion of the moment and forget who the real enemy is here. Remember we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world.
The real battle today is against Mystery Babylon and Satan’s original lie of humanism and its many faces.
We must not lose our perspective. While we raise our hands in horror over the 25,000 precious lives lost in predominantly Islamic terrorist attacks in the past year, we remain hypocritically silent about the 1,000,000 children murdered in our own country each year and the 40,000,000 murdered worldwide because of secular humanists preaching that mankind is just a product of biological evolution.
Bible Prophecy and Mystery Babylon
Today amongst students of Bible prophecy we must acknowledge our own culpability in the advancement of Mystery Babylon and its secular humanist doctrines. While we waste our energy pointing to the Catholic Church or Islam as the great Harlot of Mystery Babylon, secular humanists craft the final pieces of Satan’s end-times deception. In the coming days I encourage you to look passed the cosmetic attempts to paint Catholicism or Islam as a fulfillment of Bible prophecy and instead carefully guard yourselves against the secular humanist deception which has grown to maturity in our generation. The day is soon coming when the secular humanist “god man” will arrive on the scene and many will be deceived because they will be looking for a Roman pope or Islamic Mahdi.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)
Symbols of the Harlot
In what I hope to be the last installment of this series, YHWH willing, next time we will look at the symbols and symbolism of Mystery Babylon and its daughters. Since Satan’s original lie those who follow the tenants of humanism have communicated with symbols and often it provides the careful observer a way to identify those people and organizations which share a secular humanist world view.
The Mystery Babylon Series
Part 1 The Mother of Harlots
Part 2 The Religion of the Harlot
Part 3 Babylon and the Harlot
Part 4 Conspiracies of the Harlot – Part I
Part 5 Conspiracies of the Harlot – Part II
Part 6 Symbols of the Harlot – Part I
Part 7 Symbols of the Harlot – Part II
Part 8 Symbols of the Harlot – Part III
Part 9 Symbols of the Harlot – Part IV
Part 10 Symbols of the Harlot – Part V
Part 11 Homo Deus
*Authors Note – In this article I drew heavily from Paul Fisher’s book, Behind the Lodge Door: Church, State and Freemasonry in America. I would recommend the book for anyone who is genuinely interested in how Freemasonry influenced laws concerning the practice of religion in America. Another great book related to Masonry is John Daniel’s, Scarlet and the Beast: The History of the War Between English and French Freemasonry. This rather large three volume tome is a great historical resource. I would encourage you though, to verify each of the author’s sources and theories for yourself as I’ve found some of the information to be incredible or unverifiable.
