Rev Wayne
Simplicity + Sincerity = Serenity
I've never seen the Art DeHoyos/Brent Morris work discussed on your website. Nor have I seen there where you have countered any of the points Webber made earlier on the page.
I'm afraid your attempted dismissal of Webber is not valid refutation, nor is your supposed claim. Instead of such gruffness, you could simply state the matter calmly and plainly, that you refuse to answer.
For two years I have debated issues with you, and tried to help you see the errors of your interpretation of Masonry. The effort has been fruitless, you still make the same accusations, and still have the same errors of understanding concerning Freemasonry.
During those two years, you have continually addressed issues as though I were trying to spread Freemasonry through the church, or trying to encourage people to join the Lodge, or to accept Freemasonry "in place of" the Gospel. You have never accepted the simple fact that I believe the same Gospel you do, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God, fully God and fully man, who came in the Incarnation to show us the Father, who was crucified on Calvary for my sins, who has accepted and pardoned me, filled me with His Spirit, and has called me to serve as a minister to His flock.
This I do to the best of my ability. Like the minister you mentioned a couple of pages back, I do not mention Freemasonry in the Church at all. Nor would I consider that an appropriate action. When I am in the pulpit, I preach Jesus and the way of the Cross. When I teach devotional lessons to our daycare kids, I am teaching them the stories of Jesus, the Son of God, who died for our sins. When our visioning team comes together in the coming months, and we begin to get serious about evangelism and witnessing, I will be teaching them from the primary mission statement we have adopted, which is also the declared mission statement of our denomination, "Making disciples for Christ." When I am approached for counseling, I will continue, as always, to counsel them to the best of my ability, in the things Jesus has taught us in His Word.
I have benefited greatly from the influence and witness of the Christian character of church members and pastors who just happened to have been Masons. None of these ever mentioned the first word about Freemasonry to me either. It was the unmistakable and remarkable Christian character of these men, and their influence upon my life, that has, to a large extent, made me the Christian I profess to be today.
By a remarkable coincidence that only God could have brought about, many of them died within a short time span, and it was from obituary notices and conference pastors' manuals that I found out in a very short time period that practically egvery person who had ever touched my life for Christ during my formative years, had also been Masons.
The Christian character and the testimony of the lives of these men, stood out so far and above that of all others in my experience, that I could only deduce a connection between the two, and one that was tremendously for the positive.
But as I said, that influence was not an influence for Masonry, it was an influence for Christ.
And I have come to the realization that to continue to debate with you is fruitless, you will not change your mind on anything at all, you have shown this, even though much of what you support and the manner in which you support it, have been shown to be based on intentionally created lies and mischaracterizations. Nor will continuing to point these facts out to you make any difference, you have clearly thrown your lot in with the Ankerbergs and the Weldons and the Chicks and the Ickes of the world.
My basic rationale for continuing to endure the ascerbic insults and accusations that must be waded through in order to debate with you at all, has been your basic premise that Freemasons are automatically non-Christian. Not only is that far from the truth, many of the Masons I have known are far better and more-committed Christians than most Christians are in general. That was a major sticking point with me when I felt that God wanted me to join, and I echoed with Mary, "How can these things be?" But He has shown me far more than enough to be convincing, and anyway, He knows the road that I take, especially since He has laid out the steps.
The time and effort involved in continuing any discussion with you has proven long ago to be unprofitable. Certainly I have received more than enough positive feedback by PMs encouraging me to continue, and expressing appreciation for many of the comments I have shared. But there comes a point when the benefit of defending for Christian Masons has to be weighed in light of the time spent in the effort. Clearly these guys can fend for themselves pretty well, Webber is a prime example of it. And I have no further need to point out that Masons can be Christians, many of them do so and serve Him well, they are all around us.
I simply commend you to Christ and His care. If you truly serve the Lord Jesus in your efforts, you serve Him well, with fervency and zeal. I serve the same Lord Jesus Christ, and I try also to serve with fervency and zeal. But my eyes are now opened to see that other pursuits for Christ need to take priority at this time, so I seek to make the best use of the time He gives. May that be true of all of us who serve the same Lord Jesus Christ as well.
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