THE REVEREND RON CARLSON
False words are not
only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.
--Plato
The Reverend Ron Carlson(69) is president of Christian Ministries International
in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He is a professional anti-Mason in that
he partially supports himself and his ministry by selling audio cassettes
of his sermons in which he "exposes" the secrets of Masonry. The quotations
that follow come from one such cassette sermon, "Freemasonry and the
Masonic Lodge," which appears to have been preached in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Early in his sermon he establishes his credentials and objectivity:
Now understand
that what I am going to say tonight is not from anti-Masonic writings.
I have spent two years almost full time researching Freemasonry and
the Masonic lodge. What we are going to be sharing tonight is from
the authoritative works of Masons themselves.(70)
In concluding his sermon,
Rev. Carlson summarizes the results of his research, "Freemasonry is
not of God, it's from the pit of Hell."(71)
His years of study
lead us to expect a higher standard of research and documentation than
from other critics. His position as a minister of the gospel lets us
expect a love of truth and a sense of fairness. His promise to use "authoritative
works of Masons" lets us expect accurate, factual statements. These
expectations are not met.
A Sin to
Divulge the Truth
Let me read for
you what Albert Pike says, page five hundred and forty-five, concerning
revealing any of the secrets, quote:
All the mysteries
should be kept concealed, guarded by faithful silence, lest it should
be inconsiderately divulged to the ears of the Profane. He sins against
God who divulges to the unworthy the Mysteries confided to him. The
danger is not merely in violating the truth, but in telling the truth.
Albert Pike says
it is a sin to divulge the truth. Now how different this is from what
we read in God's word.(72)
Ironically, the truth is
that Ron Carlson is not quoting Albert Pike. Here is what Pike actually
wrote in Morals and Dogma (unacknowledged
omissions by Rev. Carlson are struck out).
St. Ambrose,
Archbishop of Milan, who was born in 340, and died in 393, says in
his work De Mysteriis: "All the Mystery should be
kept concealed, guarded by faithful silence, lest it should be inconsiderately
divulged to the ears of the Profane. . . . It is
not given to all to contemplate the depths of our Mysteries . . .
that they may not be seen by those who ought not to behold them; nor
received by those who cannot preserve them." And in another work:
"He sins against God, who divulges to the unworthy the Mysteries confided
to him. The danger is not merely in violating the truth, but in telling
truth, if he allows himself to give hints of them to those
from whom they ought to be concealed. . . . Beware of casting
pearls before swine! Every Mystery ought to be kept secret; and, as
it were, to be covered over by silence, lest it should rashly be divulged
to the ears of the Profane. Take heed that you do not incautiously
reveal the Mysteries!"
Pike was clearly quoting
St. Ambrose on what he taught regarding the Christian Mysteries. It
was, we find, a Christian Father who said it was a sin to tell the truth.
We here discover that the Pastor himself is guilty of what he accuses
Masonic authorities of doing--he lies to the unwitting.
Rev. Carlson further
compounds his deception as he gleefully tells his audience that
Albert Pike says
it is a sin to divulge the truth. Now how different this is from what
we read in God's word. Jesus says, "You shall know the truth, and
the truth shall set you free." Jesus said, "I am the Truth." He said,
"Go unto all the world and proclaim this good news." But the Masons
say, "No, it is a sin for you to reveal truth."(73)
If we analyze Pastor Carlson's
statement we find:
(1) He claims
to be quoting Albert Pike when he was in fact quoting St. Ambrose,
a Christian Father.
(2) He claims
that the supposed words of Pike represent universal Masonic teachings
by stating, "But the Masons say. . . ."
(3) He ignores
that Pike wrote in his preface that "every one is entirely free to
reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to be untrue or
unsound."
If unchecked, the
subtle manipulation of source material aids both the construction and
destruction of the ersatz Albert Pike by allowing the Pastor to build
on a false premise. Significantly, Rev. Carlson spouts his glib remarks
on the lack of truth in Masonry in spite of the fact that virtually
every American "Monitor of the Lodge" advocates the cultivation of this
virtue:
The principal
tenets of our profession are three: Brotherly Love, Relief
and Truth. . . .
Truth is a divine
attribute, and the foundation of every virtue. To be good and true,
is the first lesson we are taught in Masonry. On this theme we contemplate,
and by its dictates endeavor to regulate our conduct. Hence, while
influenced by this principle, hypocrisy and deceit are unknown among
us, sincerity and plain-dealing distinguish us, and the heart and
tongue join in promoting each other's welfare, and rejoicing in each
other's prosperity.(74)
How Carlson can make the
unfair allegations he does when authorized grand lodge publications
prove contrary is astounding. Surely he must have encountered the above
paragraph on truth often during his two years of intensive research,
because it appeared in every randomly selected American blue lodge monitor
we inspected, from William Preston's 1772 Illustrations
of Masonry and Jeremy Cross' 1820 True
Masonic Chart to those currently in use. British publications
also contain this paragraph, almost verbatim, in the current "Lectures
of the Three Degrees" (first lecture, sixth section). Upon checking
unauthorized publications, we found it in a host of ritual exposures,
English and American, spanning over a hundred years.
A Book of Nonsense?
Perhaps the most flagrant
demonstration of his ability to distort the truth is Rev. Carlson's
claim that Albert Pike ridiculed Christianity and the Bible. Albert
Pike revered Jesus Christ "above all the other great teachers" (Morals
and Dogma, pp. 718721), but now, Carlson has the
straw-man Pike insult the Bible. (Unacknowledged omissions by Rev. Carlson
are struck out, while his additions
are in bold.)
Well, you want
to know what Masonry thinks of Christianity? First of all, concerning
the Bible. Albert Pike, page eleven, Morals and Dogma, says,
quote:
The Holy Bible,
Square and Compass, are not only styled the Great Lights in Masonry,
but they are also technically called the Furniture of the
Lodge; and, as you have seen, it is held that there is no
Lodge without them. This has sometimes been made a pretext for excluding
Jews from our Lodges, because they cannot regard the New Testament
as a holy book. The Bible is an indispensable part of the
furniture of the Christian Lodge, only because it is a sacred book
of the Christian Religion. The Hebrew Pentateuch in a Hebrew Lodge,
and the Koran in a Mohammadan one Moslem
Lodge, belong on the Altar; and one of these, and the
Square and Compass, properly understood, are the Great Lights by
which a Mason must walk and work.
The obligation
of the candidate is always to be taken on to
obey the sacred book or books of his own religion, that
he may deem it more solemn and binding. . . .
So they tell
us that the Bible is considered a piece of furniture in the lodge;
and that it is no more valuable than the Koran, or any other scriptures
of any other religions, it's simply a piece of religious literature
equal with all the others. Page seventeen we read: "The Holy Scriptures
were an entirely modern addition to the Lodge."
You know, but
Masons will tell me, "But we got the Bible on our altar." Albert Pike
says, quote:
The Holy Scriptures
were an entirely modern addition to the Lodge, like the terrestrial
and celestial globes on the columns of the portico. Thus the ancient
has been denaturalized by incongruous additions.
"The Bible has
no place there," he is saying.(75)
In this quotation, Pike
is using the technical terminology of the Craft when he refers to the
Holy Bible, Square and Compasses as the furniture
of the lodge. They are, in fact, so important that without
these in place a lodge is not furnished and cannot open. Pike's statement
declaring the Bible a "modern addition" refers to the addition of a
drawing of the Bible atop the symbol of the point within a circle (see
Figure 7), as he very clearly states in Morals and
Dogma on pages 1617. Pike believed that the symbol
of the point within a circle was previously depicted without the Bible
over it, and without the Saints John on its side. He was not saying,
as Rev. Carlson imputes, that the Bible does not belong upon the altar
of the lodge.
|
Figure
7. The point within a circle showing
the Bible and the Holy Saints John. From Albert G. Mackey,
A Manual of the Lodge (New York: Clarke and Maynard,
1870), [p. xxiii].
|
Rev. Carlson now
performs what we believe is his most dishonest misrepresentation of
Pike.
Page seven hundred
forty-four, he goes on to say, quote (listen to what Albert Pike,
the leading authority says):
The Bible,
with all the allegories it contains, expresses, in an incomplete
and veiled manner only, the religious science of the Hebrews. The
doctrine of Moses and the Prophets, identical at bottom with that
of the ancient Egyptian Mysteries, also had its outward meaning
and its veils. The Hebrew books were written only to recall to memory
the traditions; and they were written in Symbols unintelligible
to the Profane. The Pentateuch and the prophetic poems were merely
elementary books of doctrine, morals, and literature; and the true
secret and traditional philosophy was only written afterward, under
veils still less transparent. Thus it was that a second Bible was
born, the New Testament, unknown to, or rather uncomprehended by
the Christians; a collection of monstrous absurdities.
Unquote. Now
you tell me how any Mason can be a Christian, when they say the New
Testament is a collection of, quote, "monstrous absurdities," unquote.(76)
According to Rev. Carlson,
Albert Pike deemed the New Testament a collection of "monstrous absurdities."
Carlson's quotation of Pike, if accurate, would indeed reflect a prejudice
against Christianity. Upon checking Morals and Dogma,
however, we discover that Pike has again been misquoted. Besides putting
words into Pike's mouth, Carlson misunderstood the context of Pike's
remarks, which concerned not the New Testament, but the Jewish Talmudic
writings. (As before, Rev. Carlson's unacknowledged omissions are struck
out, his additions are bold.)
The Bible, with
all the allegories it contains, expresses, in an incomplete and veiled
manner only, the religious science of the Hebrews. The doctrine of
Moses and the Prophets, identical at bottom with that of the ancient
Egyptians, also had its outward meaning and its veils. The Hebrew
books were written only to recall to memory the traditions, and they
were written in Symbols unintelligible to the Profane. The Pentateuch
and the prophetic poems were merely elementary books of doctrine,
morals, or liturgy and literature; and the
true secret and traditional philosophy was only written afterward,
under veils still less transparent. Thus a second Bible was born,
the New Testament, unknown to, or rather uncomprehended by,
the Christians; a collection they say, of
monstrous absurdities; a monument, the adept says, wherein
is everything that the genius of philosophy and that of religion have
ever formed or imagined of the sublime; a treasure surrounded by thorns;
a diamond concealed in a rough dark stone.
This clearly says that
the Christians considered the Talmudic works absurd. It is difficult
to see how Pastor Carlson confused the issue, and his unwarranted interpolation
of the words the New Testament into Pike's
text only amplified his error. As he did in the case of St. Ambrose,
Archbishop of Milan, Carlson makes Pike say something he never did.
Either Carlson
intentionally distorted Pike, or he could not understand his writings
and therefore misrepresented them. Either of these options makes Carlson
an unsafe guide.
Luciferian Masonry
Rev. Carlson displays his
research skills and sense of fairness by foisting the Léo Taxil hoax
upon his audience.
Well, friends,
it gets worse. Albert Pike, who was the Supreme Pontiff of all Freemasonry,
speaking on July 14, 1889, to the twenty-three Supreme Councils of
the World, said this, I quote. If you're a Mason, listen to the leading
authority as to what Freemasonry teaches. Albert Pike, July 14, 1889,
to the twenty-three Supreme Councils of the World said, quote:
That what we
must say to the crowd is: We worship a God, but it is a God that
one adores without superstition. To you, Sovereign Grand Inspectors
General, we say this, that you may repeat it to the Brethren of
the 32nd, 31st and 30th degrees: The Masonic religion should be,
to all of its initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity
of the Luciferian doctrine. Yes, Lucifer is God. The true and pure
philosophic religion of Freemasonry is the belief in Lucifer.
Unquote. You
can read in context, it goes on and it gets worse.(77)
This allegation by Rev.
Carlson shows the inadequacy of his research and his naïve credulity.
After spending "two years almost full time researching Freemasonry and
the Masonic lodge," he still fell for Taxil's fake quotation. He didn't
bother confirming the quotation nor checking his sources nor crediting
the translator. But why should he? He'd already decided that Masonry
is Satanic, and the Taxil quotation just confirmed what he already believed.
The section in
this book, "Albert Pike and Lucifer," thoroughly details the Taxil hoax,
and gives some of the abundant references available to those interested
in the truth. Taxil's forgeries were exposed decades ago and have been
widely published. It is difficult to believe that anyone could spend
"two years almost full time researching Freemasonry and the Masonic
lodge" and not discover the truth of the matter. It is especially deceptive
for Rev. Carlson to invite his audience to "read [the quotation] in
context," without citing his source. And this after assuring his listeners
that he would refer only to the "authoritative works of Masons themselves."
Trying to Stop
the Dissemination?
At the end of his talk,
Rev. Carlson took several questions from the audience. Most of the questions
are not intelligible on our audio tape, but they can be inferred from
the answers. In answering the eighth question, Rev. Carlson asserted
with authority, "You won't--you cannot--find Morals
and Dogma in a library."(78) The answer to question thirteen further highlights
Rev. Carlson's research skills and his regard for accuracy.
[Answer to the
thirteenth question]: Morals and Dogma? Yeah, it's copyrighted.
Yeah, "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871 in the
Office of the Library of Congress." There is also, ah, a place down
in Chicago where you can, uhm, buy a copy, it's the publishing house
for the Masonic lodge. And I wish I had the address with me. I'd give
it to you, but, uh, if they have some in stock, uh, you can get one
from them. Uh, though the last person I told that to, when they called
down there--they just told me a few months ago that they had called
down there--and, ah, the publishing house told them that they are
now only giving them to the Masonic lodges, for the thirty-second
degree Masons. You can no longer buy it from their secret publishing
house. And so, evidently, uh, they've heard about us, and are trying
to stop the dissemination of this information.(79)
Carlson contradicts himself
here within a matter of seconds. First he claims the Masonic publisher
of Morals and Dogma is in Chicago, and
if he had the address with him, he would give it to his audience, so
copies could be ordered. He then turns right around and conveniently
says the last person he told that to was refused a copy for not being
a thirty-second degree Mason; the publisher now becomes a "secret publishing
house." To top it off, Carlson's megalomania becomes apparent as he
takes credit for the publisher's alleged refusal to sell the book.
We suggest this
account is fictitious. Morals and Dogma has never been printed
or published in Chicago.(80) There is no "secret publishing house" for Masonry.
Morals and Dogma originally was published for only thirty-second
degree Masons, but it is widely available today from used book dealers
and libraries. The Supreme Council 33º, S.J., sells used copies when
they can be obtained.
If Rev. Carlson
had bothered to check the public libraries near Eden Prairie, Minnesota,
the location of his headquarters, he would have discovered the easy
availability of Morals and Dogma. In February 1993 there was
a loan copy in the West St. Paul libraries and loan and reference copies
in the Minneapolis libraries. These copies would have been available
to Rev. Carlson through the Metropolitan Library Service Agency. Elsewhere
in Minnesota, the public libraries of both Duluth and Winona have loan
copies.
A little more research
would have revealed dozens of copies of Morals and Dogma in college
and university libraries around the country.(81) And for those in Rev. Carlson's congregation who
may have difficulty reading, Morals and Dogma is available from
Recording for the Blind, Princeton, New Jersey.
ENDNOTES
69.
Most of the material on Rev. Carlson is quoted from Art deHoyos, The
Cloud of Prejudice: A Study in Anti-Masonry (Kila, Mont.: Kessinger
Publishing Co., 1992), with the generous permission of the publisher,
Bro. Roger Kessinger.
70.
Ron Carlson, Freemasonry and the Masonic Lodge, preached by the
author, audio cassette (Eden Prairie, Minn.: Christian Ministries International,
n.d.), side 1, 4:21. N.B. The times listed are measured from the
beginning of the audio and may vary slightly depending on the equipment
used.
71.
Ron Carlson, side 2, 17:00.
72.
Ron Carlson, side 1, 11:24.
73.
Ron Carlson, side 1, 11:45.
74.
Grand Lodge of Texas, Monitor of the Lodge (Waco, Tex.: Waco
Printing Co., 1982), p. 36.
75.
Ron Carlson, side 1, 7:00.
76.
Ron Carlson, side 1, 8:03.
77.
Ron Carlson, side 2, 3:17.
78.
Ron Carlson, side 2, 25:57.
79.
Ron Carlson, side 2, 34:18.
80.
Ray Baker Harris, Bibliography of the Writings of Albert Pike
(Washington, D.C.: Supreme Council 33º, 1957), pp. 8990.
81.
Here are just a few of the places where Rev. Carlson could have borrowed
the book in September 1993, according to the Online Computer Library
Catalog (O.C.L.C.): Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama; University
of Alabama; University of Arkansas; University of Arizona; University
of Colorado at Denver; Grinnell College, Iowa; Northwestern College,
Iowa; Murray State University, Kentucky; University of New Orleans;
University of Minnesota, Duluth; Rust College, Mississippi; University
of Nebraska, Kearney; University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Oral Roberts
University; University of Central Oklahoma; Geneva College, Pennsylvania;
University of South Carolina; South Dakota School of Mines and Technology;
University of the South, Tennessee; Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary, Texas; University of Texas at Austin; University of Texas
at Permian Basin; University of Texas at El Paso; University of Utah;
Liberty University, Virginia; and West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Chapter
Five: The Reverend James D. Shaw and The Deadly Deception
* * *
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