Losing Track of the Real Jesus

30 October

Masonic symbols 2010 First Presidency Christmas Devotional, ‘Seeing Christmas through New Eyes,’ December 2010; “The more commercialized and busy the Christmas season becomes, the easier it is for the sublime message of the Savior’s life to get lost along the way. If we notice that planning for parties and scrambling for presents begin to detract from the peaceable message of Jesus Christ and distance us from the gospel He preached, let us take a step back, slow down a little, and reconsider what matters most.” — Dieter F. Uchtdorf [emp. mine]

Philippians 2:8-11; “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

What matters most to us here at Life After is truth, so we’re looking at two of the definitions for ‘sublime’, which according to dictionary.com, means resplendent, and exalted.

I can only speak for myself, but whenever I hear the word ‘sublime’, the predominant thought going through my head is Masonic Lodge, because it’s a rare day when I hear it in any other context. Furthermore, when I think of the Lodge, or the Mormon Church, using the word sublime, I’m not thinking ‘Oh, they’re saying the Lord is exalted, and resplendent’.

Although the Lodge is well known for charity drives at Christmas, we found it interesting their view of a savior is found in a shadowy figure (Hiram Abiff), whom many in the Lodge claim lived at the time of the Solomon’s Temple. See Ephesians 5-11 Ministries. They may say they’re honoring Jesus by providing these events, but is He really their focus? And the same thing goes for the Church. When they offer their ‘help’ does it come with no strings attached?

Furthermore, as we take a deeper look at the Lodge’s full definition on the nature of God, we found their teachings on the Holy Spirit are much like the doctrines of Mormonism. They’ve arbitrarily picked apart specific words found in name titles of God, and redefined each of them.

In Masonry, the Holy Spirit isn’t God, nor have they exalted Him as such. In Masonry the Holy Spirit has been subjugated to the role of Lucifer! See what they have to say about this from Ephesians 5-11

“The Mysteries of Magic contains the following on page 428:

What is more absurd and more impious than to attribute the name of Lucifer to the devil, that is, to personified evil,  The intellectual Lucifer is the spirit of intelligence and love; it is the Paraclete, it is the Holy Spirit, while the physical Lucifer is the great agent of universal magnetism…”

This is an ‘interesting’ take considering how the Church also twists the meaning of God’s Holy Spirit, and named ‘it’ something else altogether. In a post from almost a year ago, we pointed out there are two Holy Ghosts in Mormonism – one of which is referred to as the ‘Light of Christ’ who is nothing more than ‘pure intelligence’.

Also, check out Melissa’s article for more info on the ‘Light of Christ’. Her insight has helped many people to clear the mind-numbing confusion about this as they’ve left the Church.

We pray the similarities between the two definitions won’t be missed. If you’re thinking it’s all just a big coincidence, you’ll want to recall that Smith became a card-carrying member of the Masonic Lodge in 1842 –

History of the Church, 4:552; “Wednesday, March 16.—I was with the Masonic Lodge and rose to the sublime degree.” For more info on Smith’s activities as a Mason, and the Church’s warm embrace of it, see ourreferences.

In the end, we have a few questions for both Mormons, and Masons…

Just how is any, or all of this, resplendent?

Does this magnify our Lord Jesus?

Does it exalt Him?

Does it speak to His resplendent nature, causing people to want to flock to Him?

What do these definitions tell us about Jesus’ time on earth?

Do their definitions reflect what Paul told members of the church at Philippi in 49 AD?

Oh beloved, if any of the answers to the questions above are in the negative, you must know their Jesus isn’t the Jesus of the Bible!

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