Questions have come in regarding the Catholic
group, The Knights of Columbus. Is it a Masonic
fraternity and is it something a Christian should be involved
with?
While no one here has been in the Knights of Columbus,
we have talked at length to former members
and have reviewed KC ritual work. The KC's do
take secret oaths; and their initiation rites are
1) Anti-Protestant; 2) very juvenile.
Catholics, as you may know, were forbidden from
joining Freemasonry; so the KC was formed, along with the
much older and more dangerous Knights of Malta, as a Catholic
alternative. They are [an offspring of].. the
tenth degree of York Rite Masonry which is called
the Knights Templar. Even hats and uniforms are almost identical.
It is our understanding that there are four degrees in
it with similar sort of oaths as the Lodge.
However, you do also have to swear loyalty to
the Pope. This sort of thing makes the KCs as bad
as the Masons [from a biblical point of view] since
they do have the oaths which Jesus forbids. (Matthew 5:34-37)
Yet, the KCs are not as deeply steeped in occult symbolism as
are the Masons.
But there is the whole issue of the fact they are thoroughly Catholic,
and the Roman Catholic church has some `cultic' problems,
in, and of, itself as it:
1) denies salvation by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9)
2) denies the all-sufficient, `once-for-all' character of Jesus'
sacrifice on Calvary (Hebrews 9:28)
3) denies that the Bible is the sole and final
authority for divine truth (2 Timothy
3:16);
4) places creatures, like Mary and saints, as mediators
between humanity and Christ (1 Timothy 2:5);
5) claims to have a now-functional,
sacrificing priesthood (Hebrews 7:24-26)
Ed Decker wrote "The Dark Side of Freemasonry" published by Huntington House
Contents:
Chpt.1: Freemasonry and the Church: Ed Decker
Chpt.2: The Public School Connection: Tom McKenney
Chpt.3: Freemasonry and the New Age World Religion: Dick Smith
Chpt.4: Mixing Oil with Water:A Pastor's Story:Rev. Harmon Taylor
Chpt.5: Freemasonry Around the World: Mick Oxley
Chpt.6: The Secret Doctrine: Larry Kunk
Chpt.7: The Witchcraft Connection: Williams J. Schnoebelen
Chpt.8: Masonic Roots: Christ, Solomon or Baal? Keith Harris
Chpt.9: Freemasonry and the Twentieth Century Occult
Revival: David Carrico
Chpt.10: Southern Baptists and Freemasonry; The Story Goes on
and On: Ed Decker
(Saints Alive, October 1994, editor Ed Decker,
P.O.Box 1076, Issaquah, Wa 98027)