p. 9 | GEO. O. STATES by GEO. O. STATES

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 3, 1910

GEO. O. STATES

By GEO. O. STATES

My Lodge Experience—No. 2

GEO. O. STATES

I THINK it was about a year after I joined the lodge when I attended some meetings in Battle Creek, Mich., conducted by the late Elder James White. One night after preaching a sermon, during which the presence of the Spirit of God was manifest, a call was made for those who wished to make a start or renew their covenant with God, to come forward.

I felt that was the time for me to become a free man in Christ. Through the influence of the meetings and the encouragement of the brethren, I decided once and for all to drop the lodge, and never since have I entered a lodge-room as a member. On my return home, I wrote a letter to my lodge, giving my reasons for withdrawing. I soon after began preaching the gospel of liberty in Christ. I left the lodge because I could not live out my convictions of Bible truth and remain in the lodge.

I will now give some reasons why I believe every person who accepts this truth should drop every lodge. First, the lodge is unscriptural. It needs little argument to prove this. We are told to “follow peace with all men, and holiness,

without which no man shall see the Lord.” How can the lodge help a man in the Christian life when it is admitted that the majority do not profess to believe in Christ? “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” 1 John 2: 23.

The average lodge member has but little faith in Christ, and should you speak of his need of being a Christian, probably he would tell you he belonged to a lodge, and that was good enough for him.

Christ is our example, and he came “to preach deliverance to the captives.” Luke 4: 18. It is the nature of humanity to bind their fellow men. The gospel is to deliver. Many in the lodges are wicked men. The gospel is to deliver us “from unreasonable and wicked men.” 2 Thess. 3: 1-3. Christ is our example in all things. He never belonged to any secret society. John 18: 20.

By looking over the ritual of almost any lodge, you will find this: “The doors then are left open to the Jew and the Gentile, the Catholic and the Protestant, the agnostic and the atheist.” Such teaching is contrary to the Bible. 2 Cor. 6: 14-16. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” Verse 17. Secret societies teach their members to trust in the lodge and not in Christ; and the more a person studies their rituals, the less he cares for the Bible. The lodge is built on the natural immortality of the soul, and teaches that doctrine. Its principles are simply those of paganism. The design of the lodge is to fit its members for eternal bliss, to teach men how to live, to teach the way of life.

As I consider how the Lord delivered me from the lodge, taught me to trust in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sin, showed me that the gospel is carried on by church organization, it seems to me that the lodge is the rival of the church; and the more lodges, the less interest in church work.

It is the general influence of the lodge to draw away from spirituality. It is very common to have parties and dances under the auspices of the lodge. I have talked with ministers and church-members who were members of lodges, and who frankly admitted to me that these things were so.

It is also true that many times the lodge influence leads to injustice in clearing the guilty, and no doubt many unite with no other object than the securing of the lodge influence in carrying out wrong devices. Many of these lodges are nothing but sporting clubs, and are enticing many of the most talented young men of our country to unite with them.

Cedaredge, Colo.