4014 — Secret Societies
By Editor
If the Seventh-day Adventist denomination as a body regards the whole secret society principle as unscriptural and therefore unchristian, why is it that you scarcely ever mention the evils of the lodge in the "Signs"? S. O. G. That the idea of secrecy, or a select few to whom to give important truths, is not Scriptural is clearly evident from two utterances of Jesus. In Matt. 10:27 He said to His select few whom He was teaching, "What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light; and what ye hear in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops." Frequently it was true that the only time Jesus had with the disciples was in the night hours after the crowds had gone. He could not give them the instruction, before the large assemblies, which they needed to carry on His work. Much of the truth, of course, which He spoke to the great congregations was applicable to His disciples, but they needed special instruction, and fuller instruction, than He could give to the changing crowds. They were not, therefore, to think that He was forming a secret society with them, which was to be held among certain selected ones, but what He taught them was to go to all the world. Again: when He came to His last hours just before the crucifixion that waited Him, He said to the high priest, "I have spoken openly to the world; I ever taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews came together; and in secret spake I nothing." It is for these reasons that we do not believe that secret societies, or lodges, are Scriptural, or in harmony with the genesis and spirit of Christianity. If Christianity had continued to be all that the Master taught, there never would have been any ground for secret societies to flourish in Christian communities. It is because Christianity has been perverted that the lodge flourishes. In many cases they are benevolent toward themselves and toward the families of those who are connected with them. The teaching of Christianity is to be benevolent toward all. "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." In many cases the lodges, of course, are great secret social societies. No doubt in many instances they have perverted justice. The worst phase of them all, it seems to us, is that they seem to satisfy their members many times, that if they are good lodge men, of this or that organization, they will be saved. For instance, we have heard men who belonged to a certain lodge saying that if they lived up to the principles of the lodge, that was sufficient to save them; and yet these men were blaspheming, worldly men. It is such as these, sometimes that mumble the prayers over the dead. This, of course, is only self-salvation, and is contrary to Christianity, which rests our only hope of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have found that those who have truly accepted of Christianity have no more use for the lodge. They have found something far better. Those who have accepted of Christianity and still stay by the lodge, have not tasted of what Christianity is. They do not know the power of the Christ, nor the blessed fellowship that there is with Him in ministering to all. It is impossible to warn against all the detailed evils in the world found in a thousand different organizations and false religions. In a general way it is sufficient to say, and to say it strongly and in just as many ways as possible, that man can by no means save himself or his brothers, and that the only hope of salvation is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Saved in Him, all things else are as nothing. All parties and cliques and lodges and secret societies fall before that one great thought, if it is dominant in a man's soul. Yet at the same time we are not embittered toward those who belong to lodges; we are not embittered toward those who belong to any organization on the face of the earth. The true Christian would save them all from these delusions to the only thing which can save.