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 Masonry's nature and development, including her many degrees, rituals and secrets, must be viewed in the light of man's great perpetual desire to serve God in his own way by his own means. Man from time immemorial has always tried to serve God on his own terms and in his own way. From the devil-inspired, bloodless sacrifice of Cain to the man-made good works structure of Babel, and even to this day, man has imagined that he can devise a better way than God can. Satan's most successful deceptions are designed to look and feel the part. Like the imitation shields that disobedient King Rehoboam placed in the house of the Lord, after the enemy had taken the original gold ones, they seem outwardly to be the genuine article. 2 Chronicles 12 states, "So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king's house" (V. 9-10). Looking from a distance, brass looks the same as gold, but placed under careful examination it is exposed as nothing better than fool's gold. God makes gold but man manufactures brass. Gold is the genuine, brass is the counterfeit. In light of the amazing revelations in this book we see a powerful case in point. For many years Freemasonry has succeeded in depicting itself as 'a great bastion of the Christian world which accords to Holy Writ. Nevertheless when put under close examination, and scrutinised in the light of God's Word, this body is exposed for what it is, a subtle man-made counterfeit. It is fool's gold! Masonry propagates a gospel that is incompatible with, and contrary to, the Word of God, and employs practices that are clearly alien to biblical Christianity. Such Subtlety is nothing new but has been the hallmark of every generation down through the ages. Of course there is "no new thing under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). In Isaiah 3:8 we learn, "For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue [or language] and their doings [or endeavours] are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory." The Bible predicts that such a day would arrive prior to the second coming of the Lord. II Thessalonians 2:3 says: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [the second advent] shall not come, except there come a falling away first." The term "falling away" used here means a defection from truth and is derived from the Greek word 'apostasia', where we significantly obtain our English word APOSTASY.
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