Freemasons and The Jesus Seminar in the
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION

Compiled and edited by David J. Stewart | December 2005 | Updated September 2015

       Lamentation is often heard concerning the apostate condition of the Southern Baptist Convention. However, there seems to be a good reason for the choice of paths which the SBC is traveling, namely important statistics regarding the membership of Freemasons in the SBC.

U.S. membership in the Masons is claimed at about three million, with about five million worldwide. The official magazine of Masonry in the U.S. was titled New Age until 1990, when for obvious reasons they changed the name to The Scottish Rite Journal.

Some church denominations are also led by avowed Masons (e.g., a 1991 survey by the Southern Baptist Convention Sunday School Board found that 14% of SBC pastors and 18% of SBC deacon board chairs are Masons. It is also estimated that SBC members comprise 37% of total U.S. lodge membership. That is so tragic and sad.

37% of 3,000,000 would have been 1,110,000 Masons who held membership in the SBC. This estimate was for 1991. How many are there today? Also, how many Masons attend SBC churches, but do not hold formal memberships? And how many Masons belong to other Christian denominations? A 2000 updated SBC report found that over 1,000 SBC pastors are Masons.

Over the past half century, a handful of faithful men of God withdrew from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC); namely, Brother Lester Roloff, Dr. Jack Hyles, Dr. J. Frank Norris, Pastor Lee Roberson and numerous other God-fearing preachers. They saw early in time the apostate ecumenical direction that the SBC was headed. Here, for example, are some disturbing apostate quotes from SBC leaders...

“[Pope Benedict XVI] has offered a brave and intelligent defense of truth against a relativist tide, and he has been a stalwart friend of life.” —R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“His [Pope Benedict XVI] legacy is one of speaking forcefully in defense of old truths.” —Russell Moore, dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminar

In 1993, the Southern Baptist Convention published a Report on Freemasonry which noted the many fine SBC leaders who were also Freemasons as well as many points of agreement between Freemasonry and Christianity, along with some areas of disagreement between the two. The verdict of the SBC as to whether or not a Southern Baptist could also be a member of a Masonic Lodge was not based on the Scriptural prohibition, “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils” (1st Corinthians 10:21). Rather the Southern Baptist Convention appealed to the old Masonic cliché regarding every man's “liberty of conscience”:

“In light of the fact that many tenets and teachings of Freemasonry are not compatible with Christianity and Southern Baptist doctrine, while others are compatible with Christianity and Southern Baptist doctrine, we therefore recommend that consistent with our denomination's deep convictions regarding the priesthood of the believer and the autonomy of the local church, membership in a Masonic Order be a matter of personal conscience. Therefore, we exhort Southern Baptists to prayerfully and carefully evaluate Freemasonry in the light of the Lordship of Christ, the teachings of the Scripture, and the findings of this report, as led by the Holy Spirit of God.”

SBC President of Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission Member of CFR

Richard Land, President, Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission, Southern Baptist Convention, is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations. This ought to be grave cause for concern. I believe the Southern Baptist Convention is part of the New World Order, and that their “Cooperative Program” for international children may be corrupt as is “World Vision,” an alleged Christian organization. Population control is a top agenda with elite Globalists...

“WORLD VISION” SUPPORTS POPULATION CONTROL

March 2, 1999

WASHINGTON, DC (Life Site News) - World Vision, a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, calls itself “the largest privately funded, faith-based relief and development organization in the United States.” Despite its popularity and respected image, however, World Vision is generating criticism because of its support for population control.

A 1995 World Vision policy document called “Health and Healing,” reported that “World Vision will supplement governmental and other NGO [non-governmental organization] efforts in making modern family planning methods available to the couples. ... These include copper IUDs, pills, and condoms.”

Furthermore, according to a recent article in WORLD, an American Christian magazine, an internal survey of the organization last year revealed that “all responding NOs [national offices] are engaged in some type of family planning-related activity, either as a straightforward family planning or reproductive health project or buried within child survival, maternal health, or women's health activities.”

WORLD also notes that $55 million of World Vision's $241 million revenue last year came from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — a group notorious for promoting population control in the third world.

SOURCE: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/mar/99030203.html

Apostate, Rick Warren, is also a CFR member. I don't trust anyone that is a member of the group who covered up the 911 attacks. The 911 Commission from the CFR that was sent to investigate the 911 attacks was headed up by Henry Kissinger, the mass-murderer who killed millions of Cambodians during the Nixon administration.

"Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy."
SOURCE: Henry Kissinger, quoted in "Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POW's in Vietnam"

The CFR is evil, evil, evil; the headquarters of the New World Order. Then again, with 37% of the U.S. Freemasonry membership being SBC church members, it doesn't surprise me a bit. The SBC is headed down, down, down.

In the Kissinger Report 2004 (see World Vision), Kissinger admitted that humanitarian organizations were told to lie about their real agenda, which is population control.
 

Alice Bailey Said Occult Freemasonry Would Infiltrate the Churches

Freemasonry's purpose, as stated by Theosophist, Alice Bailey, is to infiltrate the New Testament Church and corrupt it from within. Alice Bailey, a leading spokesperson of the occultic Theosophical Society and member of Co-Masonry confirmed the occultic and Luciferian nature of Freemasonry, stated...

"The Masonic Movement is the custodian of the Law, the holder of the Mysteries, and the seat of initiation… a far more occult organization than can be realized… intended to be the training school for coming advanced occultists."

SOURCE: "President Clinton Will Continue The New World Order"; Dennis L. Cuddy, RESEARCH MANUAL: AMERICA 2000/GOALS 2000, MOVING THE NATION EDUCATIONALLY TO A "NEW WORLD ORDER" Editor: James R. Patrick Citizens for Academic Excellence, 1994, 28-48.

It is tragic that many professed “Christians” fail to recognize the occult nature of Freemasonry; while the occultists themselves, who blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ, openly admit the diabolical nature of Freemasonry. Alice Bailey founded the Lucifer Trust publishing house in 1922. Bailey was a devour follower of Helen Petrovna Blavatsky who published LUCIFER, an occult magazine, in 1887 in London. Truth is stranger than fiction my friend. Freemasons have control over everything from Public Schools, to the Bar Association, to the evil music industry, to Wall Street.

Alice Bailey (1880-1949) states the evil agenda of Freemasonry is to corrupt the churches by infiltration...

“There is no question therefore that the work to be done in familiarizing the general public with the nature of the Mysteries is of paramount importance at this time. These mysteries will be restored to outer expression through the medium of the Church [false church] and the Masonic Fraternity… When the Great One [Antichrist] comes with his disciples and initiates we shall have the restoration of the Mysteries and their exoteric presentation as a consequence of the first initiation.”

SOURCE: "President Clinton Will Continue The New World Order"; Dennis L. Cuddy, RESEARCH MANUAL: AMERICA 2000/GOALS 2000, MOVING THE NATION EDUCATIONALLY TO A "NEW WORLD ORDER" Editor: James R. Patrick Citizens for Academic Excellence, 1994, 28-48.

Alice Bailey plainly stated that Satan would infiltrate the church with Freemasonry, which is the training school for coming advanced occultists who will play their part in the establishment of the New World Order of the Antichrist. In lieu of such damning evidence, it's hard to imagine that 37% of all Southern Baptist men are Freemasons.

Albert Pike and other Masonic leaders acknowledge their debt to Kaballah and to the Babylonian Mystery Schools.  In his book, Morals and Dogma, Pike states:

“Every lodge is a temple of religion, and its teaching instruction in religion... Masonry is the successor to the Mysteries.”

The Jewish Kaballah, occult teachings in which Freemasonry is rooted, is said by many to have been influenced by the Babylonian Mystery religion, and it originated as oral teachings during the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews. Albert Pike (1809 to 1891), a highly influential 33rd Degree Freemason of the nineteenth century, acknowledged that the Masons derived many of their ideas from the Jewish Kaballah. In his 1871 book, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Pike, says of the Jewish Pharisee tradition...

“The primary tradition... has been preserved under the name of the Kaballah by the priesthood of Israel.”

Freemasonry is a religion of Jewish mysticism and occultism, which are rooted in pagan Egyptian and Babylonian religions.

THE JESUS SEMINAR

Considering that over 1 million Freemasons belong to the Southern Baptist Convention, and many hold positions of authority, it is not surprising that a Jesus Seminar leader would be invited to address an SBC congregation. For details of this landmark event, please refer to David Cloud's Way of Life Literature report: Christ-Denier Speaks at Southern Baptist Church.

Presently there are an abundance of books in bookstores which promote the thesis of the Jesus Seminar: that the true message of Jesus Christ was suppressed by the early Church but has been preserved in non-canonical works written by Gnostics ~ especially the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in Qumran in 1945, and the Nag Hammadi Library, discovered in Egypt in 1947.

The majority of books promoting these heretical manuscripts are of Masonic origin: The Hiram Key; The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception; The Message of the Sphinx; Holy Blood, Holy Grail; and Bloodline of the Holy Grail. (1)

The Introduction to a popular volume of the Nag Hammadi Library rejects the inspiration of two gospels that have been a part of the traditional Christian canon:

"The Jewish Christianity of the first generation in Galilee that developed the collection of sayings imbedded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke may well have been considered heretical even by Paul and the Hellenists, and the feeling may have been mutual."

The Gospel of Mark is also suspect, according to the Masonic authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, subsequent to the recovery in 1958 of the Gnostic Secret Gospel of Mark near Jerusalem. (2)

Since its inception in 1985, the Jesus Seminar has been preoccupied with discrediting Jesus Christ as revealed in the Christian Scriptures and seeking to discover "the historical Jesus" in the Gnostic scriptures. With three Gospels of the New Testament now discredited, Jesus Seminar scholars have turned to a new gospel which presents "another Jesus" who preaches "another Gospel."

A survey of the Jesus Seminar, available at the University of California at Santa Barbara web site, mentions their "scholarly" translation of a new version which includes the "recent archeological discovery" ~ the Gospel of Thomas:

"Part of the project was also the preparation of a new translation of the gospels, prepared by a group within the Seminar, known as "the Scholars Version." This translation, and the work of the Jesus Seminar as a whole, includes the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas, preserved in a Coptic version as part of the Nag Hammadi Codices discovered in Upper Egypt in 1945...The results of all this work appeared in 1993: The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus, by Robert W. Funk, Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar, published by Macmillan in New York."

Gnosis means "knowledge" - specifically hidden or occult knowledge. The Gnostics taught that Man may attain to the divine state through the knowledge of secret mysteries. The Introduction to the Gospel of Thomas describes the Gnostic message of "another Jesus."

"The Gospel of Thomas in its oldest form, stressed the finding of wisdom, or of the 'Kingdom of the Father,' in the knowledge (gnosis) of oneself (cf. saying 3), guided by the sayings of Jesus...The theme of recognizing oneself is further elaborated in sayings (cf. 50, 51) which speak of the knowledge of one's divine origin..."

Note the variety of New Age concepts preached by the Gnostic Jesus of the Gospel of Thomas:

(22) "Jesus said to them, 'When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female; and when you fashion eyes in place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then you will enter the kingdom." (As above, so below; androgyny)

[NOTE: According to The Message of the Sphinx, the "'Hermetic writings' (of the Gnostic School of Alexandria, Egypt)...express the philosophy 'as above, so below' and advocate the drawing down to earth of cosmic powers as an essential step in Mankind's quest for knowledge of the divine and immortality of the soul: 'And I, said Hermes, will make Mankind intelligent, I will confer wisdom on them, and make known to them the truth. I will never cease to benefit thereby the life of mortal men; and then will I benefit each one of them when the force of nature working in him is in accord with the movement of the stars.'" (3)]

(30) "Jesus said, 'When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments and place them under your feet like little children and tread upon them, then [will you see] the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid." (sexual rites of initiation)

(41) "Jesus said, 'Whoever has something in his hand will receive more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little he has." (cf., Rev. 13:16,17)

(50) "Jesus said, 'If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?, say to them, 'We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established [itself] and became manifest through their image..." (divine origin of man)

(61) "Salome said, 'Who are you, man, that you...have come up on my couch and eaten from my table. Jesus said to her, 'I am he who exists from the undivided. I was given some of the things of my father." (Jesus not co-equal with God)

(70) "Jesus said, 'That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you [will] kill you if you do not have it within you." (god within)

(72) "[A man said] to him, 'Tell my brothers to divide my fathers possessions with me. He said to him, 'O man, who has made me a divider?' He turned to his disciples and said to them, 'I am not a divider, am I?" (ecumenical unity)

(77) "Jesus said, 'It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the all. From me did the all come forth, and unto me did the all extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up a stone, and you will find me there." (pantheism)

(114) "Simon Peter said to them, 'Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life. Jesus said, 'I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven." (androgyny)

Gnosticism first began to threaten the doctrinal purity of the early Church and became fully developed as a major heresy in the second century A.D. Paul seems to have been dealing with an early form of Gnosticism in the book of Colossians, with references to a religious system that attempted to devalue the person of Jesus Christ and undermine His redemptive work by promoting a combination of Greek speculation (2:4,8-10), Jewish legalism (2:11-17), and Oriental mysticism (2:18-23). The theme of Colossians is the complete sufficiency of Jesus Christ, rather than forbidden knowledge, for every spiritual and practical need of the believer.

Today, the Gnostic heresy is enjoying a worldwide revival. Other denominations, such as the United Methodist Church, are allowing speakers from the Jesus Seminar to address congregations. By promoting the doctrines of the Jesus Seminar and Freemasonry, apostate Christendom has become a major vehicle for the dissemination of Gnosticism.

The Gnostic Renaissance has not been spontaneous, but is the result of premeditated infiltration of Christian churches. Theosophist, Alice Bailey, revealed that plans to form a fifth column within ALL denominations were laid early in this century:

"Very definitely may the assurance be given here that, prior to the coming of the Christ, adjustments will be made so that at the head of all great organizations will be found either a Master, or an initiate who has taken the third initiation. At the head of certain of the great occult groups, of the Freemasons of the world, and of the various great divisions of the church, and resident in many of the great nations will be found initiates or Masters." (4)

"The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished. I indicate the hope. I do not assert a fact. Its work is intended to be the holding of a broad Platform. The church must show a wide tolerance, and teach no revolutionary doctrines or cling to any reactionary ideas. The church as a teaching factor should take the great basic doctrines and (shattering old forms in which they are held) show their true and inner spiritual significance. The prime work of the church is to teach, and to teach ceaselessly, preserving the outer appearance in order to reach the many who are accustomed to church usages. Teachers must be trained; Bible knowledge must be spread; the sacraments must be mystically interpreted, and the power of the church to heal must be demonstrated.

"The three main channels through which the preparation for the new age is going on might be regarded as the Church, the Masonic Fraternity and the educational field. All of them are as yet in relatively static condition, and all are as yet failing to meet the need and to respond to the inner pressure. But in all of these three movements, disciples of the Great Ones are to be found and they are steadily gathering momentum and will before long enter upon their designated task." (5)

The Masonic New World Order
 

1. Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, The Hiram Key, Element Books, 1996; Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, Element Books, Touchstone Books, 1993; Graham Hancock & Robert Bauval, The Message of the Sphinx, Three Rivers Press, 1996; Michael Biagent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Dell Publishing, 1982 ; Laurence Gardiner, Bloodline of the Holy Grail, Element Books, 1996.
2. Holy Blood, Holy Grail, p. 320.
3. The Message of the Sphinx, pp. 132, 270.
4. Alice Bailey, Initiation: Human & Solar, Lucis Publishing, 1922, pp. 61-2.
5. Alice Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, Lucis Pub., 1957, pp. 510-11

SOURCE

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The Masonic Foundations Of The United States

by David J. Stewart

       One of the most interesting and helpful books that I've read is titled “ILLUMINATI 2, DECEIT AND SEDUCTION” by Dr. Henry Makow, Ph.D. There is a great quote on the book's front cover by Denis Healey (UK Minister of Defense), which says, “World events are staged and managed by those who hold the purse strings.” Warning, this book is not for the faint of heart. You'll read some wild and weird stuff about what goes on in elite secret societies, the Devil's world and sicko Illuminati groups. Here is an eye-opening quote from Dr. Makow's book concerning the Illuminati and the Masonic origin of the United States...

Most Americans scoff at the mention of conspiracy but their country was created by Freemasonry and they don't have a clue. Freemasons drafted the Constitution and signed the Declaration of Independence. Masons disguised as Indians dumped the tea in Boston harbor. Paul Revere and his Minutemen, George Washington and most of his generals, all were Masons...

Freemasonry is the Church of Lucifer masquerading as a mythical philanthropic order. It fronts for Illuminati (Masonic & Cabalist Jews) central bankers who started the US as a vehicle to advance their New World Order.

In the words of Masonic elder Manly P. Hall, “We must also perfect the plan of the ages, setting up here the machinery for a world brotherhood of nations and races.” (“The Secret Destiny of America,” 1944, p.3).

The Freemasons provided Americans with still valid ideals — civil liberties, equal opportunity and no taxation without representation. But they were enticements designed to win power. As you might have noticed, these promises are not being kept.

Most historians won't tell you this. But there was one historian who did reveal the truth. Bernard Fay (1893-1978) was a Harvard-educated Frenchman. He is considered an Anti-Mason because his 1935 book, “Revolution and Freemasonry: 1680-1800” is one of the very few to reveal the extent of Masonic participation in the US and French Revolutions. ...

In this context, it is pertinent to recall the confession of General Cornwallis when he surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown (Oct. 19, 1781).

Jonathan Williams recorded in his “Legions of Satan,” (1781,) that Cornwallis revealed to Washington that “a holy war will now begin on America, and when it is ended America will supposedly be the citadel of freedom, but her millions will unknowingly be loyal subjects to the Crown.”

The Crown is the Illuminati (i.e., shareholders of the Bank of England.) Cornwallis went on to explain what would seem a contradiction:

“Your churches will be used to teach the Jew's religion and in less than two hundred years, the whole nation will be working for divine world government. That government that they believe to be divine will be the British Empire. All religions will be permeated with Judaism without even being noticed by the masses, and they will all be under the invisible all-seeing eye of the grand Architect of Freemasonry.”

In a 1956 speech, Senator McCarthy reflected on these words:

“Cornwallis well knew that his military defeat was only the beginning of world catastrophe that would be universal and that unrest would continue until mind control could be accomplished through a false religion. What he predicted has come to pass. A brief sketch of American religious history and we have seen Masonry infused into every church in America with their veiled Phallic religion.”

SOURCE: Dr. Henry Makow, Ph.D.; “ILLUMINATI 2, DECEIT AND SEDUCTION” (pg. 25-27).

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According to the Southern Baptist Convention's...
A REPORT ON FREEMASONRY:

In 1991, the Home Mission Board submitted questions concerning Freemasonry in the SBC to Baptist VIEW/poll. Baptist VIEW/poll is a survey by the Corporate Market Research Department of the Sunday School Board, SBC, of 1,433 Southern Baptists (283 pastors, 430 ministers of education, 247 directors of missions, 202 deacon chairmen, and 271 church clerks). Of the 1,433 who received the questionnaire, 997 responded. One question was how important it was for the SBC to have an official statement on Freemasonry. A majority of pastors (60%), ministers of education (56%), directors of missions (72%), deacon chairmen (63%), and church clerks (74%) felt that such a statement was either "not very important at all" or had no opinion about whether a statement was needed. When asked if the issue of Freemasonry ever caused a problem in their churches/associations, the vast majority of each group responded that their churches/associations had never dealt with Freemasonry. Of those responding, 14 percent of the pastors, 5 percent of the ministers of education, 13 percent of the directors of missions, 18 percent of the deacon chairmen, and 12 percent of the church clerks were or had been Masonic or Eastern Star members. (Baptist VIEW/poll, November 1991, and memorandum from Steve Whitten to the HMB Administrative Council, February 20, 1992.)

An estimated 400,000 - 500,000 Southern Baptist men are Masons. Among this number are many well-known Southern Baptist leaders. No attempt will be given to naming living Southern Baptist Masons. However, following are some well-known Southern Baptist Masons from the past.

Robert E. Baylor was one of eight Masons who petitioned for a charter for Baylor University in 1845. "Every president of Baylor University has been a Master Mason." (Carter, Masonry in Texas, p. 340. R.E. Baylor was a member of Baylor Lodge No. 125.)

One president was William R. White, 33d, who served as president of Baylor University from 1948 to 1961. He served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Austin, First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, First Baptist Church of Lubbock, and Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth. He also served as executive secretary, and later as president, of The Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The first two missionaries sent by the SBC to Texas, James Huckins and William Tryon, were Masons.

George W. Truett (1867-1944), pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas (1897-1944), president of the SBC (1927-1929), president of the Baptist World Alliance (1934-1939), and trustee of Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was a Scottish Rite Mason. He was raised a Master Mason in 1920 in the Dallas Lodge No. 760; he received the 32nd degree in 1921. Of his Masonic membership, Truett said: "From my earliest recollection, sitting about my father's knees, who was a Mason, and hearing him and fellow Masons talk, I imbibed the impression in early childhood that the Masonic fraternity is one of the most helpful mediating and conserving organizations among men, and I have never wavered from that childhood impression, but it has stood steadfastly with me through the busy and vast hurrying years." (William R. Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, Vol. IV [Trenton: Missouri Lodge of Research, 1961], pp. 254-255. The quote is from an address by Truett at the Grand Lodge of Texas meeting in Waco in 1940. The full text of Truett's address is found in Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas [Waco: Grand Lodge of Texas, 1940], pp. 148 -156.)

Truett, in perhaps his most famous sermon, preaching on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 16, 1920, addressed the 15,000 people gathered: "The right to private judgment is the crown jewel of humanity, and for any person or institution to dare to come between the soul and God is a blasphemous impertinence and a defamation of the crown-rights of the Son of God... Every one must give an account of himself to God. Each one must repent for himself, and believe for himself, and be baptized for himself, and answer to God for himself, both in time and in eternity." (Powhatan W. James, George W. Truett: A Biography [New York: The Macmillan Company, 1945], p. 3.)

B.H. Carroll (1843-1914), first president of Southwestern seminary, was a member of Waco Lodge No. 92 and Herring Lodge No. 1224, both located in Waco, Texas. (D.D. Tidwell, "Dr. George W. Truett," The Texas Grand Lodge Magazine, March 1960, p. 113, and letter from James D. Ward of Waco, Texas, December 9, 1992.)

Carroll was instrumental in the creation of the Department of Evangelism of the Home Mission Board in 1906. Carroll was the author of more than 20 books, including The Bible Doctrine of Repentance (1897), Baptists and Their Doctrines (1913), and Evangelistic Sermons (1913). It is said that his favorite causes were evangelism, prohibition, home missions, and Christian education. (Melton, Religious Leaders of America, pp. 86- 87.)

L. R. Scarborough (1870-1945) was a member of Gray Lodge No. 329 in Houston, Texas. (Letter from James D. Ward of Waco, December 9, 1992.) He served Southern Baptists as pastor of First Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas, from 1901 to 1908; professor of evangelism at Southwestern seminary from 1908 to 1914, when he became president of the seminary. He authored a number of books, most of which focused on evangelism, including How Jesus Won Men (1926), or were collections of his sermons. (Melton, Religious Leaders of America, p. 409.)

W. W. Barnes (1883-1960), professor of church history at Southwestern seminary (1913-1953), was an active 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason.

W.T. Conner (1877-1952), who taught theology at Southwestern seminary from 1910 until his retirement in 1949, was a member of Southside Lodge No. 1114 in Fort Worth until his death. James T. Draper Jr. referred to Conner as "perhaps the most famous theologian to be associated with Southwestern Seminary." (James T. Draper Jr. Authority: The Critical Issue for Southern Baptists [Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1984], p. 64.)

William W. Hamilton, a Mason, was named the Home Mission Board's first head of the Department of Evangelism in 1906. He served as president of Baptist Bible Institute (BBI), now the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, from 1927 to 1943. While president, he saved BBI from bankruptcy in 1932, when the school defaulted on $353,000 in bonds. He was president of the SBC from 1940 to 1942.

Louie D. Newton (1892-1986), was president of the SBC (1947-1948) and vice president of the Baptist World Alliance (1939-1959), served 27 years on the SBC Executive Committee, and was a member of Joseph C. Greenfield Lodge No. 400 in Atlanta. He received his 50-year Masonic pin in 1980. He was also a York Rite Mason and a Shriner. He was the chaplain of the Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta from 1939 to 1953, when he was succeeded by fellow Southern Baptist James P. Wesberry.

James P. Wesberry, who died in December 1992, was pastor of Morningside Baptist Church in Atlanta for 31 years, president of the Georgia Baptist Convention for 3 years, recording secretary for the Georgia Baptist Convention for 20 years, moderator of the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference, and executive-director of the Lord's Day Alliance. (Sunday, September-December 1991, pp. 8-12.) He became a Mason in 1927. He was a York Rite Mason, 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a Shriner. He succeeded Louie D. Newton as chaplain of the Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta in 1953. Wesberry was succeeded as chaplain by another Southern Baptist minister, James C. Bryant, in 1981.

Joseph Samuel Murrow (1835-1929) was an appointed Southern Baptist home missionary to the Oklahoma Indian Territory, where he established more than 100 churches, according to one report. Called "the founder of Freemasonry in Oklahoma," he established the first Masonic Lodge in the Indian Territory, served as the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge in the Indian Territory, and wrote the Murrow Masonic Monitor. (Unpublished manuscript from Jim Tresner, ed., The Oklahoma Mason, n.d.) He was raised a Master Mason in 1867. He served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory from 1877 to 1878 and Grand Secretary from 1880 to 1909. (Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. III, pp. 249-250.)

John T. Christian (1854-1925), a Knight Templar, was chairman of the informal committee of friends who met in 1915 to consider formation of BBI. He was professor of Christian history and librarian at BBI from 1919 until his death in 1925. He donated his personal library of 15,000 volumes to BBI. The library on the New Orleans seminary campus bears his name. Christian also pastored First Baptist Church, Chattanooga; First Baptist Church, Hattiesburg; Second Baptist Church, Little Rock; and other churches.

J.B. Lawrence, a Mason, was vice president of the SBC (1916-1917) and executive secretary-treasurer of the Home Mission Board (1929-1954). In 1943, Lawrence freed the Home Mission Board from debt for the first time.

Richard A. McLemore, president of Mississippi College in Clinton (1957-1968), was a member of Hattiesburg Lodge No. 397 and a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason. (The New Age Magazine, September 1968, pp. 35-36.)

David E. Moore was a well-known pastor in southeastern New Mexico until his death in 1992 at the age of 103. He was pastor of Caprock Baptist Church in Caprock, N.M., for many years and was assistant pastor of First Baptist Church, Roswell, N.M., at the time of his death. On his hundredth birthday, he was honoured with the title of "Honourary Past Master of Roswell Lodge No. 18." (Letter from Ray D. Carpenter, Albuquerque, N.M., November 6, 1992.)

Famous Baptists Who Were Freemasons

Christians and Freemasonry

Freemasonry Exposed!