Masonry claims it is not a religion. But because Masonry claims it is not a religion, does that change the fact that it is a religion? One example should be enough to show that claiming something is true when it is not is ridiculous.
    Christian Science, via Mary Baker Eddy, teaches that when a man’s heart stops beating and he dies, it is not really death, but only an illusion. Christian Science boldly claims there is no such thing as pain, evil, sickness, or death; there is only good. But calling pain and death an illusion (changing the labels) does not altar the feelings involved in these experiences. And if I experience the same feelings, what good does it do me to call these experiences something different?
    The same is true of Freemasonry. The Lodge does call itself a religion. But because certain people call Masonry a "fraternal organization" instead of a religion, this does not change what it is in experience. That’s why two of Masonry’s leading scholars, Henry Wilson Coil and Albert G. Mackey, have both concluded that Masonry that is a religion.
    Here is what is at stake. All Christians believe that there is only one true religion-biblical Christianity. Therefore, all other religions must be false. After all, the Bible declares, "Salvation is found in no one else {other than Jesus Christ}, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12 NIV). "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men-the testimony given in its proper time" (1 Timothy 2:5,6 NIV).
    If the words in these verses are true, and if Masonry is another religion-and according to Mackey and Coil it meets the requirements of Webster’s primary definitions of religion-then Christianity is the true religion and Freemasonry must be considered another religion and therefore a false religion.
    Some people attempt to avoid this conclusion by saying that Freemasonry is not a religion-it is just "religious." But it would be just as sensible to say that a man has no power but is powerful; or he has no courage, but is courageous; or he has no wealth, but is wealthy; or he has no patience, but is patient; or he has no intellect, but is intellectual; or that he has no honor, but is honorable.
    Others say, "But the Lodge is not a church so it is not really a religion." As we saw earlier, Coil responds to this by saying, "If Freemasonry were not a religion, such as you find in a church, what would have to be done to make it so?" He says, "Nothing would be necessary, or at least nothing but to add more of the same. Coil reminds Masons that, "The fact that Freemasonry is a mild religion does not mean that it is no religion.
    If anyone still doubts that Freemasonry is a religion, we can think of no one better to quote than Albert Mackey, who in Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry writes:
 

"We open and close our Lodges with prayer; we invoke the blessings of the Most High upon all our labors; we demand of our neophytes a profession of trusting belief in the existence and superintending care of God; and we teach them to bow with humility and reverence at his sacred name, while his holy law is widely opened upon our altars...It is impossible that a Freemason can be ‘true and trusty’ to his order unless he is a respecter of religions and an observer of religious principle."
 

    If you are a Christian involved in the Lodge, how can you in good conscience continue to practice false religion? As God’s Word emphasizes:
 

John Ankerberg & John Weldon