By many different symbols Masonry teaches a doctrine of "works salvation"-that by personal merit and the works of the righteousness, the Masonic initiate will become worthy of salvation and eternal life. The candidate is told again and again that God will be gracious and reward those who build their character and do good deeds.
    For example, the symbol of the "Sword Pointing to a Naked Heart" is said to "pointedly remind us that God will reward us according to what we do in this life. In a similar fashion, the All-Seeing Eye, which symbolizes God, "pervades the innermost recesses of the Human Heart, and will reward us according to our merits."
    The white apron or lambskin is "a symbol of Innocence, Purity, and Honor". This is because, "The Lamb has in all ages been deemed an emblem of innocence. The lambskin is therefore to remind you of that purity of life and conduct which is so essentially necessary to your gaining admission to the Celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect of the universe presides." This same teaching is found in the Holman Edition of the Holy Bible that is published for Masons. Mackey states of the apron: "The pure, unspotted lambskin apron is, then, in Masonry, symbolic of that perfection of body and purity of mind which are essential qualifications in all who would participate in the sacred mysteries."
    The compass, the sprig of acacia, the scythe, and other symbols are all said to symbolize the immortality of the soul. All of this is why Jack Harris concluded:
 

"In all the rituals that I taught for eleven years, Masonry did teach how to get to heaven. They taught it with the apron that I wore, by my purity, life and conduct. They taught it in the Hiram Abiff legend of the third degree {symbolizing} the immortality of the soul. Through all their writings they say they are teaching the immortality of the soul to the Mason. But the Word of God tells me that the only way to have immoral life is through the Person of Jesus Christ. Never at any Masonic ritual did they point out that Jesus is the way of salvation.
 

    That is why Albert Pike says, "We must have faith in ourselves.." And this is why the charge to the Master Mason at his raising states, "Let all the energies of our souls and the perfection of our minds be employed in attaining the approbation of the Grand Master on high, so that when we come to die...we gain the favor of a speedy entrance to the Grand Lodge on high, where the G. A. of T. U. forever presides, and where, seated at his right hand, he may be pleased to pronounce us upright men and Masons, fitly prepared {for heaven}.
    If you were to hear all of this in the Lodge, wouldn’t you think that Freemasonry is clearly teaching that you can go to the "Celestial Lodge Above" if you live a pure and honest life? Isn’t that "works" salvation? And if you’re a Christian, when the Lodge teaches a man that by his good life and by his good deeds God will admit him into heaven, isn’t that contrary to your Christian teaching?
    In conclusion, there is absolutely no doubt that Masonry teaches that a Mason will inherit eternal life by his conduct and his personal merit and good works. This concept of salvation is one which the Bible calls "another gospel." It is so contrary to God’s way of salvation that the Scripture places it under a divine curse (Galatians 1:6-8).
    The following Scripture gave the biblical position on how a man gains eternal life:
 

"To the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness" (Romans 4:5 NIV).
 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).
 

"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:11,12 NIV).
 

    All of these verses in the Bible teach that salvation is a gift of God. Salvation comes solely by the grace {unmerited favor} of God, not by anything we can do to earn God’s favor or by personal righteousness. Be being a part of the Lodge, a Christian Mason is supporting "another gospel," a false system of salvation that lies to people about how they may be saved.
    If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, realizing this shouldn’t you obey the biblical admonition in 2 Corinthians 6:17 (NIV): Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord?"
 

John Ankerberg & John Weldon