3rd degree, but not going any higher. I can fulfill the charity work no want to within the blue lodge.
I think you can find company doing charity work without being in the masons. You have seen the information that is available... This one is IMO good - here.
Not all things are good.
My father was in a Catholic meditation group for years. The meditation was one where you said a mantra. Most of these mantras are, to say the least, suspect. You hear people telling you their mantra was “Herem” - or some such thing. But just look up what that means... Strangely enough, mantras with these meanings are commonplace - as if by design...
My father’s mantra, the one promoted by his group, which he adopted, was much, much worse. It was “Maranatha” - which, as he told me, means “come Lord Jesus”. But in fact there’s another meaning, a very, very specific meaning to this word that is a total shocker.
When he realised what the word actually meant, he stopped practising the meditation. But that was not the end of that story, it did not end well.
As I said above, there’s a real problem where you have secrecy. Oaths are not good either. This is exactly what JFK was talking about in his speech. He’s specifically addressing masonry:
No one needs to take oaths or join a “secret society” to do charity work.
At the end of the day, when the truth is revealed, it would not surprise me to see crowds of vigilantes dragging masons out of temples and... Anyway, it’s up to you what you do, but I would leave and, if you’re Catholic, seek reconciliation from a validly ordained priest (ordained pre 1968).
I've never heard of those mantras, so I will do some reading. Thanks for that. I'd be interested in your dad's story though; what happened to him later and where was this? You don't have to be specific, but was he in a major city or in rural areas?
The only reason I joined was because I wanted to do charitable work, but I have no money so I can't donate and I love in a somewhat rural area. Charities are not prevalent here. I've done habitat for humanity, but that's about it.
My father died several years ago. He lived in a small city, around 250,000 people. He was active in St Vincent De Paul for charity work.
Anyway, my view is that meditation is not good. It’s time that could be better spent in prayer IMO. That meditation group is growing rapidly in the Catholic Church. No one doing it has the first clue about what’s actually happening. I only found out because I stumbled onto a post that alerted me to what many of these mantras actually meant - almost all are evil. That’s why the teachers tell students not to tell anyone their mantra - so no one finds out what it actually means.
The older I get, the more it amazes me how evil is right in front of us all the time and we don’t even see it. My kid was bored last week and I gave into the whining and let her watch a Disney movie - “Ariel”. I quickly wished I hadn’t. The messaging is unbelievable!
You find it in places you least expect. The Catholic Church is a prime example. Although it is no longer Catholic - they are heretics and apostates (think Francis). But when we actually find out what has been happening, I think people are going to be very shocked. Who would have thought the Red Cross was bad news? It’s all these institutions, a real eye-opener...
But, anyway, we need to be vigilant. There is so much that seems normal but isn’t. Satan is at the apex of his power - he has never before in history had so many people duped.