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Character Counts
Freemasonry USA's National
Treasure
and Source of Our
Founding Fathers' Original Intent
Michael G. Maness
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Now
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Endorsements
Freemasonry's
focus upon character counting is a theme of honor for the ages.
Here, character itself decides credibility entirely (even
for critics), and Maness
energetically drives this home, even to the founding of the United States.
Top notch and fun.
Brian R.
Dodson,
Texas Grand Master of Masons, 2006
Financial Consultant, A. G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.
Grand Lodge of Texas
- one of the largest in the world
Character
Counts is a book that must be read by all American
Freemasons. And should be read by all
Americans.
Nelson King,
Editor,
The Philalethes, of the Philalethes Society
Freemason.org
- home of world’s
oldest Masonic research society
Character Counts is absolutely
wonderful reading filled with valuable information.
I am so pleased to endorse this book of service to all with great enthusiasm
and earnest endeavor to
strive for our Great Commandment, "that
we love one another."
Sharon
Fuller,
Past Worthy Matron, Woodville O.E.S.
#462
Tyler County Treasurer and Life-long Baptist
Character counts
and decides the matter in the light of day.
Freemasonry is the
philosophical fraternity on the tradecraft of character, with ten legions of
legions standing out. Character counting in Freemasonry is the U.S.A.’s
National Treasure.
Against
Freemasonry, a scallywag has sewed together a Frankenstein concoction, and
several in the Religious Right have bought into the concoction hook, line, and
stinker bait. The scallywags have hid history, occulted character, prostituted
character, and attempted to hide Freemasonry’s ten legions of legends. The
shallowness of the anti-Masons’ best authors would amaze many. The occulting and
prostitution should stop, especially in the church.
Their Frankenstein
gets a real beating in this book.
The U.S.A. was
founded upon freedom under God, not Christianity per se, for it was
already there, and it’s sects were often vicious to freedom of conscience. More
of our Founding Fathers were members of Freemasonry than any single Christian
denomination, and no institution informed their original intent on the
Constitution more.
Like a tree unique
in human history, freedom’s two branches of significant liberty and merit-based
equality still reach to the sky, and we are still trying to define
and divine their treasure today. The foliage offers the cool shade of freedom of
conscience for all who will come under her strong branches. Freemasonry was
there from the beginning, watching the back of freedom like no other, when
character counted most of all.
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Contents of Character Counts
Click here to
see
Contents of Character Counting
List of 8 Charts, 8 Pictures, 8 Wedges, & More Light
INTRO: Character Count ... or Not
BOOK ONE, CLIFF ONE:
Frankenstein Pygmy & SBC Documents
1. Plan to
Defend Honor Against Frankenstein
2. Bible and
Character Counts--Gleaming Badge of Honor
3. SBC Documents & Gordon's
Closer Look Frankenstein
4. Wobbling
Faceless Brainless Frankenstein Pygmy
5. Paganism, Sesame
Street, Dracula, and the SBC
6. SBC Anti-Mason
Frankenstein More Vampire than Not
7. Freemasonry
Anti-Pagan to the Bone
8. Freemasonry a
Religion?--Not if You Have a Religion
1. Freemasonry's
Fraternal Definition and Honorable Principles
2.
Secrecy--Treasure of the Home, Wisdom of the Mature
3. A Few of the Ten
Legions of Legends
4. David Barton's
Original Intent Not Quite the Intent
5. Freemasonry
Cornerstones of the U.S.A.
6. Tree of Freedom
Lifts High Liberty and Equality
7. Need
for Liberty Spreads Like a Prairie Fire
8. Our National
Treasure--Freemasonry
Special Items -- Full
Version Here
These were cut from or
drastically reduced from version one
Freemasonry
and Wall of Separation ~ Ghost hunting and scholars Leonard Levy and
Bishop Thomas Curry on the Wall of Separation between church and state.
Religious-Christian
- How Barton Erroneously Equates "Religious" with "Christian
Denomination"
Critique of Barton's Question of Freemasonry & Founding Fathers
~
Critique of James L. Holly's
Freemasonry in the Southern Baptist Convention
and
Holly's Response to Book ... Little Doubt Left
www.PreciousHeart.net/Barton_Washington_Inaugural.htm
Appendices 1-8 -- see all original eight
appendices here, including Freemasonry Founding Fathers
Appendix 6.
E-Mails
to SBC Experts & Paige Patterson -
Appendix 7.
Gary Leazer's Fundamentalism & Freemasonry -
Original FULL Contents of
Character Counts
Bibliography in 8 Categories a Little Annotated
Red light  indicates where you are
in each section.
Click here to See
Full Expanded Contents of
Character Counts
Order
Character Counts Now
Special--David Barton's WallBuilders
Barton's The Question of Freemasonry and the Founding Fathers--Critique
-- Barton is a new brand of anti-Mason, here believing it good in the
Founding of the USA and not today, and he accomplishes through market-based
history making, the molesting of quotes, and the occulting of his own best
source.
Barton's Original Intent--Critique -- In this
partial critique, we address Barton's market-based history making his attempt to
catch the ghost of the original intent of our USA Constitution, and his several
twists that actually prove the opposite of his efforts.
Barton's The Question of Freemasonry and the Founding Father--Critique
-- Barton is a new brand of anti-Mason, here believing it good in the Founding
of the USA and not today, and he accomplishes through market-based history
making, the molesting of quotes, and the occulting of his own best source.
Barton's The Question of Freemasonry and the Founding Fathers
-- Barton is a new brand of anti-Mason, here believing it good in the Founding
of the USA and not today, and he accomplishes through market-based history
making, the molesting of quotes, and the occulting of his own best source.
Barton's The Question of Freemasonry and the Founding Fathers
-- Barton is a new brand of anti-Mason, here believing it good in the Founding
of the USA and not today, and he accomplishes through market-based history
making, the molesting of quotes, and the occulting of his own best source.
Other Resources
Quote from Rob James &
Gary Leazer's The Fundamentalist Takeover
in the Southern Baptist Convention: a Brief History -- The quote
is from Rob James and
Gary Leazer's The Fundamentalist Takeover in the Southern
Baptist Convention: a Brief History (Impact Media, 1999):
114-115. The quote outlines the history of the $110,000 SBC study of
Freemasonry, which was abbreviated and summed in 1993 SBC Report to 8
positive and 8 negative points, ending in a respect of conscience. Since
1993, the study was "deep-sixed" according SBC expert Bill Gordon --
no longer available.
From the abbreviated version in 1993 SBC Report, Bill Gordon as the SBC expert
from now North
American Mission Board's Interfaith Witness Department used only the 8
negative points to launch his Closer Look at Freemasonry. Gordon's
Closer Look mutilation is one Frankenstein dismantled in the my book
above.
Old Chapter - Uuedited - Special
on Freemasonry & Wall of Separation - pdf -- This analyzes the Wall
of Separation metaphor through the eyes of Law Professor Leonard Levy &
Bishop Thomas Curry --
National Problems Part Religion's Fault
-- an on-line section from Character Counts that
helps put into perspective some the nutty Religious Right corkscrewing
Barton's New Book Occults Freemason Founding
Fathers -- Critique of Barton's Question of Freemasonry & Founding Fathers
-- Barton's new book is 132 pages, filled with 3-5 pictures per page,
and is given a thorough thumping here. This is the full critique, intended
for the book, but condensed in the book to save space for more important items.
Barton shows anti-Mason colors here, engages in market-based history making, and
shows forth a secret third agenda in his little book--tailored to innocent
readers, his third agenda is to pull in the founding era Freemason Founding
Fathers into his current Christian establishment agenda. He is deceitful
and molests quotes to suit him, clearly, and causes one to wonder what kind
of country he is truly wanting.
Analysis of
Jonathan Blanchard
Freemasonry Illustrated—A Complete Exposition
...
(7th edition; Chicago, IL: Ezra A. Cook, 1886; 1st edition, 1879; 640p)
with excerpt from Character Counts pages 273-278.
Paige Patterson and SBC Expert E-Mails --
In 2004, I sought clarification on the SBC document, then known as the Closer
Look at Freemasonry, and was treated not as a fellow Southern Baptist but
like a burden. I told them I was chronicling as I went, and this was the
full text of Appendix 6 of the of my book, was condensed in the book to make
room for more important material. These 14 e-mails tell a great story of
avoidance and unwillingness to detail substance.
Gary Leazer's Fundamentalism and Freemasonry
-- This book is crucial to an understanding of the SBC history on
Freemasonry from 1993, as Leazer then wrote the first SBC study, then was
harassed for seeking expert opinion. This is the text of Appendix 7 in my
book.
George W. Truett on Freemasonry, namely,
his message to the Texas Grand Lodge, Waco, Texas, 1940, on his history with and
impressions on Freemasonry.
Harry Carr's article 22,
"When did the word 'Bible' first appear in Masonic literature?" in a compilation
of some of his best 200 answers in The Freemason at Work (London: Burgess
& Son, 1976; 425p.; 51-54), as part of his work for Quatuor Coronati Lodge
1961-1973, considered one of the foremost lodges of research in the world.
War & Peace Article
-- detailing SBC Baptist Faith and Message view on peace and war, the
relevant Scriptures therein and throughout the O.T. and N.T., quotes from
several experts, and some of the relevant literature. Among the three
Christian views on war, namely pacifism, just war, and crusaderism, Christians
are to be peacemakers that sometimes must use war to restore order and insure
peace.
Patrick Henry's Speech
on American Liberty -- he may have been a
Freemason, but he certainly knew, respected, and knowingly followed and worked
with Freemasons, and knew the difference between the anti-Mason Frankensteins
and the nobility of Freemasonry--and had the courage to say so, "Give me liberty
or give me death" was rooted more in Freemasonry than in most of the Christian
colonial sects that demanded conforming more than liberty.
E. R. Johnston's
Work on the Religious Side of Freemasonry --
A masterpiece that distinguishes precisely how Freemasonry is not a religion,
among the many fine pieces that anti-Masons ignore.
Critique of James L. Holly's
Freemasonry in the Southern Baptist Convention
-- a substantial and rather gentle challenge to Holly's most significant points.
Holly is a wealthy and influential medical doctor in Beaumont, Texas, and was
the spur that got the SBC study off and running. The degree of his
occulting behavior and shallowness of his work would amaze many, most especially
coming from a successful medical doctor. Scary.
Holly's Response to My Book -- No Doubt Left
-- James L. Holly responded to the advance copy of my book, essentially
assailing the whole book as a diatribe and self-serving, practically admitting
he did not read it or understand how character counts. Like his
previous work, Holly simply complained and failed to address the issues, leaving
no doubt as to his subjective feelings and inability to address the issues
straightforward.
Click < Holly HERE > if page does not
show.
David Hunt's Response to My Book --
Dave
Hunt's associate, Edwin L. Newby, validates our point on character counting, as
if through the back door. Newby's well-crafted letter tried to appear like
he read the book, but fails to encounter the substance, does not even try.
By accident, Newby reveals a incredible
theological deficit by Hunt, almost impossible to believe by someone of
Hunt's usually profound theological acumen--Newby said Hunt
did
not know Paige Patterson. Newby thumbed through the
advance draft, complaining about the lampooning and totally ignoring
the main theses. A trait too common in the anti-Mason literature.
Click < Hunt HERE > if page does not show.
Challenge & Small Critique of Paige
Patterson's Work -- as seen in my book,
Heart
of the God, which includes a previous review of his
commentary, Troubled Triumph Church, and more with respect to
Patterson's criticism of lack of defense of our real-time relationship
with God in Christ inside of Classical Theism versus Open Theism.
Patterson is president of Southwestern Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.
Patterson is a good and inspiring preacher. Yet Patterson
criticizes Freemasonry, though he has not written nothing truly
substantial theologically and nothing on Freemasonry. Truly
ironic, the first president of Southwestern Seminary, Freemason B. H.
Carroll, wrote more theology and biblical commentary than Patterson and
all of the current SBC seminary presidents combined (perhaps in
the history of SBC seminaries), and much of Carroll's work was re-published
40 years later--something no seminary president and no SBC theologian
has matched in SBC history! Why is the history and character of
Carroll occulted?
Critique of L. Rush Bush's The
Advancement -- as seen in my book,
Heart
of the God, and Bush's low level humming at the dynamism
of our relationship with God and initial slamming of the country
preacher. Not directly applicable here, but part of the spirit of
isolation and control infecting the SBC hierarchy and directly connected
to Paige Patterson. Bush is academic v.p. at Southeastern
Seminary, Paige Patterson's last presidency.
One of the great histories of Anti-Masonry,
perhaps the greatest
Alphonse Cerza, Anti-Masonry: Light on the Past and
Present Opponents of Freemasonry (Fulton, MO: Ovid Bell Press, 1962;
410p.). Cerza was
a law teacher and past master of a lodge. It is truly ironic that a
Freemason scholar is the writer of the best history on anti-Masonry, and more so
ironic that most of the best anti-Masons leave out most of their own
anti-Masonic predecessors; that is, in the anti-Masonic literature, book
by book, you can see how they have occulted their own predecessors for the last
200 years. Freemason Cerza's work a uniquely substantial, and no anti-Mason has answered anything in it to date.
Here are a couple of sections from this great work.
Alphonse
Cerza's Table of Contents & Preface - an excellent book by all accounts, and
the most substantial anti-Mason historical chronicle in the literature (that I
have found).
Alphonse Cerza's on
"Is Freemasonry a Religion?" - Which is a small portion of lawyer Cerza's
view, just another articulate and powerful clarification, also never addressed
by anti-Masons.
Appendix A. Anti-Mason Chronology - Gives an overview of the vast
array of 300+ individual piece of hisotircal persecution and twisting for the
last 300+ years. Unprecedented.
Appendix B. Exposés of Freemasonry Ritual - One of best lists, by a
Freemason, most of which are absent in most current anti-Mason books!
Appendice E
& F. Albert Pike's Address and Written Reply to Pope Leo XIII's
Humanun Genus (the harshest and longest anti-Mason treatise to come from the
Roman Catholic Church). No anti-Mason or Catholic to date has bothered to
address Pike's eloquent challenge here.
Appendix G. Rev. J. L. C.
Dart's 1951 Answer to Anti-Mason Rev. Walton Hannah - Worthy of a trophy.
Appendix J. Mrs. M. E.
DeGeer's 1869 Debate with Charles Blanchard - Worthy of two
trophies--best in show, best in class, even alone in class. Then student and son of ardent
anti-Mason President John Blanchard
(1811-1892)
of Wheaton College. Mrs.
DeGeer's defense is perhaps the most eloquent and powerful defense by a
non-Mason. Blanchard appears the adolescent being corrected by a stately,
inoffensive, but articulate champion of the language.
The young Charles' father
Jonathan Blanchard
wrote one of the largest anti-Mason works, that became a precedent--though few
reference him today--entitled,
Freemasonry
Illustrated: A Complete Exposition of the First Seven Masonic Degrees, by Jacob
O. Doesburg ... A Historical Sketch of the Institution and a Critical Analysis
of the Character of Each Degree, by President J. Blanchard of Wheaton College
... The Accuracy of This Exposition Attested by J. O. Doesburg ... and Others
(Chicago, Ill., E. A. Cook & co., 1879.
Freemasonry
Illustrated.
Jacob O. Doesburg. Chicago, IL: E. A. Cook, 1879. 640p. Revised
Freemasonry illustrated. 18th ed. 1916. 640p.). Mrs. Degeer's
defense must have been so pleasant to hear, and incensing to Blanchard.
Appendix
K. Alphonse Cerza's Own Statement on Christianity and Freemasonry -
Which is an address given to the Drexel Park Presbyterian Church, Chicago, IL,
on October 12, 1959. How have the anti-Masons missed these?
Alphonse Cerza's
References - an extraordinary and unique collection.
First-rate Freemasonry Defense.
Also, totally occulted in the anti-Mason literature. This excellent
resource builds upon Cerza's monumental work, covers new territory, and is an
absolute necessity for anyone wanting an up-to-date account of most of the most
serious anti-Mason efforts:
Art DeHoyos and S. Brent Morris, Is It
True What They Say About Freemasonry?: the Methods of Anti-Masons?
(Foreword by James Tresner II; NY: M. Evans and Co., 2004. 262p.;
Silver Spring, MD: Masonic Information Center, 1997; 1st 1993). A new
trophy in the literature.
See also their newest: Freemasonry
in Context: History, Ritual, Controversy. Lanham, MD: Lexington
Books, 2003.
See the publisher,
Masonic Service
Association of North America, which
publishes several books, pamphlets, lists of masons in congress, medal of honor
recipients, and remains a general resource of masons and non-masons alike.
These books outline and correct many anti-Mason
confusions and lies. It is amazing the degree of malignance and
shallowness found in many anti-Mason works. One would think that if one
wanted the truth about an organization, one would look at the significant works
by that organization, that organization's history, and who had been a part of
the that organization.
Scottish Rite
Journals for February and March of 1993 contained several articles
directly bearing upon the June 1993 SBC meeting, and like James L. Holly's work
that was sent to 5,000 SBC leaders, the February journal was sent to 5,000 SBC
leaders. Yet the 1993 report nor the SBC expert Bill Gordon's Closer
Look even mentioned the journal, much less dealt with the material therein.
Truly and incredibly, ignoring the work of fellow Christians of good report and
sterling reputation is heart of occulting behavior.
SBC Publications used in vivisection:
1993 Original Report to
SBC
SBC Bill Gordon's 1993 Closer Look at Freemasonry--2005
the Frankenstein pygmy for all of its little claims. Not sentence of
which has been said before, in some manner, though not a single reference to his
anti-Mason predecessors; and not a sentence of which has not been dealt with
before in some manner, though he totally avoided all the previous
correctives. And would not discuss his errancies, ten years old now, and
still supported.
SBC Bill Gordon's 1993 Comparison Chart--2005
- a smaller version of his Frankenstein pygmy, both of which occult character,
occult history, and need to prostitute character in order to be credible.
This fellow 007 license to slander needs revoking.
We did not look at the SBC doc on
Bridge to Light
--
this is adequately addressed in deHoyos' book
below
The three used in the vivisection are grossly dependent upon Freemasonry being a religion,
which it never has been. Bill Gordon especially made no effort
at all to distinguish the truth of Freemasonry, to address the
obvious, and moreover appears to parrot ancient anti-Mason critics without due
reference to them or other anti-Masons. Amazingly, in all three, no one
saw fit to
reference one SBC Freemason of good report in those studies on Freemasonry in
the SBC. See the following resources for more.
Order
Character Counts Now
Significant Masonic Web Sites
a. Masonic
Information Sites click to go below
b. Historic Masonic
Sites
c. Significant
Grand Lodge Sites
d. Lists of Famous
Masons On-line
a. Masonic
Information Sites
Freemason.org
- a web portal to Masonic sites around the world home the Philalethes Society,
the world’s oldest and largest Masonic Research Society
Masonic Service
Association of North America Masonic
Service Association of North America,
www.msana.com,
pamphlets, masons in congress, medal of honor recipients, source of many popular
brochures and well-organized lists, including the following:
U.S. Grand Lodges –
www.msana.com/linksus.htm
International Grand Lodges –
www.msana.com/linksintl.htm
Southeast Texas Masonic Family –
www.setxmasonicfamily.org
Freemasons-Freemasonry.com,
a huge site with most of the classic works available to read on-line, including
Albert Pike, Albert Gallatin Mackey, a premier and independent Masonic on-line
magazine by Freemasons for Freemasonry. Articles and books from around the world
and from many different faith groups within freemasonry, including the classics
below.
Several works are controversial, mostly Albert Pike and Albert Mackey, but
anti-Masons never quote them in their context. See them here for yourself. Be mindful that no Mason can speak for Freemasonry as a whole or another mason's
beliefs, and also that Freemasonry has never considered itself a religion, only
religious in that the basic religious belief required is a belief in one God and
immortality. Recognize that most anti-Masons predicate their attacks upon
their own imputation of authority of one or two Masonic authors
(like Mackey and Pike) or their own imputation of a religion status upon Freemasonry. And twisting Pike to confuse
Freemasonry as a religion is a
common tactic. One does not need to believe all of Pike to be or continue
to be a Mason, which seems to escape most anti-Masons, and Pike's erudition or
championing of honor is
hardly ever recognized.
Masonic
Info.com has a huge list of famous
masons and info on anti-masonry. Even includes non-famous and black sheep
masons.
National Appendant Bodies -
www.bessel.org/append.htm - see other sets of links collected by Paul
Bessel at
www.bessel.org
Freemasonry.net &
www.freemasonry.net/links.asp,
huge list of lodge web sites
Freemasonry Today,
www.freemasonrytoday.com
leading magazine with news and articles, and huge number of links to
masonry around the world
George Washington Masonic Memorial,
www.gwmemorial.org
Library and Museum of the Supreme Council 33rd
degree,
http://www.srmason-sj.org/library.htm
National Masonic Foundation for Children
www.masonicmodel.org, presents and
supports a student assistance program, the Masonic Model Student Assistance
Training (MMSAT) program.
International Association Legions of Honor is a
Shriners Association consisting of 156 Legion of Honor Units within the Shrine.
Membership requirements are being a Mason, a member of the Shrine and also a
Veteran of the Armed forces. For more information you can access the
International Association Legions of Honor web page at
http://ialoh.org.
London Museum of Freemasonry,
www.freemasonry.london.museum, The
Library and Museum of Freemasonry is a registered museum housing one of the
finest publicly available collections of Masonic material in the world.
Grand Lodge of England,
www.grandlodge-england.org: the first
record of the ‘making’ of an English Freemason is Elias Ashmole, the antiquarian
and herald, whose collections formed the basis of the Ashmolean Museum in
Oxford. He recorded in his diary that a lodge met at his father-in-law’s house
in Warrington, Cheshire on 16 October 1646 to make him a Mason. None of those
involved was a stonemason. In the later 1600s there is further evidence for the
existence of Freemasonry as a separate organization unrelated to groups
controlling the stonemason’s craft. Organized Freemasonry became established on
24 June 1717 when four London lodges came together at the Goose and Gridiron Ale
House, St Paul’s Churchyard, formed themselves into a Grand Lodge and elected
Anthony Sayer, Gentleman, as their Grand Master – the first Grand Lodge in the
world. Initially the Grand Lodge was simply an annual feast for lodges in London
but in 1721 John, Duke of Montagu, was elected Grand Master and the Grand Lodge
met in ‘quarterly communication’ and began to establish itself as a regulatory
body, attracting to it lodges meeting outside London.
Grand Lodge of Ireland,
www.irish-freemasons.org, is the second
oldest in the world and the first evidence for its existence comes from the
Dublin Weekly Journal of June 26th 1725.
Grand Lodge of Israel,
www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/9991
Grand Lodge of Scotland,
www.grandlodgescotland.com – Founded in
1736
Grand Lodge of New York,
www.nymasons.org,
a first-class site with a huge lodge
Grand Lodge of Washington D.C.,
www.dcgrandlodge.org
Scottish Rite, Northern U.S.,
www.supremecouncil.org, in the 1730’s
many Scottish, Irish, and English Masons moved to the Bordeaux region of France
to escape the civil strife in England. They became known as the “Ecossais” or
Scottish Masons, and in 1801 the Supreme Council of 33° was established in
Charleston.
York Rite,
http://yorkrite.com
World’s Oldest, information portal:
http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/Masonry
— dubbed the “world’s oldest Masonic web site”
National Heritage Museum,
www.monh.org,
click on exhibits — long-term exhibit entitled “To Build and Sustain: Freemasons
in American Community,” an extraordinary collection, even George Washington’s
role in laying the U.S. Capitol’s corner stone.
d. Lists
of Famous Masons On-line
www.masonicinfo.com/famous1.htm —
A through L
www.masonicinfo.com/famous2.htm —
M through Z
^ This site also has lists of infamous Masons, falsely attributed
as Masons
www.phmainstreet.com/suncoast/famous.htm
www.co-masonry.org/language/english/history/famous.asp
www.msana.com
- Masonic Service Association of North America
www.freemasons-freemasonry.com
- huge site with classic works
www.masonicinfo.com - includes lists of
famous masons and counters to anti-masons
www.freemasonrytoday.co.uk
- national magazine
www.gwmemorial.org
- George Washington Masonic Memorial
www.freemasonry.longon.museum
- Library and museum
www.grandlodge-england.org
- the first
www.nymasons.org
- outstanding site and lodge
www.freemasonry.net
www.freemasonry.org
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