Article: 8963 of alt.freemasonry Newsgroups: alt.freemasonry From: rl3s@netcom.com (Zeus Paleologos) Subject: Re: Say it ain't so! Message-ID: Organization: The Kingdom X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1] References: <44584r$6uv@zippy.cais.net> Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 07:45:09 GMT Lines: 71 Sender: rl3s@netcom17.netcom.com In article on Sat, 30 Sep 1995 02:32:38 GMT, Jim Christian (ab757@ccn.cs.dal.ca) wrote: > Roger Ingersoll (rogeri@netcom.com) wrote: > -snip- > : ... Are you saying Satan = Lucifer? > -unsnip- > ============= > Does the "light" in FM come from Lucifer, the "light-bearer"? > Is your god like the ancient king of Babylon, who (as described in > Isaiah 14:12-15) has fallen from heaven, who had said in his heart, > "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself > like the Most High"? > Lucifer = "the great dragon" = "the serpent of old" = the devil = Satan > = and "the great deceiver" Lucifer was the Latin name of the planet Venus seen before sunrise, hence, the meaning 'bringer of light' where the light is the dawn (which has absolutely nothing to do with Freemasonry). Interestingly, it was also the name of a Fourth Century *bishop* of Sardinia, who from early in his career was considered to be a fierce opponent of Christian heresies. He formed a group called the Luciferians to promulgate his ideas. I believe that the fact that an early CHRISTIAN BISHOP known for his opposition to heresy bore this name ought to be sufficient evidence that it did not have the negative connotations to early Christians that you and others give it now. The passages from Isaiah (on Jewish authority) compare the King of Babylon to the morning-star (Vemus): The word Lucifer being Latin is not used in the Old Testament text. However, in the Middle Ages, this passage was seen as an allegory on the devil being cast out of Heaven. The whole idea was based on a complex connection between the morning-star (Venus) being a pretender to the sun's glory, the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus (whom the legend says was chained to a mountain for giving mankind the secret of fire), and Satan's presumed fall before the creation of mankind (because since God created everything good, it was reasoned that Satan had to fall for evil to enter into the world). This medieval concoction was later used by the poet Milton in his poem PARADISE LOST which popularized and told the story of what presumably happened in Heaven before Satan's fall. According to the story, Lucifer was Satan's name before the archangel Michael defeated him and cast him out. It is, therefore, incorrect to refer to Satan today as Lucifer or to call Lucifer the Great Dragon of Revelation as that is at the end of time, not before the beginning. Of course, name-calling has seldom been a discriminating activity as you and some others evince in continuing to give credence to a story which has no Biblical basis except in the minds of some bored Medieval monks. TEXT DELETED -- a pitiful effort at anti-Masonic propaganda by one who seriously needs to get his facts straight. Mainstream Masonry has never had any connection with the myth of Lucifer nor the fact of Satan. You would do well to learn this lesson and to understand the difference. And to seek 'exorcism' of the attitude of hatred you display toward a fraternity that erects all its Lodges to God and dedicates them to the Holy Saints John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, and John the Evangelist, the recorder of the Book of Revelation, whose feast days many Lodges still celebrate. So study the Bible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and some *real* Masonic history with an open mind and learn something useful. Or take your misguided polemics elsewhere and stop giving conservative Christians a bad name. Zeus Paleologos, PhD -- "Fools are best chastened by facts, not tempers." --ZP