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Tom:
I’d like to tell you about how I became a Mason, got saved, and eventually
left the Lodge.
When I joined the Masonic Lodge in 1978, I was not saved. As a matter of
fact, I didn’t believe in God. When I answered the three questions they
asked, I lied openly. I surely did. I knew the answers that they wanted and
those are the answers that they got. So, I joined under false pretenses.
When I got into Lodge, I really enjoyed it, and I began to study. I did my
memory work real well. I had a real good teacher.
The night I took my Entered Apprentice degree, it’s shameful to say, was my
daughter’s third birthday. I was not there for her 3rd birthday, because
the Entered Apprentice degree was more important. That was October 30th of
1978. By January of 1979, I was a Master Mason.
After that, I began working as the Tyler. I spent a year as the Tyler and
the year following that as the Junior Deacon. That was as far as I got into
the Masonic Lodge work. I took a job offshore and was not able to be home
for the meetings like I should be. I felt I should not carry on with the
chairs; so I got out of the active chair work. That was 1980 or 1981, I
suppose.
By 1982 or 1983, I had begun to help my wife, who was the youth director at
church. I was helping to chaperone the youth, there at church. We were
teaching our kids because we were worried about them being sucked into
cults. We had done a lot of studying. My wife has taught seminars on the
occult and on cults. I would consider her an expert at it. I was working
along with her. However, I was not yet saved.
In reading the books about cults, one name kept cropping up - Freemasonry. I
said, “Aw, don’t worry about that; that’s just a witch hunt. There’s nothing
true about that. Yes, some of what they say may be true - - there’s some
fact there - - but n-a-a-h, don’t worry about that.”
In 1984, I got saved, and the Lord really began to work on me. I later found
out why: Fervent prayer of a righteous woman availeth much! Trust me!
In 1987, I had been laid off from the oil fields in
1986 and we were struggling; things really came to a head. I was in a
military school at Fort Mc Clellan, Alabama, approximately 300 miles from my
home, which is in Mississippi. I was there during the week, and came home on
weekends. I was there for 15 weeks. The Lord was really dealing with me,
spiritually, about the Masonic Lodge. I was learning more and more and being
convicted more and more - by the counter cult teaching that we were doing in
church
.
While at school at Fort Mc Clellan, 300 miles from home, an oppression came
over me. I really began to seek, in earnest and in prayer, “What shall I do?
Show me, Lord. Send me the truth!” The Lord sent me the truth.
I’d like my wife to come forward at this point in time and tell you how I
got the truth.
This is my wife, Kay.
Kay:
I’ll try not to be redundant in what Tom’s already told you.
When he got into the Masonic Lodge, he said, “This is a good thing. It’s
going to make me a better man, a better husband and a better father.” As he
has testified, from the very beginning, it took time away from our family.
He missed many occasions when the children had things, but he insisted that
this was making him a better person. He spent a lot of time teaching others
in the ways of the Craft.
I didn’t know anything about the Masons at that time. I knew I had been
intrigued at one time, in younger years, by things of the supernatural and
New Age, and had renounced that. I didn’t really know anything about the
Masons except what I was hearing from my husband, which was very little. He
took his oaths to the Lodge very seriously, and didn’t disclose any secrets.
To him, that oath, I believe, was more sacred than the vows we had made. He
wanted me to join the Eastern Star. I still didn’t know anything about it; I
didn’t feel right about it. I felt a check in my spirit. But, he felt that
this would help us as a family, and help in our relationship, so I agreed to
go.
The night we went to the Eastern Star, we left my son’s ball game . We left
him there playing in his ball game to go to the event. My first experience
with the Eastern Star was to get to Lodge and not be allowed in because I
was not “dressed properly" and was not “physically fit”. I have a neuro-muscular
disease. At that time I was wearing braces on my legs and they were not very
attractive, so I was wearing pants over them. Since I had physical
limitations and was not properly dressed, they had to go inside, while we
were locked outside, and discuss whether or not I would be fit to be allowed
into the ceremony. Finally, they decided that it would be OK.
As I entered that place, there was such a feeling of oppression. I felt that
I could hardly breathe. The spirit of fear came over me so strongly, it was
such a place of darkness, and I just prayed, “God, if You get me out of
here, I promise You I’ll never be back.” After we left, I told Tom that I
could not go back there. As I am one who loves peace and avoids conflict, to
a fault, I’m sure he found that to be rather unusual.
I began to pray for him. I began to study and research New Age and occult
and cult activities, not realizing then the full extent of Freemasonry.
One day we were driving on vacation, and I was reading little parts of one
of the first books I had gotten, and was sharing it with Tom. I would say,
“It says such and thus about New Age, . .”, and he would come back with,
“Yeah! Yeah!” And then I said, “It says this about Freemasonry . . . ” You
would’ve thought that I slapped him; he nearly ran off the road. All of a
sudden, to him, that book lost all credibility.
I continued in prayer for Tom. I was involved in a prayer and Bible study
group that was to meet at our house that Tuesday night. As it turned out,
only one couple showed. The Lord had put a burden on their hearts for the
problem of Freemasonry in our community. They knew that I was concerned
about Tom. We entered into spiritual warfare that night. We had intense
prayer for his deliverance.
Tom came home on Friday night and he had a big box. In it, he had all kinds
of materials and video tapes. I said, “What’s that?” He said, “You won’t
believe it. You’ll never believe it. Someone witnessed to me about the
Lodge. I have all this material.”
“I think he’s going to tell you “the rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey
says. I won’t go any further than that. But, I just want to encourage you.
If you have someone that you’re praying for, who’s in Freemasonry, or any
other cult, or any other sin, as far as that goes, don’t give up; because
our God is greater, and He does deliver!”
Tom:
Fervent prayer works over distances of at least 300 miles. She related to
you what took place. The prayer group met at our home on Tuesday night.
Wednesday morning, at ten o’clock, in the education building at Fort Mc
Clellan, Alabama, as I was walking down the hall, I overheard a black Prince
Hall Mason witnessing to one of his buddies, intensely.
I did an about face, honed in on the conversation and sort of elbowed my way
in and told that black Mason, “I want to talk to you when you get a chance.”
At the next break, he was waiting for me in the hallway. He related to me
that there was a Christian bookstore, less than ten miles away, where he had
gotten some literature. I went there and I got the packet and the box full
of materials my wife mentioned.
I got Mc Quaig’s handbook on Freemasonry, along with several tracts, and one
book on Freemasonry. It was the last packet they had, and they had it behind
the counter. The Lord had it waiting for me. I walked in the door; I told
her what I wanted and she said, “Just a second, I’ll get it for you.”
The next day, Friday morning, that black Brother had a copy of John
Ankerberg’s program, and he handed it to me - six hours on video tape! When
I got home Friday night, I had a box load and a lot of studying to do.
That was in 1987. I began in earnest, to prove them wrong. That’s how I
approached it. I was determined that I was not wrong about the Masonic Lodge
and so I opened the books, opened the tracts, and statement by statement, if
I could get a hold of those references, that’s what I studied. I studied it
for six years, and I’ve been studying it ever since. And I’ve yet to find
one error. If you think you have found an error, it is with your own
reasoning. There are no errors in those references.
Pick up the books – the Masonic books – and read them yourself. It’s in
black and white. The Masonic Lodge condemns itself, plain and simple. That
comes from one who knows - who has been there. The Truth shall set you free.
It really will.
I studied it six years before I ever got up enough courage to send my letter
of resignation to the Lodge. The letter was addressed to the Worshipful
Master and the Brethren of Myrick Lodge No. 525 and was handed to the Lodge
Secretary. I have never heard from the Lodge. The letter should have been
read in open Lodge, but it was not, evidently. I have never heard from them.
But, I also appealed to a Higher Authority. My resignation – my renouncement
– was and is to Christ Almighty. And whether the Lodge ever admits it or not
– or even acknowledges it or not – is inconsequential. I have demitted; I
have renounced it. And I am no longer a Mason, nor controlled by it.
I took my belt buckle, my apron, the books I had gotten from the Lodge –
except for the Monitor. I burned all of that in my back yard, and have not
looked back since. I knew that I needed the Monitor to prove some things. I
took that Monitor and gave it to a friend by the name of Larry Kunk, so I no
longer have that as a tie to Satanic activity. I went back to the Lodge and
I bought another Monitor that I can use to prove the truth.
May the Blood of Christ - the Blood of Jesus; fervent prayer, trust in
Almighty God, and the Holy Bible to be the rule and guide of my faith.
Tom Hilton
Co-founder, Ex Masons For Jesus
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