All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to Us you’ve reached the internet’s home for all things masonry join on the level podcast as we Plum the depths of our ancient craft and try to unlock the Mysteries dispel the fallacies and utilize the teachings of Freemason to unlock the greatness within each of us I have you now Let’s go there it is haven’t heard that in a hot minute all right yeah welcome back to on the level podcast that was cut off on the Applause yeah well you know we have to it’s like a laugh track if you don’t then people don’t know you did something
Cool I I need to get a laugh track in here so say jokes you hear it yeah really oh I I have uh yeah that’s not I don’t know that’s like the kind of laugh we probably want but no let’s run it I mean the world thinks we’re weirdos anyway so might as
Well babies did you say babies yeah now there’s a sound clip for you take it out of context and use it all you need yeah exactly some Baptist Minister out of Arizona is going to clip it no I mean listen when I’ll tell the story remind me to come back and tell
The story but first I want to introduce Our Guest today or actually I’d like you to introduce yourself Matt tell the listeners of on the level podcast uh just give us your name your your your extended Masonic history and we’ll go from there H you’re being too generous
So uh my name is Matt Stone um I am from Turkey Creek Lodge 248 um and I was raised December mber 9th so long ago of 2023 uh so I’ve been a a Mason for all of about a little over two months I think it is um so yeah uh
Now um you know right after I got raised uh to the sublime degree of Master Mason uh I was installed as Junior Deacon I was appointed catechism instructor um yeah there we go oh yeah right to work yeah The Grotto already got my petition York rights got my petition so we’ll see
What happens with it two months in and this is pretty pretty typical uh we see the Masons come in we see them join appendant bodies and get into the line and then you look like the peer in three years uh We’ve sucked all the life out of you and your wife
Hates Freemason uh she doesn’t hate it yet luckily uh so my my cable toe is a remarkably patient woman um I cannot compliment her enough um and of course you know we have a two-year-old here so the two-year-old keeps her busy um you know so so long as I keep that kind of
Back and forth of making sure that I’m a husband first a dad second um you know I think she’ll be okay with me in my extracurricular activities that’s awesome I mean uh communication’s key obviously as long as you’re both communicating and the expectations are set you won’t be disappointed or upset
Yeah and and the thing is you know I try to like on family nights or Lodge nights I try to bring you know my wife and my daughter up to the lodge and you know there’s a lot of of nice sweet old ladies from the Eastern Star that that
Really help us out with food of course if I keep eating their food I’m going to keep putting on weight so they got to become health conscious quick yeah it’s rare you find like a salad or anything healthy at a masonic meal we we love our
Carbs and our Meats for sure oh yeah oh yeah I was I was CH chatting back and forth with another Mason and so we were laughing about how the World Views masonry and one of the things that we were talking about I was like you know I I can’t remember talking about global
Domination between plates of lasagna yeah I know yeah I was talking to I I saw I was watching the news when I was working out this morning I now got a TV in the gym so I I just play the news which is really does I mean a lot
Of people listen to angry music yay try listening to the news you’ll get real upset and it really gets your adrenaline going um it works for me yeah I I imagine our current Administration um could benefit from a StairMaster uh but that’s a joke that’s about two years old
So like uh at the guy’s 80 something I mean at that point it’s like he’s just as long as he doesn’t walk you’re like oh he looks half decent you know but the second he walks you’re like oh as long as he doesn’t try to operate like a
Human he does well like just profit it’s like Weekend at Bernie’s president Style just yeah exactly like his handlers are over there like trying to flail him around throw him in the Corvette it’s good stuff turns out our president’s been dead for three years and they’ve just been bringing him to events and
News headlines that wouldn’t Shock Me for 500 Alex like I mean no they were they did like because you know it’s always everything is sports now even politics so oh yeah Channel and they did like a side by-side matchup like it’s a fight like age weight blah it’s like wow okay uh is
Anyone gonna pay to go see George Foreman fight like whatever old fat fighter still is out there like No No One’s Gonna Pay to see no one wants to see this matchup okay yeah if I’m being honest with you we want a real competition like what is this crap 100%
I mean there there’s a lot of things that I’ve kind of tuned out on the last couple of years and politics is yeah politics is among them just because whenever you actually look at it you can see just how whether you want to call it rigged whether you want to call it
Selected no matter what like if you look at you because I’m I’m kind of more I wouldn’t say libertarian these days but I am more centered than I have been previously and so the thing is you probably haven’t changed they’ve changed your position have stayed the same so
You’re labeled now a little differently maybe than you were labeled before but I bet that you haven’t changed your viewpoints a whole lot 100% I mean I got a couple of Hardline sticking points but it’s like they get up there they get their sound bite in some Congressional
Hall and then it’s like oh we’re going to go after him and then nothing happens and then it’s oh we’re going to do this and defend these people and then nothing happens and then it’s like oh we’re going to invade this other country again and I’m like guys come on
Enough enough is enough true um that’s how we were I was telling my wife you know they’re changing election laws and everything’s always getting redone and I was telling her this is how you make a new world order it’s not masonry it’s not what we do trust me there’s no
Connection between what we do in our lodges um or any of the appendant bodies which I’m a member of all of them that I have ever seen that compares to what politics globally are doing to us as a as a species like if there’s to be a new
World order it’s strictly happening at the corporate level it is not it’s not tied to a secret organization that can’t get their rent paid trust me yeah for real yeah that actually brings up a question so I was going to ask you and I’ve asked a couple people this in
Masonry is there a significance of the coins because I haven’t seen anything yet in in my grand two months of being a Master Mason what’s the significance of the coins no I haven’t seen anything well they’re they’re called challenge coins and it’s just a little game that
We play with each other so the premise is that you if you have you should have the coin on you at all times and if I see you at a bar and I demand to see your coin and you can’t produce it you have to buy my drink if I demand the
Coin and you produce it I have to buy your drink so it’s a little drinking game we play with each other called the challenge coin so I the only coin I got was from Florida’s Grand Lodge uh the uh District Deputy came in and you know
Gave us a little pen for our lapel and a coin that’s the only one I have is that the one you’re talking about or is there something else no like we all of like the Widow’s sons have a coin and many of the different bodies of the Scottish
Right in New York right will have coins okay and you know you’ll find Freemasonry has secret organizations within secret organizations within secret organizations and they all want to be special and unique so these coins are a way that it can you it can like make you feel you’re part of the cool
Club when somebody plays that game with you I’ve never actually seen it happen but then I don’t like hang out at bars a whole lot with guys um if I do I’m already buying the drinks so I don’t really care about the game first round’s
Always on me you know yeah I’m I’m not a big bar guy but uh whenever they gave me the door code to The Grotto because I do their um I do some of their maintenance there some of their maintenance work they were like oh we’re going to give
You the door code to The Grotto and I’m like that is a terrible idea that is a patently terrible idea I need a supervisor all times yeah so uh who’s going to supervise you another grot guy this is the blind so so the grot voting on Me on the
19th I believe is uh a Monday coming up here pretty soon so it’s funny because the the current Monarch uh is a buddy of mine he’s the guy who raised me actually uh Chris so shout out to Chris georgees but it was funny okay yeah that that’s
The guy that uh you and I spoke with but uh either way he goes hey do yourself a favor when we go to vote on you on the 19th make sure you’re there and I’m like why he goes that’s also going to be your first meeting and I’m like you guys
Aren’t even going to have a discussion he goes dude you’re already locked in everybody knows you you’re fine yeah it’s it’s mainly a formality these things you can imagine how many guys are raising their hands if they don’t like a guy it’s not happening that often so
Yeah oh it was it was hilarious I was a I was still a fellowcraft uh when I filled out my petition for The Grotto um just because I had interacted with all those guys so much and so our worshipful this year is a guy named Dave Mason Dave
Mason is 80 years old and is the picture perfect definition of does not care about anything I love this guy to death he’s just one of those you know he’ll tell you to f off faster than anybody so the best thing about him though is as I’m filling out the petition little
Pocket petition he leans back he’s got no teeth leans back Matt what you doing there I said well Dave I’m filling out my petition for The Grotto and he goes you know I’m a member of The Grotto I said yeah and he goes you know I’m going
To vote that down I said no you’re not Dave you want me in you want me in The Grotto he goes you’re right I don’t I I’m not going to vote down but I want you in The Grotto and I said okay good he’s a great guy I love that dude
To death and what was his name Dave Mason so Mason what a what a unique coincidence exactly so Mason and his name we have worshipful Mason that Mason wow so descriptive right worshipful Mason most worshipful Mason he needs to go all the way to the top I don’t I
Don’t think the the grand line would appreciate him at all uh so quick little story about that so uh they were in a meeting I’m not going to say who the parties are but they were in a meeting talking and so uh you know Dave Dave and his crew are are group a
And then Group B is you know complaining about something uh and so at some point and this this is the description I’ve heard from multiple people that he just leans back and just folds his hands like this and leans back in his chair and then he finally he goes are all of y’all
Done and they go yeah all of us are done he goes great there’s the eff Andor if you need it d That’s gangster that’s old style gangster I love that I love him I keep telling him he’s my spirit animal so I want to be like him when I grow up my
Emotions won’t let me do that you know I’m leaning forward like BL I wish I could lean back and put my hands up and be like oh yeah say your silly stuff yeah yeah yeah and and even still and this is something that I really appreciate within masonry there is a
Level of just Clarity and Purity in what you’re saying Between Brothers given that brother’s heart and intention and so one of the things that I’ve noticed is yeah there is some of the some of the political garbage you know especially whenever you get in some of the Grand
Lodge guys or the district guys but uh especially a lot of the local guys like you know you brought in Shan Cooney and I think Sean’s been on the podcast before yes but um Shawn is I’ve known Shawn for five years and the first time
I ever met me or or sorry I ever met him he beat me up um to be clear he and I both do Brazilian jiu-jitsu and he just mauled me I mean just destroyed me so that’s where we met the first time five years ago I mean he’s a young guy too
Right he’s younger than than you or are you guys the same age I think we’re close to the same age I’m pretty sure it’s just that I’ve got a lot more mileage on me than than he does yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it is definitely the
The the miles not the years I get that but but you know talking to Sean sorry yeah he introduced me to you and uh he he he made a big deal about your master Mason degree you know he brought a contingent of brothers from our lodge in
Sarasota up to Turkey Creek Lodge which is maybe two and a half to three hour drive away I’d say something like that about an hour hour and a half yeah really yeah well I can make it an hour hour and a half I’m not suggesting everyone does it’s it’s Florida so it’s anywhere
From an hour and a half to six days it could be anywhere in that range to drive that is a factual statement and gosh the roads with all the influx of people moving into Florida it’s just getting worse yeah but the good news is with the influx of people moving to Florida that
Masonry can now flourish in Florida is you know so long as we can recruit uh effectively yeah sorry recruit recruit I just want to be clear on that they’re getting a handle on that they they’re kind of getting uh their bearings hopefully on how to recruit properly these days um we certainly
Making an effort to make sure that people know how to do that but um you know the reason that I I wanted you to be on the podcast is uh we talked before you were Master Mason about some things that was was going on and your your
Journey to becoming a Master Mason and uh you were you told me that you listen to the podcast before you were even a Master Mason and that piqued my curiosity because you know at the at the Inception of this podcast I wanted to talk about masonry to people that aren’t
Masons this this wasn’t meant to be a Four Brothers podast This was meant to be a for the world podcast so that’s why you often hear us stop and explain things that the every day Mason already knows come on why are we doing this well it’s because we want people that don’t
Know about masonry to be able to follow along with us and see that um what we’re doing here is good and um so one of the things I asked you immediately since you were not a Master Mason and you heard all the episodes was give me some
Feedback what would you recommend and uh you gave me some great feedback and definitely trying to implement as many of those points as I can and today uh I’m implementing one because you said you know it’ be great it’d be great to hear the Journey of a man who came in
And just follow his career as a Mason uh just kind of see how things are progressing for him and and there’s that you know honestly that should be a Netflix documentary series reality show because it’s going to be a wild ride uh you’re going to have ups and downs and
Huge winds and and really low lows um it’s going to be a roller coaster ride in Freemasonry and I’m real excited to have you on the show only two months in um now and you’ve already got the rocket pack strapped to your back and you’re going full speed right you you’ve
Already had your first meeting as an officer in a lodge two months in you already belong to one almost two appendant bodies or you’re about to belong to two appendant bodies uh one of those appendant bodies has three subdivided appendant bodies within it that you’ll probably get involved in you
Know the orc right has the commander and and two other bodies that it’s expected that you you know they have three separate paths three separate officer groups three separate meetings every month but it’s all the orc right um and then you’re going to get into the Scottish right and they’re they have
Three separate bodies and you’re going to be more actually than and you’ll be tempted to join all of them so now you’re a part of seven and the grot makes eight groups um and you know the the early in your career Master Mason and really this is the problem for
All Master Masons is you want to prove that you’re a capable person and so you say yes and you not only say yes you do everything with exuberance and zealousness um and so that can tax your time greatly and I’m really curious to see how that plays out for you your wife
Has a good opinion of Freemasonry two months in you’re already starting to get into the impendent bodies and I’m sure you’re gonna get positions offered to you once you get in there well so and too right I’m sorry and you’re still actively involved in your church right
Yes so I’m the worship minister at my church um if that’s even a title um and to be clear I go to the denomination I go to is is much more conservative uh so we don’t use instruments or anything so it’s all AC capella so I get up there
You know give the four time everything uh sorry I wasn’t doing the the Catholic thing but yeah so I get up there and lead the songs and teach new songs assign song leaders you know all that and I teach our Young Adult class um yeah yeah so
Well I I co-teach our Young Adult class with our Minister uh guy named John who’s I I I look at JN as more of a brother than I do some of my blood relatives um he is just such a phenomenal guy from Albany Georgia he’s
Got a great story but um but yeah it’s it’s a lot um I’m aware that it’s a lot so at some point I’m I’m going to have to say no yeah but I figured while my wife has the patience now yes uh it makes sense for me to do it and then at
At you know for example back to your comment of um jumping in and doing things and doing them with with Zeal the reason why I started jumping in and I started doing the trussle board so now I’m responsible for a trussle board um which goly everyone has a different
Trussle board it’s insane so doing our trussle board uh doing catechism instruction doing uh the website it’s because nobody was doing it right you and that’s kind of the thing is it’s like all right everybody wants to sit there and complain about are we going to have enough people that are going to
Show up to a lodge meeting but yet nobody does anything right so and that’s why I wanted to talk to you at first in our first conversation was hey I’m just getting into this thing you’ve done phenomenal with 147 down in Sarasota thank you what do I do you know and so
You gave me some some phenomenal advice um which is stuff that we’re starting to implement and look at um we got a fellowcraft degree tonight actually I’m gonna play I’m gonna be the Junior Deacon for the uh fellow graph degree nice um but that’s actually for uh for a
Neighboring Lodge uh number 79 ol s um but they’re having the exact same issues that it seems like every Lodge is happening with the exception of 147 and 91 in Lakeland there are a few like like there’s actually a lodge that beats me in membership every year by like one or
Two and man it chaps my high uh but it’s great you know because uh that just shows you like it can work and it is repeatable in different areas of the state yeah and it really just takes passionate brothers that care and are willing to put in a little elbow grease
I mean the there’s far like what you experienced and what you are experiencing is um people have this idea that masonry is just always going to be there that I really it was there before I got here it’s going to be there when I
Leave like what do I what am I going to do like it’ll be fine and they have that mentality and that perpetuates the the continued downward trend of our influence in our communities and globally uh because it’s not always going to be there um and the longer people string together leadership that
Have that mentality the worse it’s going to get like we got to fight to keep this this beautiful thing alive and living it can’t just be old documents that people reference and then you go and act like a profane person in masonry no like you
Need to be a Mason if you’re going to be in masonry or at least trying to be the best version of a Mason that you can be uh but far too often people are in leadership roles that aren’t even really making an effort to be Masons so it takes it takes people
Like yourself who come in with a lot of Integrity um from their normal life because we say we make good men better well let’s do it like you’re a good man and uh people will say hey this guy’s a leader in his church you own your own
Business you have a lot of clients to trust you um so how you going to make that guy better well we’re not we’re not he’s gonna make himself better I think that’s how Freemasonry works it it so uh it’s not necessarily an organizational issue but
Rather a um I don’t even know if you could call it a generational issue because I’ve seen it in J uh uh gen xers I’ve seen it in Boomers I’ve seen it in Millennials it’s just people get comfortable and they just don’t want to do anything and so then you develop the
8020 rule where 20% of the people are doing 80% of the work yeah definitely and that you know that maybe that’s just who we are as a species we just are hardwired and you know that laziness can actually be good for society um so a past master of my Lodge uh worshipful
Steph Garcia Morales he and I wrote some legislation together this year that’s going to be on uh the Florida Grand Lodge ballot to introduce the Chamber of reflection back into being accepted Florida work nice more on that later but he um he does it security and when he
Was worshipful master he did a whole presentation on how laziness actually creates opportunities to streamline through processes and so it’s the lazy people that um do something about not wanting to do work that create efficiencies uh I don’t want to do the same thing two three times so I’m going
To write a script that’s just going to make it all happen so your laziness can be harnessed to positive effect but at some point you got to do something about it right you can’t like just you know I had suggested that I think back whenever I was an EA so the my catechism
Instructor was uh the worful master at the time Chris that I mentioned earlier uh also the guy who raised me but one of the things that I had I had noticed early on is I’m like man why is a worshipful master doing catechism instruction and it’s because nobody else
Did and it’s not that I’m bashing anybody in my Lodge like you know the guy who was supposed to do uh my investigation he’s got like five kids or something like that so it’s like people are busy I get it I understand it yeah um but either way I had suggested I’m
Like man Chris you’re taking six eight months to do catechism instruction once a week with me and this other guy now granted there was scotch and cigars involved so it was a good time that’s nice yeah yeah you you realize how many complaints we’re going to get on that
Statement right there if it’s going to be oh my gosh they drank Scotch while they did catechism instruction it’s like yes and I totally forgot all of it by the end of the night but it’s okay as long as you weren’t doing it in the
Lodge room you’re fine oh no we were we were at the grot uh the was kind of our hangout yeah so uh by the way uh this past Monday I did uh pass my proficiency for uh Master Mason Master congratulations well done thank you uh but either way I asked Chris about this
I’m like Chris why don’t we have different catechism instructors for for each degree you know so have one catechism instructor for EA one for fellowcraft one for Master Mason because I click remarkably well with fellowcraft but I was horrible at eay I was terrible and he said I would love to but
Apparently there’s a a law against that or there’s something against that like can you explain that a little bit Yeah so the the Grand Lodge of Florida has a mentors manual that’s published on the Grand Lodge website and it’s really manual for mentors and catechism guys because they’re supposed
To work together the mentor and the catechism instructor those are supposed to be your first two links to the fraternity for as you said six to8 months so they should be knowledgeable people and they should be people that are going to stick with you to the end
And so this isn’t written into the digest of masonic law but it’s in the mentor’s manual and the way it’s been explained to me is we take an obligation to um observe our traditions and customs of Freemasonry so while it’s not a law it’s in the mentors manual which makes
It in the adopted tradition that we’re supposed to follow according to the digest which and our obligations this is how a past Grandmaster explained it to me and uh in the mentor’s manual it specifically states that it should be the same brother that does all three catechisms for one student it should not
Be different brothers so so there’s no law against it I don’t think anyone’s going to get in trouble for doing it with a Grand Lodge it is an adopted custom not to do different people in different degrees so um my advice would be do it just don’t advertise
It fa point you know maybe just don’t make it obvious that this is your thing but you know a lodge needs to do what a lodge needs to do to get by yeah and and my logic behind it and thinking behind it is if you’ve got a lodge where like
Every state of communication you’ve got 80 dudes showing up like yeah okay you’re going to have guys that are super dedicated to the craft and they’re going to want to put in that time for the six eight months and even then you might only do one catechism instruction and
Then next year it’s going to be somebody else or you might do one year of catechism and then it’s somebody else but these lodges where like our lodge you know there sometimes we struggle to get enough people to show up it lightens the workload on the catechism and
Structure and then the other positive benefit of it is that it gives the the the candidate the EA the fellowcraft and then the Master Mason it gives them more exposure to more people at the lodge because you know as well as I do whenever you’re there for dinner uh you
Know it’s like there’s the clicks like you know okay it’s like school like we’re going to sit at the center table on the second line and then the Past Masters are sitting at the table behind us and we all sit at the exact same table every single month so yeah it just
Made sense to me but then again I’m I’m brand new at this so it’s not like I’m trying to step on anybody’s toes no I mean there’s a there’s a lodge in my district there’s a lodge miles from my Lodge and if you walk in they have a
Whiteboard and they actually have like this guy does m Entered Apprentice catechism this guy does fellowcraft catechism and they have little dots for what candidates in which ones so um they’re advertising it and they still got a charter nobody’s pulled it and uh that’s why I’m saying it’s that’s not a
Rule I think because we got such bigger fish to fry right now yeah in our fraternity of real problems I would be shocked if anyone tried to cause me drama out of the fact that you had a different instructor Captain instructor and we are it is in short supply and
Really you’re catechism inst structures according to the mentor’s manual if you’re doing catechism instruction you should have a silver card proficiency first oh 90% of the people I know doing catechism instructor do not have a silver card proficiency yeah I definitely don’t have that either
Uh so listen we have a lot of rules and there are some important ones and then there are some not so important ones and I think these all are all following under the not so important rules that are getting broken yeah out of necess because we just don’t have enough people
To do the work and if you don’t have the people you got to do the lodge needs to survive yeah so you got to do what you got to do and I can’t see Grand Lodge faulting a lodge for you know doing what it needs to keep these brothers moving
Through the degrees and becoming Master Masons which is the ultimate goal make them good make them uh have a good experience uh because if you don’t have a good experience you just went through it uh why would you keep going it’s like I don’t need this crap in my life I got
Enough stress uh I’m paying money I’m doing a lot of work and I’m not having fun N I think I’m out on this and that’s what happens a lot of times they just decide it’s the squeeze isn’t the juice isn’t worth the squeeze as they say in
The fraternity for some people well I just figured I would take the Jeremy Barnes approach with Amity and it’s just I’m just gonna go ahead and do it and then ask for permission whenever I get caught look it he’s a pretty successful Mason uh and there you go that’s his
Because I took the other approach I went and got permission and my project died because of it oh my goodness I was so disheartened whenever I heard that because I was listening to the Jeremy Barnes podcast on my way here to um because that just posted yesterday but
Um yeah but either way as soon as you said that you’re like yeah Grand LOD shut down you know yours with the you know the business owners and whatnot because it’s for financial gain I’m like no I wanted that so bad because do you realize how many people do yeah
Especially in construction in construction it is so hard to find good people it is so hard to find people you can trust and to find brothers that you want to benefit and that’s where Cooney and I Cooney and I talk literally every day um and you know because he’s in
Construction as well so he and I work together on a lot of projects so okay oh yeah i’ get I get so much exposure to that guy it’s insane I think I talked to him Sean c yeah I think I talked to him more than I talked to my wife
So but but either way yeah I I was so sad about that of of you know Grand Lodge interpreted that of financial and here’s what I’ve told a lot of people I did not join Freemasonry for financial gain but dag and if fits not there whenever you get in you know it’s you
Know people need St it could be yeah because it happens all the time it’s a trust Network much like church is a trust Network um if you go to a church and you’re very active uh it’s not uncommon I don’t think for you to say
Hey uh I need a plumber do we have any guys at the church that do plumbing that’s very common right yeah because because they know that guy’s not going to screw them over he doesn’t want to embarrass himself in that Community where he’s trusted so he’s going to do
Fair fair work for a fair price right it’s the same in the fraternity happens all the time somebody’s like hey do we have anybody that does plumbing and now you got to go chasing down the rabbit hole of Joe Joe Joe Smo does it here’s his number and then you find out Joe
Died three years ago and it’s like oh damn anybody else and now you’re doing fulltime work just to find somebody and eventually you give up and you go to the Yellow Pages and you find someone and you you roll the dice yeah some you
Don’t know but in my mind uh it makes a whole lot of sense for us to work together and make it a whole lot easier to connect with each other um is there monetary gain there yes I suppose you could make that argument um but is it wrong is it UNM
Masonic I think there’s an argument to be made that is is not unmas well is is it unmonitor of service but as you consider that it’s like okay you know for example you or or our lodge I’ll just use our lodge as an example uh worship Mason
Asked me to go in there and give them a price on redoing the floor now I did not put any profit on this at all I was going to do everything for straight cost and so I think the material came back at like $8,000 and the and the labor came
Back at like 15,000 or something like that and everyone Pearl clutched whenever that happened does that mean that I joined masonry for Masonic gain or does that mean that our building’s almost a hundred years old and it needs some work done yeah so and it you know
This is one of those like old rules I think because I I get the gist of it is like we don’t want people to join the fraternity just to hand out business cards and like hey did you know that I do this hey did you know like I get that
That’s really going to be a problem for us because we’re focused on higher things and and loftier ideals uh but at the same time I don’t really think that’s what’s happening nine times out of 10 um and I I’ve done it and other people I’m always referring people I’m I
Know a lot of people so people often come to me and like who’s our guy who’s our guy for this who’s our for that well there’s three guys I know that do that here’s the three numbers yeah uh I haven’t I haven’t use them personally
But I know they do that and it’s just an old Antiquated way to get information like how annoying is it that we’ve got to go through that process when we could easily have a directory yeah um you know I think that’s one of those things it’s
Like uh it is it needs to be interpreted by a Grandmaster because it’s unclear in the digest now I’m very visible in the fraternity and always have been so I own a business and let me tell you how far people go I like you was very proud when I
Became a Mason to tell the world that I’m a mason so I hung a flag outside my building a masonic flag on one side and an American flag on the other is what I had flying outside my building well some brother drove by my place of business
And told on me that I was using Freemasonry for monetary gain because I had my Masonic flag outside my business and and I’m like well so the district Deputy guy you know talks to me and I’m like look I’m helping the fraternity way more than the fraternity’s helping me
Okay nobody’s coming here like ah you a Mason give me I’ll give you all my money no they’re like oh that’s weird I know that’s weird I don’t want to go to that guy I’m trying to help build your credibility of the fraternity like I’m a
Real dude I’m a business guy and I’m a Mason I’m proud they made me take that flag down and put it inside the building where it couldn’t be seen out if some someone comes into my building they were totally fine with me having it displayed in the building but having it outside
The building was interpreted as I’m trying to use masonry for monetary gain so that argument I I could see that argument but it also depends on where’s where’s the Finish Line to that argument and I I I do this in church as well whenever we talk Doctrine or you know
Whenever we’re talking politics or whatever it’s okay where’s the line so by that logic right there I should not be wearing this ring right I shouldn’t be wearing you should yeah you shouldn’t have Square encompasses on your car although the Grand Lodge of Florida sells a license plate and makes money
Off it to display it on your car like it just is very off-kilter the the yeah execution of these things so yeah it’s hard to know where the line is it makes it really difficult when they say it’s totally okay to sell place mats with business cards but it’s not okay to list
A directory for free like okay like we’re like you’re saying like what is the point of this then like how do we find the meaning behind all this stuff yeah it like I said that that just doesn’t make a lot of sense you know for example I’m trying to get
Quotes on um uh t-shirts which uh or polos for our lodge uh which by the way I’m going to reach out to one of your guys down at 147 for that but um nice either way is like okay by that logic I should not be wearing a masonic shirt I
Should not be wearing a Masonic ring I shouldn’t indicate to the world at all that I’m a Freemason right when the truth is the world can really benefit from Freemasonry yes I mean and back to your your point of okay why did I join you know was it for monetary Gain No the
Reason why I joined is uh my dad passed away 15 years ago so I really don’t have any older men that I could really be around and say hey by the way I’ve got this thing that I’m facing I need some advice or you know hey what would you do
In this scenario or even even just iron sharpens iron out of Proverbs you know just I didn’t have that at all especially in the in the groups that I was running with of course yeah I do you know combatives and Jiu-Jitsu and all this other stuff and those are great
Great guys and I really enjoy those guys yeah um but I really didn’t have that kind of Brotherhood with anybody but I click really really well with every every Mason that I’ve ever met I’ve always clicked really well and to kind of give you some context and background
I researched masonry for 10 years before I ever joined the first guy that ever talked to me about Freemasonry I was in my mid to early 20s uh his name is Jesse Carr and Jesse Carr uh I love this man to death so he’s he’s like the grandpa
That I never had you know he’s he’s an amazing dude so either way I think he goes to Hillsboro if I remember right but either way okay Jesse asked me about it so we got to talking about it he was still under the old school rules of uh
Well if you want to be one ask one you want to be one ask one and that’s that’s where he left it so I’m like I’m gonna research it because I’ve heard some weird stuff about masonry and about Freemasons in general I took 10 years I
Met Masons I went around looked at their buildings I read books on it I you know listened to lectures on it everything I have heard every conspiracy theory that you will ever hear about Freemasonry and I love every one of them because like once you get in there you know I was
Telling a couple people whenever um some brothers from Lakeland I was like hey by the way I’m getting raised you know December if y’all guys want to come to it and by the way I’ve already sourced out the goats that we’re going to need for it so and it’s just it’s it’s fun
It’s funny especially listen to some of the the conspiracy theories my sister-in-law sorry to go off on a rabbit Trail but uh my sister-in-law whenever I told her that I was joined in Masonry she looked at me she’s like Matt don’t don’t do that whatever you do do
Not join masonry and I’m like calm down I’m like it’s not global domination it’s literally just trying to make you know good men better yeah so it’s it’s been interesting so how do how do they feel now that you are Mason I mean is there still apprehension from some of your
Family members that initially had or um are have they come around or they just being polite to you saying oh well they they packed up and moved to Arkansas so that oh wow ran him up State yeah yeah bye guys no so so I did tell them I said
Hey I will answer any question you have within the bounds of my obligation um so it’s like obviously there are certain things that I cannot tell you but there are certain things that I can kind of allude to so they’ll ask me questions about you know what about the 99th
Degree Mason and I’m like that’s it’s garbage and they’re like what about H gosh what is that one Alistair Crowley and I was like Alistar Crowley was never a Mason not yeah and you know just some of these things that you that get thrown out there and they just get put on
Repeat for example I’ve been listening to a um the Baptist Minister out of Arizona Arizona I think I’m not gonna say his name just because I don’t want to start any trouble uh but he’s got a seven-part series on Freemasonry where he just sits there and just hammers it
Left and right surprisingly he got a lot of information correct uh so for example whenever he was um he was reciting a few things that that we do within masonry and some of the stuff he actually got right I was like wow good for you like
Word for word nailed it and then he’s like yeah but that is of the devil and here’s why and I’m like okay now he lost me you were so close man you were so close and the thing that got me the most and this made me laugh the most is he
Was talking about the York right and as he was talking about yeah so as he was talking about the York right and he goes and at the end of the York right uh you have to profess the faith in Christ but even still that’s demonic because of
What I’m like hold on you literally as a Baptist Minister just said that uh professing your faith in Christ in an organization of men is of the devil break this down for me my guy it doesn’t make sense because it’s not in a church I guess that I guess that’s maybe the
Hangup here’s here’s that you’re you’re you’re professing your Christianity in a different group that’s not church and that’s a threat to a church if you think about it 100 perc and that’s the only thing that I could come up with is what it seems like and even if you look at
Like the spat between masonry and the Roman Catholic church and I have not done as much research on this as I want to so interesting my opin may change um but it seems like and especially in the last gosh I don’t know hundred years here in the United States that there has
Been a a feminization of the scriptures uh they’ve softened the the message and and that’s why that’s why I like pastors like a guy named Mark Driscoll and I’ll I’ll mention his name because his channel is phenomenal I mean his lessons are great whenever it comes to scripture
And men and how to be a a man of God they’re great but um but either way in listening to what’s happened in the church over the last say hundred years or so is they talk more about the lamb and less about the lion they talk more
About the family of God and less about the kingdom of God and so what did that do you kind of alienated men if you look at and I’m not bash in church I want to be clear guys like I go to church I’m I’m you know active in my church I’m not
Bashing church but well isn’t that kind of a tenant of Christianity and forgive me because I’m not a pastor and or an authority in any way but my understanding is that Christianity is the softening of the Juda the Judaism um you got a new covenant with God through
Jesus and Jesus is a much softer friendlier loving way than the old way of an i for an eye tooth for a tooth Smite them strike them down now we have Christianity where it’s like turn the other cheek love your neighbor as yourself like it’s it’s inherently more
Soft so than than the older way it depends on how it’s taught and so this is kind of what I’m doing with my young adult class and I think this is why my elders don’t like me teaching the Young Adult class if you look at the concept
Of turn the other cheek if you look at what was happening culturally at the time they had a clean hand and a dirty hand one was an insult one is that I’m mad at you but you’re my equal but the way the church has taught that for the
Longest time is oh we just have to roll over and take it no that’s not exactly what it means if somebody asks you to go one mile go with them too a Roman Centurion could conscript a Jew to carry his stuff with him one mile if he
Carried them more than that than the Roman Centurion got in trouble so and even if you look at Christ and how he intera interacted with the Pharisees and Sadducees he just didn’t roll over and let them have or let them you know say whatever they wanted he spoke back and
He was confident he was bold yeah and that’s kind of my opinion of or that’s kind of my approach to the scriptures uh and it’s my approach to basically life and so for example in our church uh we have a young man who’s in the military
Uh he’s currently in Korea um but he one of the elderly people in our church got on to him for his tattoos you he’s in the Army so of course he has tattoos and they were like well you shouldn’t have that because in Leviticus it says that
You shouldn’t Mark your body with that of the dead and so he I’m like well what was your response and he goes well uh I I told them well look at the church I mean the church has stained glass windows and I’m like bro why was that
Your argument I’m like stay stay in Leviticus and he goes that to do with your body yeah I’m like stay in Leviticus because you can ask that person hey when was the last time you had bacon when was the last time you ate shrimp or shellfish or anything hey are
You going to go out to the local town and stone the local gay people because I want to be number two in that line because I want to watch what happens you know so it’s just it it’s funny and it makes me laugh that the teaching of the
Scriptures um I I don’t know of a single church that that gets it 100% right and I don’t have it 100% right but just the teaching of the scriptures has kind of been just watered down over the generations there’s different books uh by different authors so it’s not going
To be a unified message you got different people with different points of view so you can kind of understand that one author of one book might see a situation differently than another author of a different book talking about the same situation like that’s common right we know that happens you and I can
Look at the same thing and you can go like loved it and I’m like e that was hideous and disgusting yeah like we have different opinions on the same thing but that’s kind of I guess uh the point of any religion and and my limited knowledge of all religions of the world
Is to teach moral lessons to make us better people and so um I believe that what we should be trying to do as good people of faith is trying to take lessons of morality from any story of how can I be better how can I live a
Better life and um when you start trying to like interpret things in a way that you’re judging how other people should live their lives you’ve lost your way a little bit I think um personally it should be about you and your life and how you can apply these things to your
Family um to be better but like you said when you see evil happening as uh you know Jesus is famously flipping over tables in the temp right like what is this like he’s mad um yeah yeah you also have an obligation to fight for what is right and you know when you see
Something that isn’t hurting people that is is bad taking advantage of people that’s bad for people it’s kind of your obligation of a just man to stand up and oppose that thing because it’s hurting people and it’s bad for people and you’re lying to people and honestly
We’ve lost that as a society we really have um we’ve lost the ability to be able to disagree healthily you know you and I were talking about that a little bit before we started recording but for sure you know it just because I disagree with you it doesn’t mean that I hate you
You know and for some odd reason we we totally missed that along the line somewhere it’s like you and I aren’t going to agree 100% on everything or even worse I actually do hate you and you agree with me that’s even worst that is the worst oh my go could you just
Disagree on the same team me and this guy damn it could you tell me the sky is green please so but uh but especially especially our young men and and that was kind of you know that’s kind of my whole I don’t know what you would call
It Crusade I mean but between my church and Freemasonry if you look at the at the church and you look at society as a whole like young men are lost like they are so lost I mean and and young women as well I mean you’ve got like a
Generation of only fans content creators uh which is not good for Society at all but the go ahead sorry yeah the deck is stacked against them yes yes and so that’s where I’m I really like the lessons of Freemasonry and I like the working tools that we have is because
That can help a young man become a good man yeah especially I think I heard a statistic the other day that like 50% of young males uh of minor males in the United States don’t have a father in the home that’s not good for anybody because statistically if you don’t have a father
In the home you are statistically more inclined to commit violent crime to go to jail to not be successful in life you know and so I have a very conservative client who’s a friend very conservative I mean I’ve never met anyone as conservative as him and he brought up a
Fact to me that I couldn’t comprehend as being true and that was that children of single parents where the father’s the single parent statistically do far better than children of single parents where the mother is the single parent I refuse to accept that as real but then I
Did the research and he’s absolutely right the facts support the case that a single father actually statistically will have a healthier more well adjusted child than a single mother blew my mind blew my mind because I grew up with just a mom in the home you know I have a dad
So I was prejudiced by my own experience I had a hard time accepting that fact it’s a fact um and that that is uh goes back to your point of there is a perception that if the man’s gone oh well good whatever we don’t need him but actually you do need the
Man uh it is the masculine and The Feminine uh those two opposing views create a more well adjusted hopefully if to have a good relationship child it it does both sides and again this is where Society has kind of gone off the rails and and excuse me for getting up on my
Soap box for a minute but uh this is where it’s kind of gone off the rails is because like you know my wife and I you know we’ve got a little two-year-old here at home um I love cherish and respect my wife more than any person on this planet there is absolutely no
Question about that but is it up to my wife to to do the heavy lifting around here is it up to my wife to instill discipline is it up to my wife to fill up her truck last night at nine o’clock at night we were filling up Sam’s Club
You know so you know there’s certain things it’s like yeah we both have very important roles in this house but they’re not the same and for some odd reason in society and and I don’t I I don’t know where we could attribute this to I mean I have some thoughts but um it
Came to a point where it’s like oh men and women are fundamentally interchangeable and it’s like we’re not though we’re both needed and we’re both needed to do what we are good at doing so like I’m in a pretty Progressive household my my wife is very conservative Russian Ukrainian Orthodox oh you’re
Going to get sorry yeah she’s Ukrainian not Russian there’s a difference um and uh so she had a very specific upbringing that was more like yours probably very structured in the Christian faith um and women have a specific role in a conservative upbringing very clear delineation oranization I mean our
Dynamic here is a little bit different so for example I’m a very logical person um emotions just don’t click with me at all um I’ve never really understood highly emotional males um I don’t understand highly emotional females you know I just I don’t comprehend it I’m
Like why are you crying over the wind changing direction I don’t anyway so um whenever it comes to for example parenting uh my wife is phenomenal at being that emotional um you aspect to raising our daughter and rightfully so my daughter for her being two first off
She’ll she’s two and she’ll have a full-blown conversation with you like just sit down with you and have a conversation I’m like you are two you are still wearing a diaper why are you telling me your opinion about anything so but either way um you know my wife is
Really good at that and I’m really good at being consistent on discipline uh so you have our our two-year-old that yesterday you know we we forgot her sweater here at the house and it was a little chilly here down here in Florida yesterday so I take the sweater out to
My mom’s house she’s over at nanis and you know I was like hey by the way I brought your sweater you forgot it home oh thank you Daddy and it like just thanking me over and over again so it’s like okay we’re kind of doing something right here you know something good is
Happening because you have a two-year-old that is remarkably polite that is and I’m not saying that we’re perfect parents not what I’m saying to be clear um sure but you know it’s like okay that that two what is that I mean yeah what even is a perfect parent is
That even a thing is there well it’s just kind of to highlight the the dynamic of getting both aspects of it and so for example we were talking about church earlier and you can apply this to masonry as well but in church it it’s especially in the the denomination that
I go to they’re very very adamant that women do not have a role in the church at all some of the more conservative churches in our area with the same name on the side of the building uh they insist that women actually cover their heads uh they’re like they’re like a
Step away from Sharia law it’s crazy so and even still the funny thing about that where they take it out of is Paul’s writings and like two sentences later he says by the way we don’t do that here so I’m like guys read the whole read the
Whole context so but either either way uh a lot of the women in our church uh I shouldn’t say a lot but a decent number of the women in our church uh one of them has said to me at one point she’s like I want all the rights in church
That men can have and I’m like hold on first off you do and then secondly why do you want that responsibility and I asked her I was like are are you g to get up and Lead singing are you g to get up and and preach sermons she’s like oh God no I
Hate being in front of people and I’m like hold on that like that Spirit we we need to address that right there that that mentality because in societies it’s like I want everything that a man can do you know and it’s like well you can
Do you really want to do that should you really do that or should a good man do that for you should a good man make you feel comfortable in the roles that best suit your personality traits and of course you know to take it back to
Masonry you know here we are on the level which by the way thank you for having me on but of course but as we’re considering masonry you know there’s going to be certain men within the lodge like we’ve got men in our lodge that they don’t want to sit in a chair they
Don’t want to get in the line they don’t want to do anything they want to be a support role I’m one of those that I have never minded at all being the nail that sticks out does not bother me you know the nail that sticks out is going
To get whacked but doesn’t bother me in the least um you know what needs to get done let’s just get it done let’s just get it over with and maybe that’s my time in construction that that has me you know on construction sites you have guys that are like I’m the leader I’m
The leader and I’m like I don’t care where am I supposed to throw a hammer at let’s go so yeah that’s kind of my mindset behind it and again you know getting back to the tenants of Freemasonry it’s I I really genuinely uh I I want to share the tendance of
Freemasonry honestly with the with the generation of men that are now lost um you know because again yeah and Freemasonry it really doesn’t have a stance on a woman’s role in society or a man’s role in society it doesn’t really enter into the because what we’re
Focused on is ourselves like how can we be better to our wives how can we be better to our employees how can we be better to our citizens our fellow citizens like this is what we’re focused on is fixing us we’re not really trying to delineate your job or his job or sure
Her job which is a great thing about Freemason it really is focused on Improvement and getting better and part of that is tolerance um for things that we don’t understand and you get that for sure in the fraternity I mean that that first working tool is all
About tolerance to in a certain extent like circumscribing your passions is that’s what that means yeah it means uh you know you you believe strongly about a specific thing and that you should according to your personal views and and what’s important to you um but within
Due bounds right you know I got a funny story about that on on Tuesday whenever I showed up for Lodge um the York right the local York right has um I guess a storage closet at our building uh and their sign is out on the front porch but
It’s laying on its side and you know all this other stuff so I was like hey um yeah I said something about York R and cleaning up all the garbage you know because it’s an older Lodge so like we’ve got like a 1970s boom box sitting
Up there and it hasn’t worked in like 30 years but you know we just got like little piles of junk all over the place I’m like guys like let me get a rolloff dumpster here and let’s take a Saturday or two and let’s just get the junk out
Of here and just kind of clean the place up a little bit maybe slap a Fresh coat of paint on like let’s do something like that and I got a little hyper in the conversation and uh worful worful Mason he goes now thatt you’re getting a
Little hyper and I will remind you about the Trel and I said okay fair enough and then I kid you not it went 20 minutes later we’re inside and he starts getting hyper talking about somebody at The Grotto and I said now Dave I’m gonna remind you about the travel check them
There’s nothing better in this world than using somebody’s words against I mean really that is like the ultimate I’m having the best day when I can throw somebody’s words against them in a situation like that oh no I’m just satisfied like no but by all means Dave
Was just busting my chops and you know whenever he said that and and you were doing the same you’re just following up bus in his and that’s what’s so nice about masonry and being at lodge it’s like look I can for example Dave is 80 years old this man is he’s closer to
Methuselah in age than he is to me this man is ancient right I’ve said this to his face too and then he flicked me off right afterwards but but the funny yeah exactly with love and compassion he flipped you up but but the funny thing
Is it’s like all right if you look at like there’s a split in the boomer generation so the elderly boomers are typically sassy like they’re super sassy um and so if you give them the sass back they like you for it you know that they’re like okay yeah we’re gonna get
Along really well but you get a younger Boomer somebody who’s in their gosh I don’t know 50s or 60s at this point um you know and if they give you sass and you give the sass back to them they Pearl clutch they’re like how could you ever be so disrespectful and it’s like
Hold on I I just did what you did but I did it back to you yeah so it’s fun and in Lodge you kind of get some of that the older sassy generation you know where they they like the banter they like the going back and forth so I love
It I mean I have I have discovered a a group of brothers and friends um a sacred band or Society if you will uh to where it’s it is so nice and refreshing to where it’s like I’m in an area where with the exception of like one or two
Dudes in my Lodge I can genuinely let my guard down and I can I can sit here I can chat I can you know we can joke back and forth I can trust their word uh more often than not that’s a big that’s a big
Factor for me um you know if you say you’re going to do it do it you know just life is that easy for me but um and I I think the world needs to see more of that but back to our earlier part of some of the the greater threats that we
Need to address within masonry I think a big portion of what we need to address actually is a lot of this stupid conspiracy crap that’s going on about masonry um because what you have I think it was last year we had what was it three or four brothers that were gunned
Down outside of a lodge uh last year so or in the previous couple of years in Florida uh in Florida we had two lodges set on fire I think yeah last so and and where they’re getting this from is is these are of course every group is going
To have them they’re going to have the extremists and so that’s kind of where you know these people are listening to some of these preachers or lecturers or whatever the case might be and I am I mean knee deep into all of it uh you know because I want to learn what
They’re saying so I can combat it and so one of the things they talk about um in the conspiracy realm so I’m not going to talk about what masonry has of it but the conspiracy realm is they talk about jebulon now as of right now I have
Not gone down the Scottish right I have no clue who jebulon is I have no clue but they say that it is a deity made up of three individuals and it’s supposed to be Yahweh Baal and Osiris from Egyptian and I’m like hold on the little
Bit that I know about jebulon that’s not accurate you know at all who’s saying this is this a religious conspiracy the a religious conspiracy theory but I I I think if we could if masonry could get out in front of people and speak about within our obligation to be clear if we
Could speak about masonry within our obligation and about what we are who we are get in front of the public a little bit more I think it would be phenomenal a lot of these um a lot of these um preachers that are out there talking about this uh they keep referencing
Different things you know for example they referenc um Albert Pike’s morals and Dogma I started listening to that and I had to turn it off it was incoherent ramblings to me because I had not been down either the York or Scottish right yet uh still and really it’s it’s a
Recounting of the Scottish right degrees and their meanings and stuff like that why would you listen to that if you’re not a Scottish it’s it’s completely total rambling incoherent like I could not understand any of it and I’m a Master Mason and it’s like how are you
Some Minister you know how are you you able to interpret everything that Albert Pike’s writing and I’m in it and I don’t understand it you know it’s what their biggest hang up of anything Albert Wright is written or said is is that he references Lucifer in one of his
Writings and um you know I’m not going to get into the that into the weeds right now uh but you know go back and look at what Lucifer meant and Albert Pikes day and what he was referencing and it certainly wasn’t the devil um but
You say the word and it has con ations and meanings to religious people that are clear um you don’t have to explain when someone says Lucifer that they could be talking about the devil and uh so it’s just really it’s really easy for them to pick those things out of context
And use them against us and there’s literally nothing you can say there’s not a word there’s no situation you can show them that is ever going to change their mind on how they feel about it so Freemasonry wisely I think has decided um as a system not to engage in those
Debates with non-masons because you can’t win it all you’re going to do is dig their position in even deeper and deeper and deeper the more you try to talk to them about it so I think what you’re saying is uh along with my beliefs too which is let’s just be
Visible to show people what we do as Masons who we really are as Mason and let them draw their conclusions based on my take an accounting of my life when I die and look back at it and show me where I was doing evil satanic things uh
I live probably as a Mason and I helped people and I did my best and that’s what people will say when I hopefully and don’t use me because I’m not a saint but use a good Mason and put them in that role and because I attend a lot of
Masonic funerals and you look back at their life and look at their children and look at their co-workers and look at the things they’ve done and the mark they’ve made then they were proudly Mas and that should speak to who we are yeah as a fraternity yeah you can’t sit and
Have a debate about the use of Lucifer as a reference to the morning star and what that means in history in different cultures in different religions non-Christian uh because you’re never going to have they’re never going to listen first of all openly and honestly probably not and uh you you know you
Can’t change somebody’s mind once they they get into that mindset so if you’re wasting your time and you’re wasting their time and so what’s the point you know that’s kind of where I’ve fallen in the whole thing it’s like why are we going to what’s the point we we talk
About the M the um a lot of what people say about masonry just because it’s funny to us as Mak hilarious and uh really the scenarios of how that got into the ethos is also really interesting and I think it’s uh interesting stories to tell and listen
To um and it’s also wise to know as a Mason how this stuff got out where it came from so that you’re educated when you hear it uh but none of that stuff has changing anybody’s mind none of it yeah it’s I’m aware I’m more so on the
Side of what’s right is right you know and and I don’t care who or where it comes from you know it’s just you know what’s right is right um and hearing some of the stuff that I do um about masonry and it’s like all right well you
Want to talk about you know Albert Pike and his and his book or you want to talk about aliser Crowley who was not a Mason yeah you want to you want to talk about those things but yet you’re not going to talk about George Washington you’re not
Gonna talk about Aldren you’re not g to talk about you know all the good people that have done well or um Jefferson sorry not Jefferson um Benjamin Franklin you know you’re not going to talk about these people who built this nation you know this country that you are in and
Even still our government is set up I didn’t realize this our government is set up remarkably the way a masonic lodge operates or it’s supposed to at least we’re living in a masonic experiment this country is a literally a masonic experiment in how if you formed a government off of Freemasonry could it
Thrive and survive this is the country this is the experiment built by Masons on masonry uh and you know it has changed and warped over time obviously but I think the ideals are in there they’re baked into it all men are created equal line one yeah under God
Line too like we care about our faith we care about each other we treat each other with respect respect we have tolerance for each other this stuff our Democratic process is a fraternal one this is how we’ve run our organizations since time and Memorial uh we we say that we’ve been around since
1717 no one actually believes that I don’t think um but you got to have a date to start from and that’s the first time we have public declaration so we chose that date uh I don’t think any legitimate Mason truly believes that we weren’t practicing masonry prior to
1717 especially when you can find Scrolls and references in the 13 and 1500s uh referencing some of the stuff we do in masonry uh and you know there’s direct tie-ins to the Knights Templar uh which is you know a lot of where the York right’s coming from and I am a York
Right Mason um and I went through those degrees and what they’re asking you is not to declare your belief in in Jesus Christ as your personal savior which is the misconception what they’re asking you in the York right is would you defend Christianity with your life and if you can’t answer that honestly
You shouldn’t be a York right Mason uh but I have Jewish friends that are York right Masons because they said I would defend anybody’s right to their personal faith with my life interesting I believe in Freedom and so that’s how they Justified it and and were able to
Truthfully answer yes to that and become proud York right you know it’s interesting you say that especially whenever we’re considering the way the United States is set up is um one of the gripes that the church has against Freemasonry is that you can you can have
Um you know a Quran uh on the altar uh you can swear Upon A Quran that it’s not exclusively a Christian organization therefore it’s of the devil and I’m like well then you shouldn’t join your local YMCA like or local golf club um you know again it’s kind of and don’t vote for
Any political party it’s kind of like where do you draw the line you know so for example um you know or or not for example but uh but considering that of masonry is okay if you swear your obligation or you take your obligation on a Quran they’re totally okay with
That and if you look at the way the United States is set up there was no um even though we were kind of sort of you know founded based upon you know Masonic and Christian values there still is that openness of hey here in the United States of America you can practice
Whatever religion you want you know it there is not a certain set religion you can do you could be a non-believer if you want um you know so I think that’s that’s probably one of the things that I honestly I appreciated even though I saw where the where the preacher was coming
From whenever he was talking about like it should be inherently Christian and I’m like hold on our country is not inherently Christian you know the nation in which we reside is not so yeah I don’t see any I mean it’s the I would concede that it is definitely the
Predominant religion in our country for sure and and in Florida Masonry I mean most guys I know are Christian they go to church they’re they’re good Christian guys uh uh but you know that doesn’t make it exclusively that and that’s kind of how our nation is um although the
People that formed it were predominantly Christian no doubt uh they were also Masons and they understood the value of not tying yourself to a specific thing in Dogma uh and so you know our nation is supposed to be accepting of anyone’s Faith as long as they follow our law
As long as you’re going to be a good American then we’re okay with you um and that’s kind of how Freemasonry is we have our laws and as long as you’re a good Mason those things don’t really matter to us you go home and you go to
Church for those things you come to masonry for a completely different re that’s and that’s the another thing that they talk about is they’re they’re like oh well Freemasonry talks about that it has its own path to Salvation I’m like no it doesn’t no not all that’s definitely not true um you’re supposed
To have that before you come to the doors here yeah but before you ever pre precondition and joining Freemasonry actually you have to sign on your petition that you already believe something along those lines before you come uh so that that’s easy to dispel you can go on any Grand Lodge website
Anywhere in the world and look at a petition and see that you have to already believe that before you come here so we’re not giving you any kind of belief in a deity necessarily now you would be exposed I don’t think you can deny that uh to other religious ideas in
The fraternity because I view it as more of like a picking it’s a moral lesson thing they’re picking moral lessons from different situations and different religious backgrounds to tell a moral lesson and often they pick a minor character that’s although it’s there it’s not a big character but they they
Create a story around it for Creative license to tell a moral lesson love that in the Master Mason degree because as soon as they referenced the character we all know that I’m talking talking about uh in the Master Mason degree and I’m like oh I know that’s out of First Kings
Like I I remember exactly where that came from and I was like Yay I know what this is uh you know and the fellowcraft I I actually like the fellowcraft degree the best um you know the fellowcraft degree was phenomenal uh especially the all the information on there and then
You’ve got the winding stairs and you know everything that’s on there um it well because it represents more of where you’re at in your life like the fellowcraft degree into a Mason represents the Mason in the prime of his life like you’re learning science math um you know arithmetic uh how to speak
Eloquently like these are all lessons in the fellowcraft degree and that’s where we’re at in our life we’re in the prime we’re we’re working men and the Master Mason degree is definitely much more about the end of your life um it’s sometimes literally and sometimes figuratively about the end and uh where
It’s all going so I think I think that’s definitely a reason a lot of us identify with the fellowcraft degree the most because that’s kind of where we’re at in our life right now speaking of the the Master Mason degree and how you just described it excuse me um so this past
Thanksgiving and I want to ask your opinion on this but this past Thanksgiving uh there was a guy who secretly recorded a Master Mason degree chopped it up and then posted it all on Twitter um a mason or a nonas a Mason he was in the degree so reason he was
Allowed to sit in the room um he described himself as a journalist I I’ll send you the link later on but uh he posted the entire thing but he mislabeled so many things of this is where they ceremon ceremoniously kill this guy there are screams coming from a
Back room and I’m like hold on I haven’t been through the degree yet but I know what I know what that is or at least I’m familiar with it at least and that kind of fans the Flames of the negative connotation that Society has towards masonry if someone has a negative
Connotation but for that specific guy I’m not even going to call him a brother in my opinion he’s a jackass but for this specific guy what can masonry do to correct that I mean is there something that we can file you know to to get those videos taken down or you know
Press charges on the guy what are your thoughts yeah I mean we we take a we have a digest Masonic law which is published in our case in Florida on the Grand Lodge of Florida’s website for all to see what our laws are you won’t find
In there that you can’t say secrets of Freemasonry um necessarily but we also take obligations un under our God and to us that supersedes law and so uh when we take an obligation that we won’t reveal the secrets of Freemasonry that is something that if
You break it or any of the other things that we oblige ourselves to in our obligations your your legally able to be removed from the fraternity as a Mason because of that so we can file charges against the person and if we can prove that he actually did reveal things that
He promised that he wouldn’t as a Mason he can be ejected from the fraternity forever um a masonic trial leads to one of three things you can either be censored which means a slap on the wrist like huh you know that was bad you can be suspended indefinitely Or for a set
Amount of time or you can be expelled and uh and you know the trial would determine the the the people that are in the trial would determine the penalty uh and and that’s going to be Case by case but that’s a pretty egregious case and I could see somebody getting expelled for
That and then you know you’ve got to fight the
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