Masonic Pulpit

I was intrigued by the strange symbols carved onto the pulpit in Kirkby Stephen Parish Church. I was appalled when I realised that they were masonic. A small plaque nearby explained that the pulpit was donated by local Freemasons, who naturally covered it with their signs and motifs.

Preaching from so elaborate and stately a furnishing must have felt like real privilege back in the 1870s when it was installed. Yet those esoteric images are the very antithesis of the true gospel, the proclamation of which is the pulpit’s purpose. I am not superstitious, thinking these little carvings will make the preacher’s throat go dry or make his notes flutter away. Yet Freemasonry is subtly opposed to the gospel; it undermines its primary themes. Not openly, of course. Masons claim they agree with Christianity. Many of them are church-going men, pious and charitable. They donate ornate pulpits to churches, after all. Even the British Methodist Conference- yes, that’s right, even the Methodists- recognises the incompatibility between the two:

“For Christians the secrecy practised by Freemasons poses a problem in that secrecy of any kind is destructive of fellowship. The Christian community is an open fellowship.”

Masons worship a Supreme Being later revealed as JAHBULON. He is not approached through Jesus Christ and is therefore not the God of the Bible. That these people have tainted a pulpit with their arcane and cryptic paraphernalia is a travesty, an afront to the God of heaven who has freely revealed to us the mystery of godliness. I would rather preach the plain truth from a plain pulpit than inhabit a gorgeous cradle of Italian marble which silently proclaims the mysterious gibberish of pagan secrecy.