by William J. Schnoebelen, © 2017

One of the questions asked most often of our ministry concerns the Ancient and Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine – commonly known as the Shrine. Its members are thus known as Shriners.

The Shriners are a highly visible organization. Driving down the interstate, we see semi trucks with signs on the back promoting Shrine hospitals. Most communities of any size have Shrine circuses come to town—supposedly to raise money for their burn centers or hospitals for crippled children. There are also Shrine football games for the same purpose.
On a more local level, few parades are held without the jolly Shriner clowns capering up and down the street, bringing joy and candy to the hearts of the children.

Of course, the Shrine facilities themselves are quite impressive. The one that I attended in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was designed to look like a small Taj Mahal. Even so, it took up nearly a city block. Additionally, in some cities, there are sumptuous Shrine golf and country clubs which rival the most exclusive private courses.

What many people do not realize is that the Shrine organization is part of the Freemasonic order. In fact, one of the “secrets” of the Shrine is the fact that its pretentious and official title (Ancient and Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine) is actually an anagram. A.A.O.N.M.S. reveals that every Shrine member must first be A.M.A.S.O.N.

The context is which we usually find inquiries coming into our ministry is whether or not a Christian should be involved with the Shrine. The fact that the Shrine is rooted in Masonry should be sufficient answer to the question. Masonry is a very vile tree indeed, and any entity which “branches” from it, like the Shrine, would be suspect indeed. Remember, the Lord warned us that an evil tree cannot bear good fruit. (Matt. 7:17-18)

To establish that Masonry itself is contrary to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus is not the purpose of this booklet. For that, our ministry has other resources available (See endnote 1). However, suffice it to say that for our discussion right now, it is a given that Freemasonry itself has very sinister and idolatrous roots.

In fact, Shriners are not just any Masons. They are Masons who have had to go through not just the Blue Lodge (the foundational three degrees upon which all Masonry is based); but they are required to climb to near the pinnacle of American Freemasonry. They must either have attained the 32° of the Scottish Rite or become a Knights Templar in the Commandery of the York Rite. (See endnote 2) This means that, in the first case, they have had to go through 32 degrees; or in the second case, ten degrees. Each of these degrees have very solemn, bloody (and totally anti-Christian) oaths which the candidate is required to swear, on a Bible.

Thus, even if the Shrine were a totally benign organization, the Mason who joins it has already had to break more commandments of God than one would care to mention.
I am not writing of this topic as some amateur or armchair scholar. As some of the readers may know, I WAS A MASON. I joined the Lodge in the mid-seventies and was active in many different Masonic bodies for about nine years. I worked my way up “through the chairs” to Junior Warden in the Blue Lodge. I was the Master of the Veil in the Royal Arch and Prelate in the Commandery (York Rite). I was Associate Patron in the Order of the Eastern Star and also had become a Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret (32° Mason). I also went through the Shrine initiation, but was not real active in it because of the costs. The bottom line is, I know whereof I speak when discussing Masonry and the Shrine.

Let’s Have Fun!

The Shrine is often portrayed, both within and without the ranks of Freemasonry, as the “fun” part of Masonry. Masons supposedly in the lower degrees are busy working on the labor of “improving themselves in Masonry.” However, in the Shrine, it is party time.

To a great extent, this is true. For example, in most states, the Shrine is the only Masonic body where alcohol can be served within the premises of the temple. In my Shrine, beer was served – although it was called “camel’s milk.” Additionally, the Shrine throws bigger parties and fancier balls than any other branch of Masonry.

Then there are the activities. I know in the Shrine I belonged to, there were more than a dozen “fun” things one could do to enhance the Shrine organization:

1) The Shrine clowns (of course)
2) The Oriental Band (you dress up in Arab costumes and play Middle Eastern musical instruments in parades)
3) The Ritual Divan (you work as a performer in the elaborate ceremonies involved in initiating new members. This involves very stunning costumes and learning about as many lines as one might learn for a play)
4) The Camel Corps (you get to ride on camels)

5) The Tiny Motorcar squads (you get to ride in parades in little cars and generally make an idiot of yourself)

6) A Fife and Drum Corps (a full Highland band with bagpipes and drums, etc.)

7) The Motorcycle Corps (these are Shriners who have large, expensive motorcycles and keep them in tip-top, shiny condition. They also ride these in parades).

There probably were other activities involved, but I do not recall them. A lot of these are rather expensive to engage in, and even the Shrine membership itself is expensive. When I joined, around 1980, it was $150 to join, and then $50 a year for dues. Thus, the Shrine was somewhat of a “rich-boy’s club,” unlike the Blue Lodge. A lot of the men I met in the Shrine were highly successful businessmen, doctors, lawyers or politicians. They had huge, expensive dances and balls for various occasions and it could get very expensive.

“Heck of a Way to Treat a Friend”

However, there are parts of the Shrine that are not quite so much “fun” – at least for the victims. Unlike other Masonic initiations, the ritual that inducts candidates into the Shriners is part theater and part glorified college fraternity hazing. The only difference is the big-budget and the fact that the Shrine has a team of doctors on hand in case something goes wrong.

I speak from first hand experience here! I assume that there is a certain common theme running through most Shrine temples in the different states, but I am writing from the point of view of what happened to me. Of course, at the time I went through this, I was not a Christian, but a Pagan.

We will get into the theological problems with the ritual later. Right now, I would just like you to image your pastor, or deacon, or perhaps your father going through this ordeal.

First of all, you are actually given a physical by a doctor to be certain you are equal to the task (I am not making this up!). Then, if you pass, you are made to strip to your underwear and are blindfolded. What I did not know at the time is that everything that was happening to me was taking place on a stage with dozens of Shriners out in the audience watching.

We had to walk with other candidates over the “burning sands” of the desert (everything in the Shrine is couched in Arabic imagery). Barefoot, we walked over what we later learned was a carpet with electric wires in it designed to slightly burn our feet, without causing any damage to them. This was probably the reason for the physical – as someone with a pacemaker or a bad ticker might have a little problem with such a journey.

Another “high point” consisted of having to get down on all fours (still blindfolded) and try to suck on a hot dog which was dangling somewhere in the general vicinity of my face. As I was attempting to do this, I was being poked in my rear with what felt like a pretty serious hat-pin. Additionally, I was led to believe I was being urinated on by a dog in the face.
No wonder the Shrine Potentate later wryly observed to me: “Heck of a way to treat a friend!” Now, imagine your pastor on his hands and knees in his BVDs, trying to suck on a hot dog while being poked with a hat-pin. It rather destroys your image of a man of God, doesn’t it?

The Long Shadow of Mohammed

Sadly, the Shrine ceremony goes downhill (or should I say “down-hell”) from there. Like the dozens of other Masonic rites, it involves a lot of ceremonial pageantry and a blood oath. All the officers are dressed up like Arabian princes or soldiers. The “set” on the stage is made to look like the lush tent of some sheik. However, the Islamic influence is not just cosmetic.

When the candidate goes forward to take his oath, he might be given a little surprise based on his prior experience in the Lodge. The book upon which he is obligated in the Shrine is not the Bible but the Quran, the sacred book of Islam.

From a Christian perspective, the Quran is NOT a sacred book. It is a document hammered out on the tables of hell! This is because Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was a false prophet! The doctrines taught in the Quran deny many of the key doctrines of orthodox Christianity, including the Godhood of Yah’shua (Jesus) and the power of His atoning death on the cross.

Down through the ages the Quran doctrine of jihad (holy war), has cost the lives of millions of Christians and other innocents. That same doctrine is behind the terrorist actions of Islamic fundamentalists that fill today’s headlines. It is glorious to kill or be killed in the service of Allah, the god of Islam. Yet, here is perhaps your pastor, about to swear an oath on the Quran.

We have tragically come to understand these issues more since 9/11. When I went through these rites, Islamic fundamentalism was barely on the radar of the American public. Now we understand that a significant minority of Muslims want to destroy Israel (the Little Satan) and America (the Great Satan) and all that we stand for. They will do this with bombs, airplanes, and anything else they can get their hands on!

Not only that, the oath taken in the Shrine initiation rite itself is made in the name of “Allah, the God of my forefathers…” Now, unless you happen to be of Islamic descent (Arab, Bedouin, Palestinian, Berber, etc.), you can be pretty certain that Allah was not the god of your forefathers. Contrary to what many would have you believe, Allah is not the God of the Bible.

Allah denies being the Father of Yah’shua the Messiah (Jesus), and that pretty much disqualifies him right there, except he is not a “him”, but an “it.” Historical research reveals that Allah started out his career more than 1,000 years ago as a hunk of rock – an idol that represented the moon god. He was the local deity of the tribe of Mohammed and sat in what is today known as the Kaaba, the holiest place of all Islam in Mecca.

Allah (the rock) was there along with a dozen of so other deities of other tribes (also rocks). When Mohammed returned with his army victoriously and took Mecca, he went into the Kaaba and knocked down all the other rocks and left little Allah standing. This is the god of Islam, the god who produced a book (the Quran) that has tens of thousands of words in it, and yet never mentions love and never glorifies Yah’shua as the Almighty Creator of the universe (John 1:1-14).

Can you imagine your pastor or uncle swearing an oath in the name of a rock?? This is not just any oath, either. It has (like all Masonic oaths) a horrible penalty. If you violate the oath, you swear that your eyes with be pierced with red-hot three-cornered daggers! Can you imagine your father consenting to such an oath? Of course, why not? To get to the Shrine, the candidate would have had to go through at least ten or so equally awful, Christ-denying oaths (Matt. 5:34-37) – except that those oaths were sworn on a Bible “in the name of God!”

And all this is done, just for the privilege of getting to ride in a little motorcar or be a clown – to play in an Oriental Band or ride on a camel. The Christian Shriner has just sold his soul for a “mess” of camel’s milk. However, things don’t get better from here either. The Shriners have other sins to expose.

Some Pretty Strange Mothers?

All of us candidates received an important teaching when we were given our fezzes (of course, they weren’t given to us, we had to pay for them!). We were all given a lecture by the Potentate (who is like the Master of the Lodge – don’t you love how Masonry keeps taking titles that belong to Yah’shua alone and applying them to themselves? See 1 Timothy 6:15 if you don’t believe me. It says Yah’shua is the only potentate!)

The supposed potentate told us that we should regard the fez in the same way as we regarded our white Masonic aprons. It was a proud badge that we were Nobles of the Shrine. He told us that we should never do anything while wearing the fez that we would be ashamed to do in front of our mothers.

Those Shrine boys must have some pretty strange mothers! Shriners are notorious “party animals” and I am not just talking about riding around on motor scooters. Shrine conventions are notorious for drinking and whoring. In fact, in our city, there was a convention where Shriners were running through hotel corridors drunk as lords and wearing nothing but their little red fezzes. They were chasing the prostitutes around!

They run around naked and chase hookers in front of their moms?? No wonder these guys need Yah’shua! A friend of mine who happened to be a policeman from Las Vegas later told me that when the Shriners came to town, every prostitute for 500 miles descended on the city, knowing that there would be lots of wealthy customers.

It is interesting that when I (who was a witch high priest) decided to join the Shrine, one of the priestesses in our coven looked shocked and asked me why I would wish to join such an organization. I responded with the utter truth, that the spirit guides (See endnote 3) who were wise, mighty and ancient, had told me I would learn important and esoteric secrets by joining the Shrine.

This priestess ruefully remarked that the only thing she could ever tell that the Shriners were taught was how to pinch innocent women in their posteriors. She said every time she had waited for a bus when that Shrine convention was in town, some Shriner would come along and accost her in that fashion. She stated that to her, they were lewd and base fellows of the worst sort – and that was a witch talking! What a recommendation!

Choosing the Right Road

Unfortunately, it gets worse. When I was led to join the Shrine by these spirit guides, they told me some little key words to say as part of the ceremony. One such instance involved a place in the ritual where you had to make a choice between two roads. One road led you to Jerusalem, the other would take you to “worship at the shrine in Damascus.”
Now, most Shrine candidates would choose the road to Jerusalem. This is because even though most of them must be Biblical illiterates even to have gotten this far, they at least know Jerusalem is the “holy city.”

However, I had been told (by “spirit guides”) to ask to go on the road to Damascus. That, in combination with certain other key phrases I had dropped, led me to a special ritual chamber all by myself. There I was led through a tantric (See endnote 4) magickal ceremony best left undescribed in a decent publication.

It gets worse. In our ministry, we have received several testimonies from women about an elite group within the Shrine called “The Jesters.” Their motto is: “Where Mirth is King.” The symbol of this order is a weird little dude called a Billikin. This is often seen on tie-tacks or lapel pins as a little, fat, nude baby-like being which is completely bald, golden, and wears a Shriner fez on his head. In his hand, this Billikin is often seen holding a scepter with a NAZI swastika (yes, the left-handed, satanic swastika of the Nazis!).

These poor women, occasionally with some documentation, told horrid tales of being sexually molested and abused at Jester meetings by their husbands. One woman said she was repeatedly tied up on her bed and raped by her husband’s Jester friends when they came over for (ha! ha!) poker night. The Jesters group uses all sorts of these ribald puns to conceal what is really going on.

This woman tried to report these activities only to discover that both the police chief and the county sheriff were Shriners. So were all the lawyers. Finally, in desperation, she fled the state and changed her name.

Another woman sent us some of the programs for Jester parties out at exclusive ranches in Texas. Some of the events were called “Riding the bull” and “Riding the heifer.” She explained that most of these guys were up in the sixties or seventies and were not doing rodeo acts. Instead, the “riding the bull” was a code phrase for having sex with young males (often underage). Riding the heifer meant having sex with female prostitutes, also frequently underage.

And this is a sub-society for the most elite of the Shrine! Talk about ungodliness! Talk about the abuse of women and children!

Now, I do not know personally of any Christian ministers who are Jesters, but if there are any, they need to repent and get out of the entire Masonic organization at once. They are “unequally yoked” with these perverts! (2Cor. 6:14-16)

But What About the Charities?

There will always be people who will, at some point, bring up the wonderful charity work the Shrine does. They bring up the hospitals for crippled children, the burn centers. All of this is indeed admirable, but it begs the question. No amount of good deeds can outweigh blasphemy, idolatry and whoredoms in YHWH’s eyes.

Not only that, a recent report from the Orlando Sentinel revealed that of all the millions of dollars raised by Shrine circuses and football games, only a tiny fraction actually ends up going to the hospital charities. Those hospitals are probably heavily endowed and need little money to continue. Actually, more than 90% of the funds raised goes to support the lavish lifestyles of the Shrine temples, the incredibly expensive jewels, the travels of the potentates, etc.

You would not begin to imagine the costs of the ceremonial gear worn by a Shrine Potentate. In the 1980’s it was a couple thousand dollars. Imagine what it cost today! As mentioned earlier, these Shrine temples often have exclusive country clubs, etc.

Besides, like all the Masonic charities, the Shrine does its good deeds without giving one shred of glory to Yah’shua. That means all of their works are as “wood, hay and stubble,”(1Cor. 3:12-15) and they will burn in the fires of judgment – even if the Shriner is a supposed Christian.

Remember, the Mafia did a lot of good too, contributing to the building of Catholic hospitals, churches and orphanages – taking cares of widows, etc. Does that mean you want to join the Mafia? (In fact, Sicilian Freemasons started the Mafia!!) No amount of good deeds can cover up monstrous evil!

Your Response?

What if you are a Shriner? What should you do? Well, if you are a genuine Born Again Christian, you need to get on your knees and repent and renounce the Shrine and all other aspects of Masonry. Then send them a demit letter, formally resigning. You can get a sample demit letter off our website at www.withoneaccord.org or from the book MASONRY BEYOND THE LIGHT.

If you don’t know where you are going for certain when you die, then you need to get BORN AGAIN according to the Bible:

1) Admit that you have sinned
2) Confess your sins to the Lord Yah’shua the Messiah
3) Confess that Yah’shua died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead to give you eternal life
4) Ask Yah’shua to save you from your sins and be Lord of your life
5) Renounce all your prior sinful activities (including Masonry and the Shrine) and ask Jesus to help you forsake them completely. Then find a good Bible-believing church and begin attending. Read your King James Bible and pray to God daily.
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Endnotes:
1. For example, there is the video, “The Light Behind Masonry,” another video, “Freemasonry: Secret Sins,” the book, MASONRY BEYOND THE LIGHT and numerous audio tapes and STRAIGHT TALKS from our ministry – Contact us at WITH ONE ACCORD, 3500 Dodge Street, Suite 7-290, Dubuque, IA 52003 or on the web at www.withoneaccord.org.
2. Scottish Rite and York Rite are the two branches of the Masonic “tree” that one can choose to climb after having attained the “sublime degree” of Master Mason, which is Third Degree, and the highest degree of the Blue Lodge. Many Masons never go any further, but a lot of them do seek York or Scottish Rite degrees.
3. Spirit guides (currently more commonly known as “ascended masters”) are supposedly perfected beings who are dead. They have escaped the wheel of karma through many incarnations and are pure spirit and very ancient and wise. They “channel” through mediums or trance channellers and offer advice to the living. The Bible calls them familiar spirits, and identifies them as demons. No wonder they told me to join the Shrine.
4. Tantra is primarily known in the west (especially by occultists) as the yoga of sex, although there is much more to it than that.

LINK TO DR. BILL’s STRAIGHT TALK ON THE SHRINERS: http://www.withoneaccord.org/…/…/freedownloads/Shriner-1.pdf

Straight Talks