The Cult of the Lodge: Mormonism and Freemasonry

The recent tragedy of a shooting at a Mormon church has left families devastated, and every decent person ought to grieve and demand justice. But already, figures like Glenn Beck and Senator Mike Lee are rushing to frame the incident as an example of “Christian persecution.” In their public statements, they are not merely calling for compassion, but are deliberately smuggling Mormonism into the Christian family tree. To hear them tell it, the slain were not only victims of senseless violence, but martyrs of the same faith that the apostles died for. That sort of ecumenical slippage is expected from Mormons themselves. What is more troubling is that evangelical leaders are letting it pass unchallenged. Some may feel the timing is too delicate to correct the record. Others are simply ignorant, sincerely believing that Mormonism is just another Christian denomination with some peculiar quirks about temples and prophets. The reality is far darker.

Mormonism is not Christianity with add-ons; it is a false gospel that traffics in demonic worship. Consider just a few of its doctrines. Mormons deny the eternal nature of God, teaching instead that the Father was once a man who progressed to godhood. They claim that Jesus is the literal spirit-brother of Lucifer, not the eternally begotten Son who has always existed with the Father. They preach salvation not by grace alone but through temple rituals, priesthood ordinances, and personal merit. They teach that men may themselves become gods, ruling over planets in eternity. They use additional scriptures (the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price) that directly contradict the Bible. Their vision of heaven is divided into degrees of glory, where only those sealed in Mormon temples can enter the highest realm. Even their sacraments, like baptism for the dead, are alien to Christianity and rooted in occult practice.

I may return later to those doctrinal differences in more depth, but what you might find even more fascinating is this: the rituals, ceremonies, and key doctrines of Mormonism were taken directly from the pages of Freemasonry. What millions think of as a Christian sect is in fact a secret society masquerading as a church, with its temple endowments and handshakes borrowed wholesale from the lodge. And once you see that connection, the entire religion looks very different indeed.

MASONRY AND JOSEPH SMITH

Step back into time with me to Nauvoo, Illinois, in the spring of 1842. The Mormon prophet Joseph Smith was at the height of his power. He commanded an army, published revelations at will, and presided over a booming city that seemed ready to rival any on the American frontier. But in March of that year, Smith made a move that still baffles historians and fascinates conspiracists: he and his closest associates joined the ancient fraternity of Freemasonry.

Within days, Joseph Smith was raised to the degree of Master Mason. And within weeks, he rolled out the Mormon temple endowment ceremony, an elaborate ritual so suspiciously similar to Masonic rites that even sympathetic scholars blush when asked about it.

This is where the story gets mind-bending. Imagine you are a frontier Mason, trained to guard the secrets of your brotherhood with penalties of death if you betray them. You hear whispers that a preacher down the street has not only stolen your handshakes, your passwords, and your ritual oaths, but has baptized them into his own private religion. You’d be outraged. And many Masons were. The overlap was not casual, but wholesale.

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THE LIGHTNING RISE OF A MORMON MASON

Most initiates work their way through the degrees of Masonry slowly, earning trust in the lodge and demonstrating loyalty. But Joseph Smith was no ordinary initiate. On March 15, 1842, Smith became an Entered Apprentice and a Fellowcraft. On March 16, he was raised to Master Mason. That kind of fast-tracked advancement was virtually unheard of. But Smith wasn’t just another applicant. He was the mayor of Nauvoo, the commander of its militia, and a man whose following was swelling into the thousands. He had influence that the Grand Lodge of Illinois was eager to harness.

The timing is striking. Just weeks later, Smith revealed the Nauvoo temple endowment, a ritual that included secret handshakes, veiled oaths, special clothing, and gestures that bore uncanny resemblance to those he had just encountered in the lodge. Mormon historians have admitted that Smith’s temple liturgy was “inspired by” Masonry. In reality, Smith copied the lodge wholesale and rebranded it as divine revelation.

MASONIC BONES, MORMON FLESH

The heart of Masonry is ritual secrecy. Candidates pass through degrees, learning tokens, grips, signs, and oaths that bind them to their brethren. The Mormon endowment is nearly identical in form. Initiates were taught specific handclasps, words, and gestures. They donned special garments marked with cryptic symbols. They swore blood-curdling penalties should they reveal the mysteries outside the temple walls: promises that their throats would be cut, their hearts torn out, their bowels slit open. These were not vague resemblances. These were carbon copies.

Consider this: Masons use a grip known as the “Five Points of Fellowship,” in which the candidate and the master stand foot to foot, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand to back, and mouth to ear. In Mormonism, this very same rite was introduced at the veil of the temple, used as a token to pass from one stage of glory to the next. Or take the ritual clothing: Masonic aprons, sashes, and robes became Mormon temple aprons, sashes, and robes. Even the symbols - the compass and square, the all-seeing eye - migrated from lodge halls to Mormon temples, often carved into the stone itself.

For the average nineteenth-century American, Masonry was already wrapped in an aura of secrecy and suspicion. To see its skeleton reanimated as a new religion must have been surreal.

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THE NATURE OF “REVELATION”

What did Smith think he was doing? Smith saw Masonry as a useful blueprint, a system of ritual, hierarchy, and mystique that could be grafted onto his own movement to solidify authority. The overlap was so total that it is impossible to untangle Mormonism from Masonry without cutting into its bone marrow.

For Smith’s followers, this was framed not as plagiarism but as fulfillment. They were told that Masonry had preserved slivers of sacred ritual through the centuries, but Joseph was restoring it to its pristine form. Imagine a preacher today lifting passages from the Qur’an or Hindu scripture, embedding them in his own sermon, and claiming that he was merely restoring what was originally Christian. The brazenness would be staggering. Yet that is precisely what Smith did with Masonry.

THE BROTHERHOOD IN THE PEW

It wasn’t just Joseph. Many of the most prominent Mormon leaders of the era were also Masons. Hyrum Smith, Joseph’s brother and co-prophet, was a Mason. Brigham Young, who would later lead the Latter-day Saints to Utah, was steeped in Masonic ritual. The entire Nauvoo leadership seemed to march in both columns at once, by day wearing the regalia of the lodge, by night administering Mormon temple rites to the faithful. The two worlds bled into each other until it was difficult to say where Masonry ended and Mormonism began.

And then there was the lodge itself. Smith didn’t just join. He built. The Nauvoo Lodge under dispensation became one of the largest in the state almost overnight. Hundreds of Mormon men were initiated, flooding the Illinois Masonic scene with zealous recruits. For a while, the marriage between Masonry and Mormonism seemed not only natural but mutually beneficial.

But cracks soon appeared. Non-Mormon Masons looked on with suspicion as the Nauvoo Lodge ballooned in size, seeming to defy normal protocols. To them, it looked like Smith was hijacking Masonry for his own ends. To the outside world, Mormonism looked less like a new church and more like a secret society on steroids.

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