Focus September 2011

Baseball And Freemasonry

Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie . . . and . . . Freemasonry?

            Although that may not be the correct wording of a popularized phrase, there is much evidence to show its accuracy.
As the Major League baseball season rapidly draws to a close, Masons across the country, who have taken an active role in the sport this summer, reflect on a busy season of contributing to "America's pastime."  Here are just a few examples:

Michigan

The Grand Lodge of Michigan is now in its sixth season of promoting Freemasonry through its radio sponsorship of Detroit Tigers baseball coverage.  These broadcasts spread a Masonic message much farther than the Detroit area or even all of Michigan. 

Thousands, maybe millions, of baseball fans throughout the country listen to their home teams' games on satellite radio.  The satellite baseball broadcasts always feature the home team's play-by-play announcers -- and all of its commercials.  So, when American League baseball fans in California, Washington, Texas, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, or elsewhere want to listen to their favorite team play in Detroit, they will receive a strong message about Freemasonry, compliments of the Michigan Masons.

The Detroit Tigers radio sponsorship includes Strikeouts for Charity where $25 for each strikeout by a starting pitcher is donated to a Michigan Masons' charitable program, and this donation is mentioned frequently during each game.

Florida

In Lakeland, Florida, Masons provide food and beverage service at Spring Training baseball games.  Kathleen Lodge #338 has operated several vending booths under the grandstand for six years.  According to Peter Merrill, Lodge Secretary, the income provided by the projects allows the 157-member Lodge to provide more than $10,000 a year for charity in the area.  The activity creates participation as members and their families volunteer to work at the booths. Signs tell all those at the baseball games that the service is being provided by Masons.

Also at the Lakeland Spring Training facility, the Masters and Wardens Association of Florida's District 24 has a separate vending operation of its own, with proceeds being divided among seven other Lodges.  

Ohio

Masons in the Dayton, Ohio, area volunteer at Dayton Dragons baseball games to serve food to fans.  The team is the Class A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and has received national publicity this year for some 850 consecutive sell-out crowds, a record for any professional team in North America.

 

The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)

National Public Radio, through the reporting of Rachel Tabachnick, has done a program on a new movement calling itself the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). The Masonic Information Center is absolutely in favor of and supports freedom of religion. However we also include toleration of other's beliefs as critical to true religious freedom. Some of the beliefs of this new group sound very much like those used by others in anti-Masonic tirades. We would like to caution our readers that the possibility exists of anti-Masonic feelings that may be exhibited by this organization. The following excerpts are taken from the website of NAR:

"An emerging Christian movement that seeks to take dominion over politics, business and culture in preparation for the end times and the return of Jesus, is becoming more of a presence in American politics. The leaders are considered apostles and prophets, gifted by God for this role.

The international "apostolic and prophetic" movement has been dubbed by its leading American architect, C. Peter Wagner, as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Although the movement is larger than the network organized by Wagner – and not all members describe themselves as part of Wagner's NAR – the so-called apostles and prophets of the movement have identifiable ideology.

Tabachnick says the movement currently works with a variety of politicians and has a presence in all 50 states. It also has very strong opinions about the direction it wants the country to take. For the past several years, she says, the NAR has run a campaign to reclaim what it calls the "seven mountains of culture" from demonic influence. The "mountains" are arts and entertainment; business; family; government; media; religion; and education.

"They teach quite literally that these "mountains" have fallen under the control of demonic influences in society," says Tabachnick. "And therefore, they must reclaim them for God in order to bring about the kingdom of God on Earth… The apostles teach what's called 'strategic level spiritual warfare' (because they believe that the) reason why there is sin and corruption and poverty on the Earth is because the Earth is controlled by a hierarchy of demons under the authority of Satan. So they teach not just evangelizing souls one by one, as we're accustomed to hearing about. They teach that they will go into a geographic region or a people group and conduct spiritual-warfare activities in order to remove the demons from the entire population. This is what they're doing that's quite fundamentally different than other evangelical groups."