Freemasonry In Comic Books

by Midnight Freemasons Contributor

SK Robert Johnson

In the recent pop culture explosion and success of comic books and the movie that bring in millions, I am reminded of an English writer who brought some wild, controversial and downright odd stories to paper…and eventually into the movie theater.

Alan Moore, who gave you the movie From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, V for Vendetta and most recently The Watchmen. Moore is not a Freemason, but he does study occultism--I know the term sounds strange, but let’s just remember that occult means secret.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie--note the doors.

Alan Moore has given some insane story lines in keeping the mysteries of Freemasonry alive. Take the League of Extraordinarygentleman for instance; the Comic series is littered with the jewels of a Fellowcraft and Master Mason. In fact in my count in the first book in the series, there are at twenty-one drawings of the square and compass in various forms. Not disguised either.

Check these books out if your into graphic novels, they are a good read, but mind you, there is extreme subject matter, nudity, violence, drug paraphernalia, and other adult themes. Read at your own risk and let me know how many Masonic things you can find.

~SKRJ

Robert Johnson is a Freemason out of the First North-East District of Illinois. He belongs to Waukegan Lodge No. 78. He is also a member of the York Rite bodies Royal Arch, Cryptic Council and Knights Templar. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts a weekly Podcast (internet radio program) Whence Came You? which focuses on topics relating to Freemasonry. In addition, he produces video shorts focusing on driving interest in the Fraternity and writes original Masonic papers from time to time. He is a husband and father of three. He works full time in the safety industry and is also a photographer on the side as well as an avid home brewer. He is also working on two books, one is of a Masonic nature.

Freemason Wisdom: Roy Acuff on Faith

by Midnight Freemasons Regular Contributor

Judy Gordon

“Put your trust in the Lord and go ahead. Worry gets you no place...”

~Roy Acuff

East Nashville Lodge No. 560, Tennessee

In the first Epoch of the Job’s Daughters initiation, the Pilgrims are taught to "remain faithful to God in our every thought, word and act, no matter what earthly trials they may be called upon to endure." The Pilgrims are taught about Job and his faith in God. Faith is an important lesson to be learned. Job learned in his hour of trial when all the world seemed to forsake him, he remained God’s faithful servant.

I’ve always loved the parable about the mustard seed. It’s so simple and yet so profound. A mustard seed is a speck, one of the tiniest seeds in the whole world. And yet, look at what it can become if we only believe. Jesus told his apostles, when they asked him to increase their faith, that they didn’t need a large amount of faith. A mustard seed size would do. What Jesus was trying to tell them in this parable is that it doesn’t take great faith to produce great results. The results don’t depend on us; they depend on God. Have faith that God will give you what you need to move mountains and uproot trees.

Have faith in yourself…believe in yourself…YOU can move mountains. 


~JAG


Judy Gordon considers herself a York Rite Child. She's very active in Job's Daughters. She's the Past Honored Queen, and Bethel Guardian of Bethel No. 55, Pekin (IL). She received the Cryptic Masons Masonic Youth Leadership Award along with her husband, Ray Gordon in July 2007. She's also Past Matron of the Morton Chapter No. 974 (IL) of the Order of the Eastern Star and Historian of the Emblem Club No. 424 of Pekin (IL) Ray and Judy have two (soon to be three) grandkids, and a very spoiled dog, Reggie (who incidentally volunteers as a Therapy Dog at local hospitals and nursing homes.)

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Manners on Facebook

by Midnight Freemasons Guest Contributor

Cory Sigler
Editor of The Working Tools Masonic Magazine

I am on Facebook almost all day long checking the status of my family and friends , seeing what is going on in the Masonic world and interacting with The Working Tools readers. You can say I’m a Facebook power user.

Overall, I am connected online 24/7. My iPhone is, for all intents and purposes, surgically attached to my body.  You email me and I get back to you right away, I think that is the most polite thing to do. I try to watch my manners and present myself as well as possible to all people at all times.

Increasingly, I have seen behavior that makes me shake my head in disbelief. I understand that we all have lives outside of the Lodge but we represent the Craft all day long, 365 days a year (yes even when we go dark for the summer months).   

Allow me to give you a real life example:

You have the Square and Compasses license plate on your automobile, on the back windshield are emblems for Scottish Rite, York Rite, Shriners,etc. You’re driving way too fast and are cutting people off.  The first thing the other drivers are thinking are “The Freemasons are real Jerks." Trust me – they called you worse names but I cleaned it up to keep it nice. I know I’ve thought that myself when I see a bumper sticker for an organization and the driver is all over the road.

Now let’s look at this type of reckless behavior online.

You have a profile picture of the Square and Compasses. You often post when you are at a Lodge meeting or appendant body event. You talk about all the good Freemasonry does raising money for sick children and how proud you are for that.

Separately, in another post you are openly cursing,  talking about about how you hate so and so. You post a picture of a half naked girl or a explicit video clip with content not suitable for all . All these messages are posted on all your friends walls and when they respond to you it then gets shown on their wall. Now you have the probability of hundreds or thousands of people seeing what you wrote.

Why does this matter besides tarnishing our reputation? What if one of those people who saw your post was thinking about joining a Lodge? What kind of message are you sending out to him?  You now potentially ruined the chance of a great member from asking for a petition. That first impression is something you can never get back.

I’m not a saint, I’ve posted some out there messages but I’m working on being very conscious of my actions and thinking about what I wrote before hitting the send button. It’s a practice I think we can all afford to adopt.

Try to imagine if this is something you would say in an open Lodge meeting. Would you be embarrassed to stand up and say what you wrote on your wall for the world to see? If the answer is “yes” you need to square your actions and act appropriately.


(Stepping off my soapbox now)

 ~CS

Cory Sigler is a Past Master of Hawthorne Fortitude No. 200 in Ramsey NJ. He is the Editor in Chief of The New Jersey Freemason Grand Lodge publication and The Working Tools Masonic Magazine, one of the largest independent Masonic publications (www.twtmag.com). He is also a proud member of The Scottish Rite and York Rite.