Deeds, Distraction and Deception being used to normalise evil
From blood drives to hurricane relief initiatives, the Masonic Lodge has been capitalising on every opportunity to meet the Jamaicans at their varying points of need.
While the Freemasons are responding to the desperate calls for help across communities, using the hardships many face as an open invitation out of hiding, a stern warning has come from at least one pastor who declared that there is nothing good or charitable about the ‘brotherhood’.
The Man of God noted that the organisation is more of a religious system whose adherents, at the highest levels, worship Lucifer.
“Be careful of the free gifts, be careful of the handouts, be careful of those who seem overly generous, because especially in this kind of context, we are dealing with people who have an ulterior motive. They are not just being good and nice and lovely people; they are trying to spread what they have, which is not something good. I want to say to us as a nation that we need to get back to the Bible,” said Dr Donald Stewart, who pastored in Jamaica for many years before relocating to Africa to work as a missionary alongside his wife.
“Because it is a religious system that has its own God, it means that it is built also on idolatry, and it will lead people away from the true and living God. There is a lot of temptation to be involved in Freemasonry, and they will attract people because, generally, people want to be rich; they want to be on the social ladder going up high; they want to be well-known and have a sense of camaraderie and brotherhood,” he told the Freedom Come Rain newspaper.
The Masonic Lodge has intensified efforts to “demystify” the organisation in recent years. While it remains a secret society, the faces of lodgemen are increasingly being plastered in the pages of the newspapers and on social media platforms, undertaking charity deeds. They have appeared alongside personalities from all strata of society, from the politician eager to collect a cheque for a major project, to the pastor motivated by good deeds, to the desperate child eager to be awarded a scholarship to pay their tuition.
The Masonic Lodge started its first annual national blood drive in 2023 and was successfully able to convince Jamaicans to contribute to this cause again in 2024 and 2025. More than 65 pints of blood were collected from just over 90 people who responded to its campaign in 2025. The organisation also made a $140,000 donation to the National Blood Transfusion Service (Blood Bank) for the purchase of an air conditioning unit and standing fans. Masonic Homes, which is the charitable arm of the Scottish Masonic Masons in Jamaica, also donated $2 million worth of surgical equipment to the Victoria Jubilee Hospital last year and $2 million towards hurricane relief efforts. Freemasons also donated under $1 million to the Bustamante Children’s Hospital in recent times.
The masonic lodge also gives scholarships, grants, and bursaries to students at the secondary school and university levels. In recent years, they have made contributions to a school, a children’s home, a golden age home and cancer treatment and care. Just last month, a cheque for $855,000 was presented to The Golden Age Home in Vineyard Town.
While all these initiatives seem good on the surface, Dr Stewart reminded Jamaicans that the foundation on which the organisation is built is not good. In fact, he noted that freemasonry is a religious system that is built on idolatry.
“It is not going to be good for our society, it is not going to be good for our culture, it is not going to be good for our homes, it is not going to be good for our churches, and we have to make some decisions that there are some things we can do without,” he said.
The movement is supported by several pastors and is embraced by some denominations. Internationally, Catholics are banned from becoming Freemasons, but there have been concerns than an increasing number of Catholics are joining Masonic Lodges.
“Active membership in Freemasonry by a member of the faithful is prohibited, because of the irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry,” the Vatican’s doctrinal office stated. The late Pope Benedict XVI had stated that Catholics “in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion”.
Dr Stewart also agrees that church leaders should not be involved in the lodge.
“When our churches, as many have done, have opened themselves to this kind of institution, this kind of religion, this kind of idolatry, then the churches have become polluted, then the society as a whole becomes more corrupt because of the protective vows that they have taken over each other’s life,” he said.