Secret Societies
The Story of N. D. Faulkhead
“A Foundation of Truth”
Lesson 44
A secret society is a club or organization whose
activities are concealed from non-members.
Pathfinders, for example, is not a secret society
because anyone can know about the honor subjects
being studied and the program followed at the
meetings, and membership is open.
Secret societies, on the other hand, have carefully
guarded and progressive teachings that are available
only to selected individuals and which supposedly lead
to hidden truths. They have rituals, hand signs, code
words, etc., which non-members are not permitted to
know or observe. Many times doors are guarded so
that no one can enter without permission.
Some societies have been violent, such as
the Klu Klux Klan, and some societies have
reached out to the community in an effort to
benefit the people, but if it is secret, it is
wrong for us to be a part of it.
Why?
There is nothing secret about God. He is open
about himself and his work in the great
controversy between good and evil.
Salvation is free and open to all--no
secret membership allowed!
Satan, on the other hand, is devious, hides
himself and his true work, is the father of lies,
and secretly lays plans for our destruction.
Sin often lies under the cloak of darkness and
secrecy, and deceit is always a work of Satan.
This is why Ellen White counseled against
joining secret societies--truth is not found in
secret, mysterious teachings, for truth is open
and free to all. There is a charm, a pull, to
something mysterious that only can be
understood by a few, and we want to stay away
from that pull because it is from Satan.
Counsel against being a member of a secret
society was given in 1892 to N. D. Faulkhead,
who lived in Australia.
N. D. Faulkhead
Dressed in his regalia of an
officer of the Masonic Order