Secret Societies... Should Christians Join Them?!

Lately, I've engaged in much conversation that is centered around "Social Organizations or Secret Organizations"(Social/Secret Organizations includes sororities, fraternities, and social orders) ]. I found this topic to be extremely interesting because I have many friends that are involved in or are looking to be involved in social organizations, but there is much controversy surrounding the origins and underlying purposes of these organizations.


I will be focusing, primarily, on the Order of the Eastern Star or "OES". It is alleged that this organization was formed for the wives, sisters, and mothers of Freemasons. Allegedly, the men that were apart of this organization devoted much of their time and money to the upkeep of the org. However, in doing this, the women were not allowed to know the mission, principles, and practices of Freemasonry; this caused problems that lead to the men to create an organization for the women that make the women feel "apart" of the organization and engage in those practices. So the Order of the Eastern Star was formed.


There are allegations that the organization tries to portray themselves as a Christian organization by playing on biblical passages to support their principles. For example, Matthew 2:2 states that "We have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him"; hence the name "Eastern Star". However, with further reading, we come to realize that they stated, "we saw His star in the East" is an indication of the location of the speaker, not of the star. So how can they be "Eastern Stars" which is supposed to be a guiding light to salvation (Jesus) if the star was never in the East?! That's a very easy and important point to miss: Eastern Stars are groomed to believe they are supposed to be a guide toward salvation, however their name is based off of a play on words.


With further study, I learned that their principles are based off of the idea of self-salvation and that every man is a "christ"; through masonic initiation and in order to be deemed a savior, one needs to first save themselves. This is COMPLETELY against Christian teachings. We are taught that there was only one Savior, Jesus Christ and the only way be saved is through Him. With that said how can one profess to be  a Christian, yet believe that they can save themselves? It's no possible way, it's either one or the other. So, can Christians really be apart of an organization such as this one?! Absolutely not, it goes against all of the teachings of the Bible and Christianity in general.