Why didn’t Dr Joseph Muscat succeed in banning freemasonry?

By Marica Micallef

When Dr Joseph Muscat was leading the Labour government, winning both elections with record majorities, part of his plan was to ban freemasonry.

When interviewed by Saviour Balzan on Reporter back in 2015, “he agreed that secret organisations such as freemasonry should be banned and shared his thoughts on ‘a new era’ for political parties.” Having whistleblowers or the strengthening of the country’s institutional watchdogs would still have done little, if the same whistleblowers and watchdogs happened to be freemasons.

There are many factors I criticise Dr Muscat for, but I had fully agreed with him here when he shared this decision. Can I ask Dr Muscat what went wrong? What happened?

I am writing this not because the Maltese word “mazun” reverberates with horror or because it is a sinister word that causes shockwaves. I have been studying freemasonry for many years just out of curiosity. Endless books bought. Endless hours of reading. I learnt that ONE of the reasons is that Christians should avoid the kind of oaths found in freemasonry, which are far worse than the oaths warned against in the New Testament. The Bible also warns against making excessive oaths.

Leviticus 5:4: “Or if a person thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil—in any matter one might carelessly swear about—even though he is unaware of it, in any case when he learns of it he will be guilty.”

Another reason is that Freemasonry endorses many deities. For example, in his Book of the Words, masonic writer Albert Pike, explained that one of the names used in freemasonry to refer to God is ‘Jah-Bul-On’, which Pike said refers to Jabulum, which means ‘the product of, that which proceeded, issued or emanated from Om’. If correctly written, it is compounded of . . . Yu or Yah-u . . . Baal or Bal or Bel, and Om, thus combining the names of the Hebrew, Phoenician and Hindu Deities, to indicate that they are in reality the same. In some old rituals it is Jabulum. Just like freemasonry accepts various members of various religions, including Catholics, it endorses various deities. The danger of this, will be explained later.

All pagan deities are condemned by Christianity as false gods and goddesses. It is false to believe that followers of Om or Baal worshipped the true God of the Bible but knew Him by a different name. There is no pagan deity who represents the God of the Bible. The distinctions are far more profound and significant than ‘what’s in a name’. No Christian should participate in a ritual honoring or glorifying a pagan deity.

Exodus 20:4: “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”

Deuteronomy 11:16: “Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.”

Therefore, Christians should not be freemasons and they must condemn freemasonry.

Besides, this organization is not only about entailing ‘perks’ for the members, who range from politicians, to members of the judiciary, of the police corps, of the military, doctors, scientists, lecturers, and businessmen with serious implications but there are more dangers to it, hidden.

So, I will appreciate if Dr Muscat explains why his plan to ban freemasonry did not succeed.