With over three hundred pages in twenty chapters and 750 endnotes, the book appears to be a scholarly analysis of Freemasonry. On closer examination, however, one discovers that the authors lull their readers into a false sense of security by alleging a reliance on "authoritative" sources of information. In fact, Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon are satisfied to quote both non-Masons (such as "Djwhal Khul")(24) and anti-Masons (such as Jonathan Blanchard) while falsely claiming they are Masons, when they are not. This use of false witnesses and their manipulation of text is so subtle that it is difficult, even for objective readers, to avoid being deceived. Indeed, it is as if they took Charles Darwin's observation as a personal admonition, when he wrote, "Great is the power of misrepresentation."

Sources

Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon want their readers to believe that their work is objective. To assist them in this illusion they explain that they (or their research associates) wrote the following question to the Grand Master of each of the fifty American Grand Lodges, "As an official Masonic leader, which books and authors do you recommend as being authoritative on the subject of Freemasonry?"(25)

Twenty-five Grand Masters responded, each recommending several Masonic authors. Topping the list were nine names. Henry Coil led the list with the recommendation of 11 of the Grand Lodges, while Albert Pike was recommended by only 4 of them. In other words, forty-six Grand Masters (92%) had no comments on Pike. In spite of this, Coil and Pike are cited almost equally, about thirty times each.

Manly P. Hall, on the other hand, received so few recommendations that Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon omitted his standing from their list of Masonic "authorities." Yet Hall is also cited some twenty-five times. Hall's books are presented as the writings of a "33d Degree Mason."(26) As noted earlier, Hall wrote the books used by Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon more than twenty-five years before he became a Mason. Wouldn't honesty, therefore, require them to inform their readers that these books were written before Mr. Hall had any personal knowledge of Masonry? Of course this would have lessened the impact of Hall's "far out" interpretations of Freemasonry.

Significantly, Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon make good use of unfriendly and questionable sources: about 250 of their endnotes (33%) include anti-Masonic publications.