THE CAMBRIAN PESHER
THE VOICE OF THE DESPOSYNI TO THE AMERICAN DISPERSION
Ash Wednesday (February 28, 2001 vulgaris)
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
- Jude 21
Beloved:
We truly live in troubling times. On February 13, 2001, federal marshals ended a 91-day standoff and seized Indianapolis Baptist Temple for back taxes and removed praying church members. There was no violence and no one was arrested. The property was turned over to the Internal Revenue Service. The Church had served the community for 50 years.
There is an old maxim which says that the "power to tax is the power to destroy". The innovation in recent years in the United States for the federal government to view churches like any other corporation, and to tax them, is an assertion of sovereignty which is unsupported by the political philosophy of the Founding Fathers. While many of the Founders believed that churches should not be supported by state funds - although Washington took exception to that opinion - they certainly did not believe that churches ought to be taxed. For the power to tax is the power to control doctrine and the power to destroy groups which are at odds with public policy.
This incident comes as some shock to people who have believed, up till now, that churches are tax-exempt. And indeed, they still are in many respects (e.g. property tax, sales tax, etc.). However, churches have been required for some years now - at least since the early 1980s - to pay Social Security withholding, Medicare, income taxes, and related fees and taxes on their church employees. The exceptions to this rule are unique sects, like some Amish and Mennonite groups, who provide for their people collectively as a matter of doctrine.
Although I am not familiar with the particulars of this case, I am somewhat familiar with the ministry of its long-time pastor, Greg Dixon, Sr. For many years, he has led a nationwide effort to stop the growing trend of government interference in the life of the church. He co-founded an organization called "the Coalition of Unregistered Churches", which among other things, urges churches to rescind their corporate charters as a means of cutting the nexus by which governments - whether local, state, or federal (and soon international) - are empowered to interfere.
This organization grew-out of an incident in the early 1980s in the State of Nebraska, where a church was padlocked for having a school without a license. During the litigation, the pastor learned from the court that if his church was incorporated, then its status as a state corporation made it a creature of the State of Nebraska and thus under its jurisdiction and control. Without trying to chronicle this Jural slide into tyranny, it is enough to say that Pastor Dixon's unfortunate situation - despite his heroic efforts - was inevitable because of a serious flaw in his strategy: while his church was technically not a corporation, it functioned as one and that is what gave the federal government enough legal leverage to treat it as a quasi-corporation and demand compliance.
Of course, flawed or not, there is no justification for what the government did. Indeed, it does not matter what strategy is adopted anymore; it will be useless ultimately as long as a false legal philosophy is embraced by officers of government. Feelings of great grief and bitterness were exhibited toward the new Attorney General who is a born-again Christian and a member of a prominent Evangelical denomination. It was hoped that he would reverse the process initiated by the previous Administration, which seemed to selectively prosecute groups and organizations which were at odds with its agenda. It cannot be forgotten that one of the planks of Marx's Communist Manifesto calls for the confiscation of all properties belonging to rebels. This Marxist policy is a Machiavellian technique to quell dissent. Certainly, targeting Indianapolis Baptist Church appears designed to intimidate all dissenters, just as was the bloody massacre of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.
Nevertheless, while we might expect that a Christian Attorney General would fear to "profane" a temple dedicated to the public worship of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, - a serious offense in the Scriptures - it certainly did not stop this Attorney General. And that is so because a false doctrine concerning government authority prevails in the minds of Christian leaders. It was once known as "Erastianism". Named after Thomas Erastus, a Swiss-German theologian, he advocated the doctrine of state supremacy in ecclesiastical matters. Erastianism eventually made way for the regimented Germany of Otto Von Bismarck. And Bismarck's Germany became the efficient machine which was hijacked by Adolph Hitler.
Erastus' views have been propagated in America - ignorantly I might add - by various law and order groups and teachers propounding "Chain-of-Command" theories. One such leader, a pietist, has become very influential in Evangelical circles, including the denomination to which the Attorney General belongs. This leader has popularized the doctrine in seminars called "Basic Youth Conflicts" and has single-handedly, it seems, undone two centuries of American heritage pertaining to state and church relations.
It cannot be forgotten that both major political parties are in complicity in assaulting marginalized dissenters. The Branch Davidian attack was planned by a Republican Administration and executed by a Democratic one. This attack was planned by a Democratic Administration and executed by a Republican one. It was bloodless only because church members did not resist and the government knew they would not resist. Nothing has changed and nothing will change. In fact matters may worsen. Republicans are far more efficient in enforcing the laws, good and bad, than are Democrats.
For those of us who seek to preserve purity of doctrine, the ethical standards of the Holy Scriptures, and the ministries of godly leaders, how do we remedy this situation? I can offer three suggestions:
First, recognize that all persecution comes to purify God's people from error and sin. In this case, Pastor Dixon and his church were defending a faulty view of the Kingdom of God. The Cambrian Episcopal Church teaches that the various state-church paradigms are flawed because they have a false view of state and church as institutions. Dixon, as do all Evangelicals, followed a "preacher religion", a view which centers the work of the Kingdom around the labors of an orator.
We, on the other hand, teach "father religion", a view which centers the work of the Kingdom around the labors of a Christian man in and through his family. We follow the Celtic model which was handed down from the Jerusalem Church. Kinship groups, with leaders who are the principal family heirs, are the basic building blocks of a truly Christian society.
Second, in terms of a legal strategy, all that can be said is that there is one institution left which is allowed non-taxable economic exchanges: and that is the family. Public policy, while biased against the family, still recognizes its integrity as an economic unit. American churches, unfortunately, are not set-up as kinship groups, but rather, following the Latin model, act in the capacity as artificial persons (i.e. corporations or quasi-corporations, as in Dixon's case).
Third, the Desposyni are the Kingdom of God in this world and their authority is derived from Christ Himself. While current legal doctrine in the United States does not officially recognize the Desposyni, it is quite clear that the hidden powers dismantling America's institutions do recognize them. Very often, they consider themselves as Desposyni, but in our view, are heretical, and in some cases, apostate.
The Cambrian Episcopal Church of the Grail is a Desposynic Church which is loyal to the Canon of Scriptures and the Covenant of the Fathers. We may suffer persecution in some form, but regardless, the emerging feudal overlords must recognize our standing as equals, whether they like it or not, and the coverture which we provide to God's people. And we always have the assurance of our Lord's intervention, as it says in the text from Jude which began this letter.
Looking for the Mercy
Jude, a Desposynic Father, urges us all to "keep yourselves in the love of God" and "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ". What does this mean and how do we do this? While the context of this verse gives us clues, let us look to 2 Peter, which relies heavily upon Jude, for an expansion of the thought:
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
- 3:12-13
These texts are eschatological in nature and provide two option: do we want the fiery judgment of verse 12, or do we want the righteous city of verse 13? Indeed, both Peter and Jude were written in a time of crisis and anticipation of a manifestation of the Kingdom God. Peter's words parallel those of Hebrews 11:13-16:
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Many have interpreted these texts as references to an apocalyptic Second Coming of Christ to physically remove His people from the earth and to take them to a far away celestial paradise. That is, ultimately, a promise yet to come. But these texts refer to the time when our Lord's Prayer is fulfilled and our Father's will is "done on earth, as it is in heaven".
To abide with God, you must seek His city - His political order - "wherein dwelleth righteousness". Don't get too comfortable with the modern arcade. Always remember, it is the City of God that we seek and its earthly viceroys.
R.J. Rushdoony, Deceased
It is with great sorrow that I must announce the passing of Rev. R. J. Rushdoony, the President of Chalcedon Foundation. Generally regarded as the founder of the "Christian Reconstructionist movement", he, perhaps more than any other man in the 20th Century, faithfully and forcefully argued the case for a societal return to Biblical law. The author of many books and articles - among them his Institutes of Biblical Law, which stands as a monument, not only of personal achievement, but also as a witness to the Church - he stood as a figure-head for many theological persuasions which looked to him for guidance in Biblical casuistry.
My contacts with him were few but always encouraging. He reviewed my book, The Holy Conspiracy, with much interest, but admitted, even though I relied significantly on his World History Notes, that he had come to no final conclusion on the time-period in which Christianity arrived in Britain. (Being an Armenian, he was fond of the claim that ancient Armenia was the first Christian kingdom).
Always a great defender of the family church, father priests, and Old Testament revelation - it was Rushdoony, along with Charles Finney, who prepared me for the message of the Grail Church. Anyone who wants to understand Grail Christianity must first understand these two men.
Rushdoony's departure from the stage of life comes as a great loss. I am not confident that other Christian Reconstructionist leaders - who tend to be churchmen - will faithfully carry-on his message. Nevertheless, as does Finney, he lives-on in his writings. It was in his writings that I found my mentor and it will be in his writings that the Church of the 21st Century will find its beacon. (We have established a link to his website: http://www.chalcedon.edu)
He died in his sleep on February 8th. He was 84.
Lent
Today is Ash Wednesday. It is the beginning of the Season of Lent in the Christian calendar, leading up to the memorial of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Ash Wednesday is a designated day of repentance. We urge you to make it so in your home and to remember the sacrifice that was made that you might know God's mercy.
A servant of Jesus,
James Wesley Stivers
Church Overseer
Collect for the Day:
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Scripture for the Day:
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
- Luke 3:6