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November 27, 2004: I will be giving another radio interview tomorrow morning (9 AM Pacific Standard Time) for our student-run university station. You can listen to it live on the Internet at http://www.KUOI.org for the University of Idaho. Look for the web radio link. We will be discussing the nature of Christ in Grail theology as well as the current popular movie: National Treasure.
If you have any questions that you would like discussed, please email me at james@grailchurch.org anytime before or during the show.
Planet X article has been posted, as well as an addition to the Family Abbey series. See below for my update on Hierogamy and the Married Messiah.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. I trust that you have had a blessed Thanksgiving weekend.
We begin now the season of Advent. Blessings to all of you!
November 20, 2004: Health Update: It's amazing how debilitating a nagging touthache can be. My wisdom tooth bothered me most of the week. I got a lot of physical work done, but it was difficult to think. So, no progress on writing or publishing projects. One wonders how the history of mankind has been affected because a leader woke up one morning with a toothache.
For the loss of a nail, a shoe was lost. For the loss of a shoe, a horse was lost. For the loss of a horse, a general was lost. For the loss of a general, a battle was lost. For the loss of a battle, a war was lost.
The Mrs. tells me I've been lucky to have all of my teeth at 45. In fact - you dentists won't appreciate what I am about to say - the tooth that bothered me was supposedly "fixed" a few months ago. I did an experiment 15 years ago. At a dentist's insistance, I allowed him to fill the cavities on the right side of my mouth, but nothing was ever done to the left side of my mouth. Guess which side I have had problems with over the years?
I understand that chronic tooth infections can drain the resources of our immune system, which prevents it from dealing with other problems in the body. Before you decide to lecture, I know all about sugar, syrups, brushing, flossing and so on. My suspicion, though, is that the real problem with tooth decay is that we eat food from soils depleted of important minerals. Calcium is notoriously in short supply. Using collodial silver as a mouthwash appears to be what has cured this last ailment.
I'm looking forward to pumpkin pie.
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
November 13, 2004: I am happy to report that the textbook edition of Hierogamy and the Married Messiah is now available ($79 postage paid, hardcover, over 400 pages, 8 1/2X11). This is a big book. The texbook contains three indices, a bibliography, an additional Appendix addressing issues since the book was introduced, and, of course, a "Questions for Review" at the end of each chapter. The Answer Key is being sold separately for $29 (76 pages, letter-size, cone-bound). If you buy the two together, we will sell it to you for $100. If you buy more than one copy of the textbook because you are starting a Grail Study Group, we will send the Answer Key for free.
This book will not be advertized except on this website. An abridged, paperback edition will be available very soon which will be sold for general circulation.
I've started a series of articles on the Family Abbey, also. A new addition on Celtic Abbeys has been posted. I should have a new addition posted every two weeks.
A new article entitled, "Is Christ a Wife-beater?" is available. A link can be found at Archives. It attacks the Church/Bride dogma in traditional Christianity.
As noted a couple of weeks ago, new information for Catechumens has been posted.
I am still working on an article from our Labor Day Conference. It might get posted this weekend or sometime during the week. This link - Planet X - should get you there, or check Archives.
The homestead keeps me busy. Today, I set-up a new diesel generator system to provide power for the structures at the back of the property. Monday, we are butchering a beef and turkeys soon thereafter (yum, yum). Thanksgiving is upon us, and there is much to be thankful for.
And I will add a "thank you" to those of you who give to this ministry. We are a tiny star in the constellation of churches. Your help makes our light shine brighter.
Blessings to you all!
November 6, 2004: Well, the Election has passed and the Republicans have the power to govern. We shall see what path they will follow. At an earlier time, I would have rejoiced, but as my Post from last month indicated, I think the core values of the Republican Party will lead to fascism. Evangelicals, Roman Catholics, and Christians in general still operate with an Augustinian view of church and state. If John Ashcroft is the poster boy of the new Republican (who is leaving as I understand - God forbid to become a Supreme Court Justice!), "law and order" Christians will not have any problem with their conscience in creating the fascist state. They will think they are doing God a service and like the Pharisees of old, will take self-righteous pride in their bloody quest to remake the world in their image.
If their views on faith and morality were genuinely Biblical, I would be with them. But they represent a different kind of baptized paganism: Moloch religion. I must save my blistering diatribes for a future Pesher.
Updates: Next week. I'm leaving for Portland to celebrate my kid sister's marriage.
October, 2004
October 30, 2004: Were the Druids devil worshippers that practiced human sacrifice and ate their victims? They were if you are like most Christians who get their theology and church history from "Christian" comic books. I can't tell you how many times a scowling Fundamentalist has condemned the Grail Church because we try to set the record straight. The Druids were victims of Julius Caesar's war propaganda and have remained the "bad guys" ever since. The cultural guardians which suckle at the breast of the Greco-Roman classics know no better. Fundamentalists are suckers for Vatican propaganda which has in turn vilified Pelagius, Abelard, Scotus, the Celtic Church, Renaissance thinkers, the Templars, the Masons, and any other person or group who didn't conform to the wishes of the Mother Church. Calvinist New England indulged the same paranoia. Thomas Jefferson was even labeled an infidel by none other than Timothy Dwight of Yale. When the myopic Puritans were intellectually defeated in New England, they moved to the South and ruined it.
All Hallow's Eve is upon us (Halloween) and I am weary of a Christian world that still thinks the devil has real power. They don't understand that it is their own theology which empowers him. If we lived as if the Atonement mattered, as if we believed in our ascended Lord, he wouldn't have a tenth of it.
New information for Catechumens has been posted. Personal emails are forthcoming soon.
I've started a series of articles on the Family Abbey, also. I should have a new addition posted every two weeks.
Other articles are planned, also. Check here for updates.
Have a blessed week!
October 23, 2004: A new Pesher has been posted to commemorate St. James, the Brother of Jesus. New articles will be posted as the week progresses. Go to Archives to find them or wait for next week's Posts.
Have a blessed week!
October 16, 2004: The autumn is upon us here. The trees are in full color and as usual, they are lovely. We had our annual, kosher, wiener roast a couple of weeks ago with friends and neighbors. We always have a big bon fire which is fun. Our minds are on preparing for winter.
We built a new pump house big enough for additional pressure tanks. The well will be servicing multiple structures, so it was needful to increase capacity. And we reconstructed the hen house to add warmth and light, hoping to keep our egg production up through the winter. We shall see.
The book jacket design seems to be completed for the hierogamy textbook (see below). We printed a test copy and it looks lovely (and I don't say that because my picture is on the back!) ;)
A New Pesher is scheduled for the 23rd to commemorate the Day of James the Just and another article or two to be posted to the Archives. It will be another two weeks before I'm ready to update you on the Catechumen Program.
For newcomers and lurkers, this branch of the Grail Church movement is a family project, not an institution or denomination. We have chosen to use the Internet to connect with you. We hope to start a family abbey with a school for those who want to live closer to us. More on that as the months roll by.
Have a blessed week!
October 9, 2004: A number of you have been wondering what has been the delay in issuing the finished edition of Hierogamy and the Married Messiah (by the way follow the links; the first three chapters are available on-line free!). For those of you who have read the first edition issued for private circulation, you are well aware of the fact that it cuts the legs out from underneath the churchists. The Church is the false bride? That is a dangerous proposition. Some of you have expressed concern for my safety. Do not fear. I'm not a public figure. I'm not even a blip on the radar screens of the thought police - not yet anyway.
This is what has to happen and has been happening. First, sometime this month the finished edition of the book will be ready to be published as a textbook. That is the only way the book will be published in its unabridged form. Why? Most people will need to be mentored through the text. That is why I am setting up Grail Study Groups. If you are interested in sponsoring one in your area follow this link and send me an email accordingly.
Second, an abridged paperback edition is also due sometime this month which will be much cheaper, sanitized, and available for mass circulation. This is the one that will put us on the radar screen.
Third, I have got to get on Internet & Satellite radio and I need media monitors to inform me about the response from the book. The institutional weight of churchianity will be overwhelming and will smother the truth with smoke - lies, distortions, dismissals, etc. I have to be in a position to respond to each and every claim using a massive media platform. Internet radio is the only cheap way to go - except that it isn't as cheap as sending out random emails, you know the ones that are supposed to be illegal but that clutter our email boxes. Obviously, I don't want to get into anything sleazy.
I can start by putting up MP3 files on this website as a Grail Church Radio Network. But that will only reach the audience that can find us. That will do for now. We will need funding for this venture if we go Internet/Satellite. If you are interested in helping, return to the Index page and scroll down to the button for Donations. That will take you to a secured location for you to make an Internet contribution.
Next week, a new phone line will be installed here dedicated to Internet/Satellite access. Very soon, God willing, you will be able to hear weekly broadcasts from this website. Hallelujah!
Have a blessed week.
October 2, 2004: Once upon a time, I was a staunch conservative. In many ways, I still am. But long ago, I learned that conservatism as a movement was a fraud, just like liberalism. Have you seen the "Ten Commandments Rallies" around the country? They are a response to the ACLU fight with Judge Roy Moore who defended the Monument's place at the Alabama Supreme Court Building. They were removed, the judge was forced to resign, and now he's traveling the country in the fight for our nation's heritage.
The First Commandment requires: "Thou shalt have no other gods besides me." Compare that with the words of Thomas Jefferson in his "Notes on Virginia" (1781): "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
If Jefferson is representative of our nation's "heritage", then perhaps Moore should have replaced the Ten Commandments Monument with a Nine Commandments monument. Maybe the ACLU would have left him alone.
The Scriptures tell us that "judgment must first begin in God's house." The Ten Commandments represent the Covenant law. The fact of the matter is that Christians are Covenant breakers and the Law is their own indictment. Perhaps the greatest injury that Christians do to others is the one against reputation by "bearing false witness against their neighbors" (the Ninth Commandment). Preachers and theologians are the worst in this regard. They vilify each other as representatives of Satan for their doctrinal views. Exaggeration and misrepresentation are the norm for these self-appointed gate keepers. They have abused this Commandment so much that no one listens to them any more except for the few chosen frozen in their pews. They rely on groovy music for recruitment of the young and make them tenfold the children of hell. They are not capable nor interested in engaging groups like the ACLU on an intellectual level. They don't understand how they are being visited with their own sins. The Evangelical mind has closed, a clear sign of reprobation.
I believe that persecution represents God's judgment upon Christians for abusing each other and not living faithfully to His Word. The problem is that Christians are so deficient in their understanding; they will compound their errors with even greater ones. Christians will cure the "ACLU problem" with a fascist state. In the name of religion and morality, they will destroy freedom and create the American Gulag, something they feared of the Communists. They will create the monster that will devour them.
September, 2004
September 25, 2004: Thank you for your prayers. The weather has cleared. It looks like we may have a week or two of dry, mild weather. We can proceed to complete our excavations.
One of the projects in store is a chapel. It will be constructed with an old-fashioned stone altar. We want it to be constructed from stones sent to us from around the world. A dear brother in Christ will be sending us one from Glastonbury and is working on getting another from Jerusalem. I have decided to extend the invitation to all peoples, tongues, and places. If you want your nation, group, village or family represented in our chapel, send us a stone from you area. Don't send us a boulder! A fist-sized stone will work fine. It should be a completely natural stone, not a carved one. We will mark an inscription below it.
Jesus said, "My father's house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." We would love to have all the peoples of the earth represented in our chapel. I believe this altar - constructed with stones gathered from around the world - will be a powerful symbol of unity.
Have a blessed week!
September 18, 2004: I've been out-of-town this weekend and didn't get to put up the post until Sunday evening. Results from our Labor Day gathering will be discussed in October, probably in a Pesher and other articles.
This year is Election year on November 2nd. It is important that you exercise your right to vote. Many people believe that elections are a fraud. Perhaps in some districts and for many political races, that is true. But I have seen too many surprises to believe that all elections are rigged. Using your right to vote sure beats sitting in a foxhole defending your freedom with a gun. National elections are not so important as your local ones. Your local leaders are the ones who enforce federal mandates. If they are on your side, they can use their discretion to lighten the load. Take an interest in local politics. If nothing else, get to know personally your local officials. It's time to get informed.
Publishing updates: Some important releases are scheduled for October, including a textbook edition of my book, "Hierogamy and the Married Messiah". I also plan to release the paperback edition (abridged) that will be marketed to the general public.
Other texts will be released as well to facilitate the Catechuman program and any Grail Church Study Groups that may form in the coming years.
Building Updates: Well, our pond has been dug, but excavation for construction still is unfinished. Rain. Has the rainy season come early this year? El Nino? Maybe. We will wait patiently for blue sky.
Miscellaneous: If I don't respond to your emails, don't loose heart. We read them, and remember prayer requests. I don't know for sure, but I think our active e-list is near a thousand. It changes frequently as names are dropped and new ones are added. Sometimes, I wish we had a full-time secretary to keep track of this. I don't want to fail any of you because you are special to God and your response to our message is important. A new spiritual movement is being birthed and you are a part of that. Pray for us, as we will for you.
Have a blessed week!
September 11, 2004: I've been pondering the price of lumber. In some cases it has tripled in price. As you know, we have commenced new projects. We live in timber country. Still, I don't know how people can build right now. When a 2X4 stud costs over $3.00 - sometimes almost $4.00 - it doesn't matter that interests rates are low. They might as well be 20%.
At first, everyone blamed it on the ban of Canadian lumber. But Canadian lumber has skyrocketed, too. Someone from the university explained it to me the other day. Natural resources is his division of research. He told me the lumber is being shipped to rebuild Iraq; you know, the country we bombed into oblivion. These are the hidden costs of war.
I expect a continued erosion of the economy. We are entering a "Great Decession", when shortages will occur and the quality of products will decline. The cost of raw materials is spiking the price index. Oil, of course, is the most obvious.
With the increase of violent storms and extreme weather conditions (witness Florida right now), the toll will be felt soon in the marketplace. We are entering some kind of significant climate shift, probably the prelude of a mini-Ice Age.
Get with your people.
September 4, 2004: No posts for this week. Conference.
August, 2004
August 28, 2004: Celebrated my birthday this week. Took the family bowling (I got two strikes in a row!) and went to see "King Arthur" again. This coming weekend will be our annual gathering and conference. Nothing will be posted next Saturday unless it's some kind of emergency.
Update on Bulletin Page: I've posted a few of our emails received over the course of the last few months. We try to keep them anonymous. Please report any problems from pesty people. Right now, everyone seems to be very well-mannered, but we can switch to a password system if need be. Otherwise, let's talk to each other.
http://www.grailchurch.org/bulletins.htm
Have a blessed two weeks!
August 21, 2004: Our local paper carried an article recently by Antonia Juhasz from the International Forum on Globalization in San Francisco and a Foreign Policy in Focus scholar. It was a syndicated piece run for the Los Angeles Times. It contains devastating criticism of the moral authority for the War in Iraq.
As is often the case, when discerning the motives for any national venture, look for the money trail. In this case Mr. Juhasz analyzed the content of the "100 Orders" of the Coalition Provisional Authority which has controlled the economic life of the Iraqi nation for the past year and a half.
Order 39 provides for 100% foreign ownership of Iraq's 200 formerly state-owned enterprises, which includes Iraq's oil industry. Order 40 permits up to 50% foreign ownership of Iraqi banks. Order 49 creates legal immunity for foreign corporations from Iraqi laws, even if it results in injury and death to Iraqi citizens. Order 12 suspends all tariffs and fees for imports and exports, which has destroyed Iraq's cottage industries. Essentially, these decrees have given global corporations a license to loot the country. No wonder there is a resistance movement.
This is not the first time America has fought a war for big business. Our own Civil War made it possible for nothern carpetbaggers to loot the South. But additionally, our war against Spain resulted in our annexation of Cuba, the Philippines, and so on. Business interests drove our aggression against Hawaii. But it has never been our stated policy to kill people because of greed.
In the case of Iraq, the veil is much thinner. God judged Great Britain in a single generation for its greed and cruel aggression against the Boers of South Africa. At the turn of the 19th Century, Britain was a world empire. At the end of the Second World War, there was nothing left. If America follows this path of greed and country-stealing, it may well experience the same decline.
No updates this week.
August 14, 2004: A new Pesher is scheduled to be posted tomorrow at http://www.grailchurch.org/churchism.htm . Check our Links Page for new links to people or groups which deserve your attention.
Have a blessed week.
August 7, 2004: It is harvest season here in the Palouse so we are not spending much time in the office. If you don't hear from us, don't despair. We're probably putting up hay or in the middle of a construction project. We will respond. But if it's urgent, make a note accordingly.
Update for Catechumens: I am happy to report that our new program is near completion. The current program has been suspended. The new program will be centered around three main books: The Holy Conspiracy, The Mother Heart of God, and Hierogamy and the Married Messiah. Textbook editions of these books should be available by October of this year. When the Catechumen has completed these three books, he or she will then be asked to participate in forming a "Grail Church Study Group" in their area. More details and a complete syllabus will be forthcoming this fall.
School Update: We are still planning a residence program for January, 2005. Right now, we are in the construction phase. I will not offer anything until we have a place to put our students.
Labor Day Gathering: Labor Day comes later this year. Each year we sponsor a seminar here open to those from abroad. This year the topic of discussion will be on Earth Changes and Social Organization in Post-Cataclysmic Scenarios. Planet X will figure prominently in the discussions. Details of the seminar will be provided in the next Pesher scheduled for next week.
Have a blessed week!
July, 2004
July 31, 2004: There were no posts for this week. We're doing maintenance checks on our computers. Have a blessed week.
July 24, 2004: Finally, a movie on King Arthur I can recommend; I saw it the other day and it is definately a keeper. First, the movie sets Arthur's story in the correct time period at the end of the Roman Empire. Second, Merlin is not depicted as a sorcerer but a Druidic leader of his people. Third, Arthur's connection to Pelagius is emphasized. Fourth, Pelagian Christianity is contrasted with the Imperial Christianity of Augustine. And fifth, the meaning of the Round Table is explained.
In an unforgetable scene, St. Germanus, the new bishop, expects to be seated on his episcopal throne at the head of the table. When he enters the room and discovers a round table, he is appalled. "Here, all men are equal" is Arthur's explanation. Germanus bites his tongue at Arthur's heresy because he needs this warrior's assistance in rescuing the future Pope from the invading Saxons. In this movie, Arthur is still a Roman officer who has every intention of leaving Britain until pursuaded by Guinivere and Merlin to stay.
This is another good depiction on our Celtic heritage. Go see it.
July 17, 2004: It is a good thing to live close to the land and to the source of our food. I have long believed that the growing and preparation of food ought to be a cottage industry and never the corporate enterprise we see today. Nutritious food is food that is alive, fresh from its source. Trucked food is usually green, dead, and filled with preservatives.
We are blessed to live in the Palouse, a region of north Idaho and east Washington nestled near the western foothills of the northern Rockies. It is grain country: wheat, barley, peas, lentils, and many others. Fruit trees and berries abound. Just about any town has a farmer's market. We get our milk fresh and meat grown from pasture and not the filthy feed lots of agribusiness.
The Palouse is a well-kept secret. We have four, full seasons to the year. Just when you are getting tired of one, it changes.
In this beautiful setting, we are proceeding with our vision for a spiritual "health" center, to encourage people on their "Grail quest" as I like to call it. Excavation is scheduled to begin later this month. I will post pictures. I think I have finally figured-out how.
There are some inexpensive farms all around us. A 200-acre farm, with house and buildings, was sold recently for less than $200,000. When I say "farm", I mean land that is in production. This is an economically distressed area right now. Good deals are everywhere.
North Idaho, I have discovered, has an undeserved national reputation for racists and crazies. Just the other day, someone called us to help them find the Aryan Nations. I think they confused my references to the "Arians" in some of my writings (a 4th Century heresy) with this neo-Nazi group which no longer exists, at least not in Idaho, according to news reports.
Moscow, Idaho and Pullman, Washington - twin cities which strattle the state-line - are university towns. Moscow is an old hippie town, counterculture and friendly to progressive liberalism. Here, the women - including the old women - are proud of their cleavage, although local conservatives managed to persuade the city council to ban the naked breast. The city council was promptly replaced at last year's elections.
We live about a half-hour's drive from town, where we are surrounded by fundamentalist country-folk who sometimes give me fits. They are reactionary and stuck in dispensationalist thinking which I haven't had to deal with for twenty years. We need a local ministry to these people. Most of them are good decent people who just don't know any better. I am too busy with this Internet ministry, books, and building to deal with it. Any takers?
Have a blessed week.
July 10, 2004: There is an old Quaker proverb that says, "Better to light a candle, than to curse the darkness." That is true. But better still is to curse the darkness and light a candle. What is the difference? With the first, there is no prophetic witness which identifies darkness as an evil to be corrected. Some people prefer the darkness. That is why they try to snuff out the light.
With the second proposition, evil is identified so that everyone understands why it must be corrected. We must know why light is good. "And God saw that the light was good." (Genesis 1)
We live in a time when the whistle-blower gets the shaft. People don't want to hear bad news, so they stone the messenger. Prophets are not always pleasant people to be around. Actually, they are often depressing. Yet, they are necessary. The Jeremaid and the Nehemaid are both ministries needed for the building up of the Body of Christ.
We try to keep a positive and uplifting message on this website. But often, it is necessary to draw contrasts and to confront frankly with the groups and ideas which oppose our message. I hope that you can understand our attempt to do this in a balanced manner.
If, in the coming months, you see some negative material on this website, more than usual, if you notice that we are singling out groups which are increasingly hostile to our message, please understand that it is out of necessity, not out of desire. We look forward to the joy and fulfillment of the Messianic kingdom, but until then, we recognize a struggle awaits us.
God bless your week.
For America's Independence Day: It is lost to us today, but our forefathers saw with foreboding the crack in the Liberty Bell. Inscribed with the words from Leviticus 25:10,
Proclaim liberty througout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.
It had reference to the Biblical Jubilee in which debts were forgiven and prisoners were set free to return to their family estates, celebrate their heritage as Israelites and to make a new start.
The men who fought in Washington's army thought they were fighting for an American Jubilee and that they, at its successful conclusion, would be liberated from their debts to foreign agents. Most Americans had immigrated as indentured servants (white slaves) and were longing for freedom from debt - the greatest enemy of liberty.
The restoration of the Jubilee was not forthcoming and our forefathers felt betrayed. It resulted in discontent and open warfare (Shay's Rebellion) which alarmed America's aristocracy and led to the Constitutional Convention. The Convention diffused the crisis and provided for generous bankruptcy laws and the abolition of debtors prisons. With a vast continent before them, oppressed Americans could always flee their creditors to make a new start in the wilderness.
(The Bible teaches us that we must always pay our bills. But there is a difference between a creditor who lends money from his own labor and the one who lends money made from the labor of others. If a merchant sells you a bag of grain or a carpenter builds your house, it is thievery not to pay him. If an investor lends you money created from a bookkeeping entry, that is an entirely different matter.)
While the private citizen had a temporary respite from the tentacles of European mercantile interests, our American government did not. From the very start, the Constitution guaranteed the national and state debts from under the previous Confederation. Amounting - if my memory serves me correctly - to about two or three million dollars, it has never been repaid, but has accumulated interest over the past two centuries. It equals, curiously, the present multi-trillion dollar debt we have today. Even though our nation has had frequent years - most of them long ago - when the government took in more than it paid out, that original debt was still never paid. It was repeatedly rolled-over and continued to grow to its present astronomical proportions.
I have sometimes encountered modern Pharisees smug in the knowledge that they do not operate with debt. "I pay cash for everything", as if that fact makes them more righteous. Certainly, such a life style is to be commended and emulated by us all, but there is no righteousness in it. Every dollar we use in our economic exchanges must be borrowed into existence. If you did not borrow it, someone else did. Perhaps you are not in bondage to debt, but someone had to encumber themselves with debt so that there would be cash circulating for the "debt-free" citizen to pay his bills.
More importantly, as citizens, we are all legally obligated for the national debt. All of our assets - our lands, cars, houses, and stuff - are collateral for government debt. Even our persons are collateral. No longer are we really free citizens; we are national assets, human resources. Slavery is just around the corner.
Our country has never been independent. It never will be until God's law for the Jubilee is recognized.
The crack in the Liberty Bell symbolised America's failure to restore the Jubilee. The Bell cannot be tolled to proclaim it. For that reason, we are an unfinished nation.
No Updates this week.
June, 2004
June 26, 2004: Pending our new institutional program, the Catechumen Program offered on this website has been suspended. If you want to learn more about Grail Christianity, consider starting your own Grail Church Study Group or joining one in your area. Contact us if you are looking for something like this at bulletinboard@grailchurch.org.
Have a blessed week!
For Father's Day, 2004: If there was any contribution that Jesus Christ made to our understanding of the Divine Being, it was certainly the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God. In His parting words to His disciples, He commanded them to baptize His followers, not in the name of a king, priest, rabbi, or warrior - certainly not in the name of some pagan god or goddess. Rather, He commanded them to baptize in the name of a father, our heavenly Father. Can there be anything greater than this, than to rest in the confidence that our heavenly Father is not a distant deity but a watchful parent?
Is it any wonder that our spiritual adversary has spent many centuries attacking the doctrine of fatherhood? He even drove it out of the Church during its earliest years. Men are considered second-rate citizens in the kingdom of God for loving women and children. This strange anomaly proves how much a fraud the Church has become.
I do not apologize for teaching the "earthy" doctrines of hierogamy. The people who condemn us as New Age cultists - usually churchmen - are really themselves the servants of Antichrist and the Mahuzzim heresy. The wedding of Earth religion with Christianity is making it possible for us to return to a truly Biblical religion. The "old-time religion" of America's fundamentalist quacks reflects the peculiar confidence of hermeneutical ingenuity untested by historical verification. Reflecting their Celtic lineage, they are great story-tellers who can no longer tell the difference between fact and fiction. They are fun to listen to but never someone to entrust with your soul. I will choose "father religion" over "preacher religion" any time.
School Update: The quest to establishing our first family abbey and an institution of higher learning is taken one step closer this weekend by the final marker for our chapel with an alignment at the summer solstice. We are encouraging everyone who reads my books to consider starting a Grail Church Study Group. I am scheduling January, 2005 for the commencement of classes on Grail theology. I am targeting educators, clergymen, graduate students, visionaries of any age or vocation who are on a Grail quest to save a dying land. I need them for brainstorming, collaboration, and edification. Do you want to help me form the vanguard of this new renaissance? Contact me at james@grailchurch.org
June 12, 2004: Graduation Day at Stivers Home Academy. My oldest son receives his diploma:
During the presentation, I read a poem by Ronald Reagan from my grandmother's Yearbook for the Class of '28:
LIFE
I wonder what it's all about, and why
We suffer so, when little things go wrong.
We make our life a struggle,
When life should be a song.
Our troubles break and drench us,
Like spray on the cleaving prow
Of some trim Gloucester schooner,
As it dips in a graceful bow.
Our troubles break and drench us
But like that cleaving prow,
The wind will fan and dry us.
And we'll watch some other bow.
But why does sorrow drench us
When our fellow passes on?
He's just exchanged life's dreary dirge
For an eternal life of song.
What is the inborn human trait
That frowns on a life of song?
That makes us weep at the journey's end,
When the journey was oft-times wrong?
Weep when we reach the door
That opens to let us in,
And brings to us eternal peace
As it closes again on sin?
Millions have gone before us,
And millions will come behind.
So why do we curse and fight
At a fate both wise and kind?
We hang onto a jaded life
A life full of sorrow and pain.
A life that warps and breaks us,
And we try to run through it again.
* * *
I usually get irritated at Rush Limbaugh's one-dimensional political philosophy, although his contribution to our nation's civic discourse has been indispensable. But he said a profundity the other day during his coverage of Reagan's funeral service which is worth repeating. When one young caller despaired whether we would ever see another great American like Reagan, he said, "Sure we will. There are millions of Reagans in America today. Reagan was great because he was an American. Greatness is inherent in being an American."
The reason why this remark is profoundly true is because Reagan drew inspiration from his great heritage as an American and he carefully studied the wisdom of its authors. He embodied its spirit. There are millions of Americans that hold the same heritage dear to their hearts. As long as American soil is free to nurture its offspring, great men and women will continue to be created.
June 5, 2004: Even though my grandmother (Millie Ortgiesen) went to high school with Ronald Reagan in Dixon, Illinois, my only personal encounter with the man was in 1980 when he was running for President. He made a campaign stop in Rockford, Illinois at the Tabala Towers. On the top floor in the convention room, there was a gathering of the local Republican big shots. Since I had been working on the campaign and my theological mentor, Dr. Harry Conn, apparently was some kind of VIP in the Party, I and my associates got a free pass to the meeting. I stood within a few feet on the front row as he gave his short speech. There was no podium, so I was eye-to-eye with the man. We exchanged eye contact many times.
I don't remember much about his speech. I do remember that he was impressively taller than me (I'm 5'9"). I also remember the make-up. He had a lot of make-up.
The local controversy at the time was whether the federal government ought to bail-out Chrysler Corporation and prevent its bankruptcy. Reagan needed Illinois to win and he needed the swing votes from the Democratic Party. Since a major Chrysler factory was in our district, there were a lot of union votes at stake. Given Reagan's political philosophy, I wondered how he was going to handle this one. Would he stick to his belief that government should stay out of the free market, or would he compromise to win?
He said, "The federal government's policies got Chrysler into this mess and the federal government ought to clean it up." I admired his words as if they were the wisdom of Solomon.
A lot of people believed Reagan was a plastic person. No matter how close they seemed to get to him, he was always distant. Even though I never knew him, he was never a plastic person to me. I understood his mind. My roots go deep into Ogle and Lee Counties of northern Illinois. My first education in political philosophy was a well-written essay by a member of the Ortgiesen clan: The Cliches of Zoning. Espousing libertarianism before anyone had ever coined the term "libertarian", it was a relic from an earlier time when farmers and businessmen fought the encroachments of city planners. I read the piece (many times), when I was nine years old, long after these champions of personal freedom had lost the battle. But its doctrines still live in my mind. To this day, I live in an unzoned county where I can dig a hole or build a house without anyone's permission.
I share ideological and cultural roots with Ronald Reagan. Reagan was distant to people because there was only one thing on his mind - his personal role in America's Divine destiny. He was a mystic who personally believed his own rhetoric about America's mission in history. His mission, as President (if he could ever get elected - it took him three attempts) was to defeat the Russians by proving to the world - one last time - that America's philosophy of freedom was greater than communism. He wanted to disprove the notion that communism as a world phenomenon was inevitable.
He succeeded. Dead at 93, we will miss him. May God rest his soul.
Hierogamy book: Since my hierogamy book is officially out, this will be my last post on the book. The first copies were shipped out earlier in the week. If you didn't get yours, please be patient. Another mailing is scheduled for Monday before I will be caught up with orders.
May, 2004
May 29, 2004: New Pesher to post tomorrow, Memorial Day. Article on Earth Changes. Look for them AM May 31.
Hierogamy book: Pre-publication orders are scheduled to go out June 1st. Finally! We are now taking orders. Book covers have not arrived, yet, but I expect them in a week. I am not sending this announcement to my subscription list yet for fear that I won't be able to keep up with the orders. The faithful read these posts. You will get the first copies. Be patient. This is a family publishing company. I'm still teaching my family how to operate the equipment.
Bulletin Board: I've been too busy to post any new contacts. I hope do so by next weekend.
Miscellaneous: New titles added to the booklist.
Went to see "The Day After Tomorrow". It's a movie rated PG-13. I'm taking my family this weekend. You need to see it. If you're not living in the States, my article posted tomorrow will give you the details.
Have a blessed week.
May 22, 2004: New Pesher coming soon and new articles. In anticipation of those new posts, there isn't much to talk about this week.
Hierogamy book: We're making our own book covers at the moment for the hardback edition. Should be able to start shipping pre-publication orders in a couple of days. Still looking for those "eyes and ears". See last week's post.
Bulletin board: Any more inquiries out there? See link below.
Enjoy your week.
May 15, 2004: Robert MacNamara - isn't he the guy that served in the Kennedy and Johnson Presidencies during the Vietnam era - you know, the "master of escalation and getting stuck in the mud"? Wasn't he the author of MAD: "Mutual Assured Destruction", the military policy which perpetuated the Cold War? (The Cold War didn't end until Reagan faked a missile-defense system initiative.) I think he is now our Secretary of Defense. No, it's Donald Rumsfeld. Sorry, it's funny how these guys sound so much alike.
From before it ever started, I supported the War in Iraq if it meant the liberation of the Kurds. Now that they are liberated, let them form a government and take possession of the oil fields in northern Iraq (the largest in the world, I understand) and leave the rest of the country to the Muslim fanatics to slit each other's throats.
The Turks are against it, though. They are afraid of reprisals for their own genocides against the Kurds and the Armenians (they murdered two million Christian Armenians a century ago). We used to defer to the Turks because they were, supposedly, a valuable ally against the Russians. Well, they didn't let us use their country to invade Iraq and Russia is no longer an adversary. We don't need them, if we ever did. I say the United States ought to end this covenant with hell.
Hierogamy Book Update: Those of you who took advantage of the pre-publication offer should be getting your copies this week. I am not planning on making the book available to distributors and general circulation until I have an Internet radio program. The institutional weight of my opponents will overwhelm me unless I have an equalizer: the Internet. I will also need "eyes and ears" to monitor the various publications and media responses to my book. Are you willing to help?
Grail Church Study Groups: Go to the Bulletins page to learn more about setting up a Study Group in your area.
Miscellaneous News: My oldest son graduates from home school in June. He will begin preparation for the diaconate in the Grail Church next year. Other young people who might be interested in enrolling in our training program should check back for Post Updates in two weeks. I should have an announcement and brochure available by then.
I understand the Soho satellite has been off-line for weeks, ever since Comet Bradley circled the sun. What is NASA hiding? If it is a technical problem, why has there been no explanation?
Have a blessed week!
May 8, 2004: Well, it's Sunday in half of the world, but it's still Saturday in mine. I hope you had a blessed week. We got our garden in and sprinkled it with granite dust. Our goats are growing fast and the chickens are blessing us with plenty of eggs. We're doing the homesteading thing in case you didn't know. Sorry, our pictures didn't get posted last week. I still can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. They are on the website but not on the page where they are supposed to be.
Hierogamy Book Update: I've got the ISBN application to send out tomorrow (Sunday) and then next week two copies go to the Library of Congress. When that is done, then we can start printing. I expect that the people who have already ordered should get their copies in two weeks. Thank you all for your patience. It's a tedious process to publish a book. See Hierogamy & the Married Messiah.
Bulletin Board Update: It should go up tomorrow or the next. For now on, click on http://www.grailchurch.org/bulletins.htm for updates from people out there.
Enjoy your week and look for an interesting comet near Venus in the evening sky. Venus has been looking brighter than usual. I wonder what that means.
May Day, 2004: I've been slow posting my Saturday posts. You will probably be reading this on Sunday. I'll try to post them earlier in the day.
Remember May Day baskets? They were fun. I've never seen a May Pole dance. My conservative background taught me they were pagan. I've since learned that May Poles are appropriate symbols of phallic religion. Since I believe phallicism is taught in the Bible (see my soon to be released book, Hierogamy & the Married Messiah), I now understand what May Poles, the streamers, and the dances mean. The omniPOTENT God - the God with the great phallus - is the pole (or his appointed representative) and we are his little streamers. Get it? Augustinians hate this God. They emasculate Him theologically and then pretend that their God is omnipotent. They fake power by an alliance with the state - government being really organized bands of robbers. Soldiers kill and burn. That's their job. Contrast that with the role of fathers. Fathers procreate and build. Classical Christianity worships an omni-impotent God.
Book Update: We are sooo close to being done. I'm sending my application for the ISBN this week. The next week, I intend to send my first copies to the Library of Congress. Then, let the presses roll!
Homestead Update: For a introductory view of our homesite, check out this page -
My better pictures are on my old hard-drive. When I get time (ha! ha!), I'll post them.
Bulletin Board Update: Go's up next Saturday.
April, 2004
April 24, 2004: Following news reports and the increased fighting in Iraq, it appears the American nation will soon face a crisis of will. Just the other day, I heard about the death of a young man with a promising career in the NFL who joined the armed forces to fight in Afghanistan. Before leaving, he gave interviews, of which excerpts were played. He said he volunteered because of the example of his grandfather. He felt it was his turn to make a sacrifice.
With Gibson's movie, The Passion, it seems that the theme of self-sacrifice is in the air. Has the mood of our generation turned? Are we moving from self-indulgence to self-sacrifice?
The term "sacrifice" has always troubled me because it is a ritual term referring to acts of atonement. Jesus Christ is our atonement. "Martyrdom" would be a better choice; except that we don't fight holy wars anymore. We have a secular state which cannot sanctify acts of killing. As I discuss in my book, Hierogamy & the Married Messiah, we don't have a Melchisedec who can legitimize our Abram in "the slaughter of the kings." We are in a moral dilemma. We have soldiers fighting for a holy cause and leaders for whom war is just business as usual.
Hierogamy Book Update: We are transcribing the final part of an appendix. It comes from our conference on Hierogamy three years ago. In the mean time, I have started my final draft. This week is your last chance to offer input. http://www.grailchurch.org/marriedjesus.htm
I have had a very few suggestions - one complaint - that sometimes my choice of writing tends toward the crude. I am trying to edit out my "crude-isms", but what can I say? The Bible is a crude book. Most people don't know how crude it really is because we have had two centuries of patsy translators who have sanitized it. The KJV is a little better. It uses "dung" (the modern equivalent is "shit") instead of "excrement". (I teach my children to say "poop". Don't worry. You won't see "shit" or "poop" in the book). It says, "he that pisseth against the wall" (an accurate translation of the Hebrew). The modern versions say "male", a term losing its definition in our generation.
I've had some emails containing my free chapters returned to me because the recipient's computer has had a filtering system which rejects messages containing bad words like "erotic", "bestial", and so forth.
Bulletin Board Update: Keep those posts coming in with your contact information. I will be posting them in May. Write to bulletin@grailchurch.org
Have a blessed week.
April 17, 2004: For a current picture of my family, go to Family Picture or New Picture.
Hierogamy Book Update: One more Appendix to complete, a final edit, and indexing. The end of the month still looks good.
Bulletin Board Update: Inquiries have begun to trickle in. If you want me to post contact information to help you connect with people in your area - it can be anonymous - send it to bulletin@grailchurch.org
Have a blessed week.
April 10, 2004 (Holy Saturday): We trust that you all will find this Resurrection Day especially meaningful. "He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men" (Ephesians 4:8). Jesus Christ is victor over the grave and has destroyed him who has the power of death, that is, the devil. Are you sharing in the spoils of war? Is Jesus your redeemer? If you pray to Him in a confession of faith and repentance of sin, He will grant you forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. (See Kinsman-Redeemer)
Hierogamy Book Update: Hierogamy and the Married Messiah is nearing its completion. I am working on the appendices and index. I am not certain when that task will be completed, but it should be before the month is out. With the wonders of our computer age, my book is automatically typeset and ready for print.
Radio Program Update: I will soon be sending out a request for sponsors of a weekly radio program on the Internet for the Grail Church. This will be a very important venture. It won't be long and we will become the target of attack by Establishment Christianity. Internet radio is the great equalizer. Without it, this ministry will be overwhelmed by the sheer institutional size of our opposition. As soon as I know the details, I will let you know.
To join our listserve, simply send note to subscribe@grailchurch.org
God blesss you all.
April 3, 2004: "So Jesus was married, what difference does it make?" That will be the refrain I will try to avoid in writing my book: Hierogamy & the Married Messiah. It's two books in one. First, I am presenting the evidence that Jesus was married, and then, second, I am explaining why the doctrine of a married Jesus is important to Christianity.
"Are there immortals among us?" I address that question in the book. If Jesus was married, did He have children? If He did, they would not have been judicially subject to the curse of Original Sin. Are there two classes of Christian, one by adoption and one by generation? What are the destinies of each of these groups? What might their roles be during the Millennial Kingdom?
The book is almost done. I am working on the footnotes for the last chapter. Then, I will start editing the appendices, about 150 pages worth. I still think it will be ready for the press in two weeks. Check here for latest information.
Bulletin Board: I keep getting requests for contact information, but no one has sent me any posts for the Bulletin Board. If you want to contact people in your area, this is the only way I know how to do it right now. Send email to:
Write: "Post" in the subject line.
When I get enough people willing to have their contact info on this website (you can use a pen name), then it will be posted to the following page:
http://www.grailchurch.org/bulletins.htm.
Catechumens: Pending the commencement of our theological institute to be offered this fall, the catechumen program is suspended.
Have a blessed week!
March, 2004
March 27, 2004: We are out of promotional copies of my forthcoming book, Hierogamy & the Married Messiah (see below for links in the March 6th Post). The discounted, pre-publication offer is ending midnight tomorrow (the 28th) PST. Don't worry if we haven't gotten your money yet. As long as you have sent an email or other kind of communication to reserve your copy, there will be one saved for you on the day of publication.
I want to extend my thanks to all of you who participated in the survey, sent commentary and suggestions, and most of all, risked your hard-earned cash to buy a book that isn't even published yet. Your contributions have helped to make this project a success. The first copies should be "rolling off the presses" sometime during the last half of April. That means, for most of you, you will have waited about six weeks, not an unusual delay in the book business.
Be sure to see the current Pesher on the subject of hierogamy.
I'm creating a Bulletin Board for people trying to connect with kindred spirits. I've had so many requests; but I don't know if people will be so shy as to avoid having their names and addresses appear on the Internet. So if you want to use a pen name, that's fine. Either give your email address, or mailing address and phone number. It's completely up to you. If you are looking for people in your area to share these things with or just looking for penpals to discuss the material on this website, please feel welcome to send a message to
Write: "Post" in the subject line.
If you want to see the posts to the Bulletin Board, I will put it up in about a week. http://www.grailchurch.org/bulletins.htm.
Please remember that this is a free access website. I won't restrict access to the Bulletin Board unless it is abused by advertisers or people making a nuisance of themselves.
God bless you all.
March 20, 2004: I think just over twenty copies left at the discounted price - see below (Hierogamy & the Married Messiah). New Pesher scheduled for the end of the week.
Saw Gibson's movie about the Crucifixion of Jesus. I think everybody ought to see it once. I don't know if I can see it again. Would anyone want to see a reenactment of the death of a loved one, over and over again? Passion Plays are not sacraments. The Eucharist is the ordained sacrament which memorializes the Crucifixion.
New articles coming in May: "Why the Sodomites oppose Gay Marriage?" "The Book of Enoch & Planet X" and updates on the coming Ice Age (see Archives).
March 14, 2004: We missed this week. Getting ready to send my son off to Washington D.C.
March 6, 2004: New Book on Grail Theology
HIEROGAMY
AND THE MARRIED MESSIAH
by James Wesley Stivers
PRE-PUBLICATION OFFER
Until it is released (scheduled for the end of March, 2004), a 50% discount will be offered on the retail price of this book. This offer is good for one copy per person only. (It will be six more months before this book will be offered to book distributors and bookstore chains).
Retail Price: $79.00
Why so expensive? Although the author tried to make it as readable as possible, this book contains technical material for the benefit of scholars and specialists, which diminishes its marketability to a popular audience.
Discount Price: $40.00 (good through March 31st), free postage.
Your purchase will be recorded as a Donation through our secured server. Make sure you write "hierogamy book" in the memo. Sorry, no refunds.
Click here to buy:
or, send check to Friends of the Grail Church, PO Box 8701, Moscow, ID 83843. Write "hierogamy book" in the memo or send a note with the check.
If you need to talk to someone about your order, you may call 208-882-5135.
God bless you.
If you want to see a complete Table of Contents, along with other details about the book, click here: