The following is extracted from the Cambrian Pesher published October 23, 1999.
Today, we celebrate the memory of James the Just, the brother of our Lord. This is a very important day to the Desposynic Church, for it is through James that we identify our roots in the New Testament Church. The Jerusalem Church, too, monitored the world scene in their day, mindful of our Lord's prediction of the City's destruction. The Church had an evacuation plan when the need called for it. James, of course, was murdered by the religious rulers of Jerusalem. And the Church Fathers, including Josephus, believed that the Jewish world was held together by James' leadership and intercession in the Holy Place. When he died, those "who call themselves Jews but are not" (Revelation 2:9) took over. The madness which followed was a clear signal that it was time to flee to the mountains, again, as instructed by our Lord (Matthew 24). The Church evacuated to Petra, a remote and desolate stronghold carved out of the mountains of Edom.
After the holocaust of 70 AD, they returned to fill the power vacuum and begin a process of Christian reconstruction. The Jewish Beast was dead; next was the Roman Beast. They confronted it in the Bar Kochba revolt, which almost succeeded in bringing down the entire Empire. It failed because the Gentile Churches withdrew their assistance. God judged them with ten Imperial persecutions.
The Parthians were also judged. The Parthians were descendants of the House of Israel which had been taken captive by the Assyrians centuries before. They were now classified with the Gentiles, but God still loved them. God had blessed them with hegemony over the Persian world and their newly formed empire had an opportunity to bring Rome down, the final pagan power of Daniel's vision (Daniel 7).
Although Paul went west, some of the other Apostles went east to Parthia, including Peter. The Gospel was received among the Parthians, but they still were not ready to be reconciled with the House of David. They rejected the Desposyni and refused assistance during that critical period. Later, they tried to overthrow Rome; and fought massive wars with it. But they did not want the leadership of David's descendants.
The Parthians eventually lost the struggle. The Zoroastrian Persians regained control and began a pogrom of genocide. The Parthians and their allies migrated north, wandered in the steppes of Russia, and later became the barbarians which invaded northern Europe.
Until the Gentile Churches are ready to "restore the tabernacle of David", as enunciated by the prophet Amos and reiterated by James at the First Church Council (Acts 15), the world will continue to experience cycles of success and then catastrophe. Rome's deadly wound is healed (Revelation 13:12). Like a vampire, the Imperial spirit of Rome revives and pollutes Christian civilization. Today, it is the American Empire which is Rome's incarnation.
- I call your attention again, to Mrs. Isabel Hill Elder study on James and my addendum. Leadership in the Church was not posited in Peter or Paul, or to any of the other apostles, but to our Lord's kinsmen. Indeed, the Didache, a Desposynic document, sets forth criteria to evaluate those with apostolic claims. The Apostles, as apostles, serve, they do not rule. They are not the highest authority in the Church.
Why was James selected for leadership? It was because he was a righteous man. But it was also because he was of the House of David, which is, by everlasting covenant, promised dominion in the Kingdom of God. Because the Church reeks of the Gnostic heresy, it teaches that these promises are fulfilled in Christ. That is true. But how is it true? Are the promises fulfilled by a Messiah on a heavenly throne with no visible representation on Earth? The Protestants think so. They believe in voices and impulses or hermeneutical gymnastics. Like a cadaver, they carve and analyze the Scriptures, but find no life in them. Other groups rely upon dubious claims of Apostolic succession, where appointments are politically motivated. The Davidic succession comes through the sovereign will of God. Its heirs are under God's direct tutelage. Even Davidic apostates serve a purpose in Divine Providence, and the Branch Davidian massacre is a most recent example. (David Koresh was judged, but woe unto the American people who were the instruments of that judgment!)
- I must issue this warning concerning the renewed interest in the Grail legends and the Desposyni: it is motivated by a Gnostic and pagan vision. Although Grail Christianity seems to be "pagan" to Churchists, it is because they have a faulty understanding of both Christianity and paganism. Churchianity is based upon Stoic ethics and Manichean cosmology. As you know from my other writings (e.g. The Mother Heart of God) both of these systems are pagan. Stoicism teaches the moral superiority of austerity and the absence of passion. Manichean cosmology teaches that our physical existence is non-spiritual, the vehicle of Satan, a rival god. Churchists are really a different brand of pagan.
A current example of Gnostic enthusiasm for the Grail is Laurence Gardner, author of two interesting and useful books: Bloodline of the Holy Grail and Genises of the Grail Kings. I say the books are "useful" because they compile bibliographies and cite hard to find sources, "interesting" because of the story he weaves. The Desposynic lineage he presents for the royal houses of Europe is valid. What you do not learn from this Grail apologist is the apostasy of those royal houses, including the Celtic ones. I will explain in a moment.
His presentation of the "Grail code" is a subtle, but good one. It is the feature which has always distinguished the Celtic royal families from the Continental ones. The Grail code is one of service. Grail princes are guardians of the people they serve. The Continental model teaches that the people exist for the benefit of royalty, much like cattle. The Celtic model teaches that princes must seek to become one with the people they serve, thus intermarrying with them. The Head must be physically attached to the Body. The Continental model forbids intermarriage with commoners. The Continental model has prevailed, even in the Celtic world. The Celtic royal families which have disagreed with this model have largely been dispossessed of their patrimony. (The pyramid on the back of U.S. currency - the one with the hovering but unconnected capstone - refers to this controversy).
Gardner does not understand the doctrine of the Covenant. Like the apostates, he believes that the royal virtue flows through the blood and not through what the blood represents: God's sovereign grace as mediated by the Holy Spirit. The Davidic bloodline is a marker God uses to identify those whom He has chosen to be representatives of His Kingdom on Earth. But dominion depends upon covenant faithfulness. Wayward Davidic princes are often severely judged and are not selected unless they are covenant keepers.
Gardner follows the teachings of Simon Magus, the magician identified in Acts 8. Simon was once a follower of John the Baptist and became an influential leader among some of the Baptist's disillusioned disciples. Later, he became an open rival of James and the Apostles. He was a proto-gnostic and denied the validity of the Mosaic Law and Incarnation. These were two issues of central importance to the Desposyni (see the Epistles of Jude and James). If you read the Clementine literature in the Patristic writings, you will discover the debates between Peter and Simon, and Peter's reports to James. Simon's teachings are clearly Gnostic. If you read Gardner's second book, you will find these same teachings surfacing again.
One of those teachings which is particularly dangerous is the inversion of Biblical values. Gardner follows Simon and the other Gnostics in rejecting the validity of the Old Testament. Believing it to be the work of an evil god, they reject the Mosaic law and its champions. Old Testament heroes become the villains, and the wicked, like Cain and the Canaanites, become the heroes and misfortunate victims of a capricious and arbitrary deity. Gardner's defense of the ingestion of menstrual blood among the ancients is clearly a Gnostic teaching and an open revolt against the Old Testament God (Genesis 9).
It is unfortunate that Gardner and the royal houses he represents are becoming the leading movers in promoting the doctrine of the Grail. It will be discredited among conservative Christians and drive them farther into the errors of Classical Churchianity. As it was before, we will be lumped together with these New Age Gnostics and be persecuted with them.
But you have heard the message, and if you are faithful, then we have visible evidence of hope for the future, at least in our tiny circles.
A Servant of Jesus,
James Wesley Stivers