A ight about the size of a silver dollar coin danced on my wall this day. I had a vision of how happy I was to meet the Sisters. I told them about the visitations of The Light and showed them the Stuttmeister Monument in Berlin. They were amazed when they saw the image of Christus and the message the LDS church adopted. Theywanted to help me research this family.
At three I awoke from my nap and had an image of a young Mormon woman standing alone in the wilderness grounding herself with her arms, claiming a scred ground where she will born children, raise them, and, where she will bury her eleders. I heard..
“Here I am! I am here!”
She is telling her people this is where she has gone to, when she followed messengers with a new relgion that was being rejected. She did not take the easy path. Her fate was completely…
In the hands of God!
Thus us a divine…
I stand alone moment and declaration!
There is talk about France taking back our Lady Liberty, and, I have been looking for a model for a replacement. That model…
was already shown to me.
Thirty minutes ago I Googled “Here I am, and Bible” Here are the results.
On this day, March 28, 2025, I give to the Church of Later Day Saints full permission to use the Christus statue. However, allow me to put a bonnet on this world of art.
I am going to put my papers in two wooden chests, and lock them. I leave them to The Sisters. Please keep them safe, and, this blog……
Royal Rosamond Press
John Presco
Exodus 3:4:When God calls to Moses from the burning bush, Moses responds, “Here I am”. This marks the beginning of Moses’s mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
Isaiah 6:8:Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” and Isaiah replies, “Here am I; send me”. This verse is often interpreted as a call to service and a willingness to obey God’s will.
Other instances:The phrase “Here I am” also appears in 1 Samuel 3:4-10 (Samuel’s response to God’s call) and Genesis 22:1 (Abraham’s response to God’s call).
With the light apparition in my painting ‘The Guardians of The Voice’ I have been led to look at the Two Witnesses in Revelations who may have been the men in white at Jesus’ tomb. Owning a near-death experience, I will go into a realm few can follow.
I believe the New Zion will be where the new LDS Temple is going to be built, a mile or more away from where I live. The Mormons built their cosmology on DNA and Family Trees. Deseret lies next to the Louisiana Purchase. I can now SEE all of what I saw in part. I have been called MAD by all who bonded with me. I kept a record of my Fantastic Quest! I can Baptize by the river.
This afternoon I will be breaking bread with two Mormon Sisters I met in Wal-Mart’s produce section. I told them the secret of what Jesus wrote in the dust.
“Just inside the temple was a slab that was lifted to expose fine dust and shes from the alter sacrafice. This was gather in a bowl and spread on the ground before the Sotah who was being judged for adultery. Jesus wrote the name of God in the dust, gathered it and put it in a goblet with water. He bid the woman to drink – the NAME OF GOD!”
I told the TWO SISTERS that the priests who came to NAME John the Baptist used SIGN LANGUAGE because they served in the Holy of Holies where they prepared to speak THE SECRET NAME OF GOD on the Day of Atonement. I told them the infant John spoke, and may have wrote his name, or…..THE SECRET NAME that had been altered, or…..LOST!
We agreed to meet, and when I awoke the next morning, my angel told me she will dwell in the new Mormon Temple. My angel is……THE SHEKINAH!
I was going for a cucumber while seated in the electric cart, when a young woman blocked my way. She apologized. A voice in back of me, doubled down and were now speaking to me side by side. They were harmonizing. I noticed they were wearing NAME BADGES. They told me they were Mormons.
“You two are speaking in divine stereo. I think you are the TWO PAGES in my painting. I think they are the TWO WITNESSES in the Bible.”
“Which ones?”
“There’s more than one set?”
“Yes!”
Last night I googled Mormons and Shekinah and read again this excellent article by Val Larsen, a Mormon. One of the sisters called me just as I was about to type the first letter of my text message in response to her asking if we could meet. I asked about the New Temple – that will be built very near! Everything came together. I do what I AM told.
I went to the LDS research center in Eugene when I began doing genealogies. Finding the crypt of my Janke-Stuttmeister ancestors, who were Oddfellows, is one of the stepping stones to Completion.
“All’s well, that ends well!”
John ‘The Nazarite’
The new temple planned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for Eugene and Springfield now has an official location and name.
The Willamette Valley Oregon Temple, first announced in April, will be built on a 10.5-acre site north of International Way and east of Corporate Way in north Springfield, according to a church news release. It’s located north of PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.
The temple is planned to be single-story and approximately 30,000 square feet. An artist’s rendering was included in the release, but detailed design plans are still in development, the church said.
A private groundbreaking ceremony will be announced at a later time, according to communication director and temple media liaison Jeff Robinson.
He noted temples usually take two to five years to complete following the initial announcement, depending on the speed of the planning and permitting process.
“Not only will people in Eugene and Springfield benefit from the proximity of this temple, but it will shave off an hour or more of travel time for Latter-Day Saints along the coast and in the Cascades,” Robinson said in an email Sunday.
Springfield’s temple will be the third in Oregon, joining existing ones in Portland and Medford.
“Based on other existing temples, including those in Portland and Medford, the Eugene temple will ultimately exceed our community’s expectations in terms of beauty, thoughtfulness and contribution to the surrounding neighborhood,” Robinson said in April.
“We want to bring the house of the Lord even closer to our members that they may have the sacred privilege of attending the temple as often as their circumstances allow,” Nelson said at the conference in Salt Lake City.
For the church, widely known as the Mormon church, temples are the most sacred places of worship, typically open only to members and reserved for special ceremonies such as marriages. Smaller, less ornate meeting houses, also called chapels, are used for regular Sunday services and community activities.
There are nearly 154,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Oregon, along with roughly 300 congregations, according to the initial church release.
The first Oregon church settlements began with the arrival of Latter-day Saint businessmen in 1887, according to the church website. They then built a lumber mill on the North Powder River before persuading several hundred families to move to Oregon.
“Heavenly Mother is prominently present in scripture. She plays all the roles we would expect a divine mother to play. While her presence has been obscured by the loss of plain and precious parts of original texts, her extensive involvement in the lives of her children is nevertheless still apparent if the scriptures are closely read with attention to symbols and surrogates. As the modern Zeitgeist impels us to look for the feminine divine in the scriptural canon, voices speaking from the dust—especially the Book of Mormon—providentially give us background information necessary to find our divine Mother hidden in plain view.”
I told the Five Sisters that were in my home on June 23, 2022, that I kept seeing newsfeed about the Salt Lake drying up and creating a health crisis. I read an article about Lake Mead drying up, and the idea to divert water from the Mississippi. What I see is a New Exodus.
Above is the Deseret Stone showing a beehive with Masonic eye. My kin, Thomas H. Benton, saved Albert Pike’s Library.
John Presco
“When the Union Army attacked Little Rock, the commanding general, Thomas H. Benton, Grand Master of Masons in Iowa, posted a guard to protect the home of Pike and his Masonic library.”
When members of the LDS Church (the Mormon pioneers) settled in the Salt Lake Valley near the Great Salt Lake in 1847 (then part of Mexico), they wished to set up a government that would be recognized by the United States.
In March 1849, realizing that they did not have time to follow the usual steps towards statehood, Young and a group of church elders quickly drafted a state constitution based on that of Iowa, where the Mormons had temporarily settled, and sent the legislative records and constitution back to that state for printing, since no printing press existed in the Great Basin at the time. They then sent a second messenger with a copy of the state’s formal records and constitution to meet up with Bernhisel in Washington, D.C., and to petition for statehood rather than territorial status.[citation needed]
The Deseret Stone used in the construction of the Washington Monument. The stone was donated by the territory in 1853 to represent the provisional state.
The provisional state encompassed most of the territory that had been acquired from Mexico the previous year as the Mexican Cession.
The Territory of Deseret would have comprised roughly all the lands between the Sierra Nevada and the Rockies, and between the border with Mexico northward to include parts of the Oregon Territory, as well as the coast of California south of the Santa Monica Mountains (including the existing settlements of Los Angeles and San Diego). This included the entire watershed of the Colorado River (excluding the lands south of the border with Mexico), as well as the entire area of the Great Basin.
The relationship between Mormonism and Freemasonry began early in the life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Smith’s older brother, Hyrum, and possibly his father were Freemasons while the family lived near Palmyra, New York.[1] In the late 1820s, the western New York region was swept with anti-Masonic fervor.
Nevertheless, by the 1840s, Smith and several prominent Latter Day Saints had become Freemasons and founded a Masonic Lodge in Nauvoo, Illinois on March 15, 1842. Soon after joining Freemasonry, Smith introduced the temple endowment ceremony including a number of symbolic elements that were very similar to those in Freemasonry. Smith remained a Freemason until his death; however, later leaders in the movement have distanced themselves from Freemasonry. In modern times, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has clarified in its Now You Know series that its members may become Freemasons.[2]
The nephew of Senator Thomas Hart Benton, whose daughter was, Jessie Benton, saved Albert Pike’s Masonic Library. Benton’s grandson, of the same name, was the cousin of my late brother-in-law, Garth Benton, who married my late sister, Christine Rosamond Benton.
I want to thank Amy Sargent Oles for coming to my aide. Her father, James Dickenson Sargent, was a 33rd. Degree Mason in the Detroit area.
IN AN ADDRESS entitled “Albert Pike, the Mason,” delivered beforeIowa Consistory, No. 2, celebrating the centennial of his birth, inDecember, 1909, I made the following statement, in reference to anincident during the Civil War: “When the Union Army attacked LittleRock, the commanding general, Thomas H. Benton, Grand Master of Masons in Iowa, posted a guard to protect the home of Pike and his Masonic library.” The statement has been called in question a number of times, most recently by Brother Charles E. Rosenbaum, Lieutenant Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite, in the following letter:
My DEAR BROTHER NEWTON:
I have repeatedly seen in print sketches of the Life of General AlbertPike that have been credited to you. In each one of these occurs thestatement on the printed sheet which I enclose. I have underscored that part of it that I would very much like confirmed by you if you can give me any authority for the statement therein contained. Several times I have intended writing you on this subject to ask you the source of your information, but other and more important things intervened, and I deferred doing so.
The truth about the matter as I understand it is that the only Thomas H. Benton that we know anything about of national reputation was aSenator from the State of Missouri during the Civil War period. Thegeneral who took possession of Little Rock and its vicinity for the Federal Army was General Steele. These are undoubted facts. So far as the surrounding of General Pike’s home with soldiers to protect his library is concerned, that all reads very well, but it is likely as near the truth as Senator Thomas H. Benton being Grand Master of Iowa at the time and general in command of the Federal Forces in Little Rock.
Of course I realize that I am treading on dangerous ground to ask one as noted as yourself for information on a subject on which, no doubt, you are much better informed that I am, but if my information is wrong I certainly want the facts straight.
Thanking you in advance for any consideration you will give the subject, I remain Sincerely and fraternally yours,C.E. ROSENBAUM.
NATURALLY one does not keep in mind the authority – chapter andverse – for a statement made sixteen years ago. I referred the matter to the Library of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, where I first read it. The Grand Secretary, Brother C. C. Hunt, has been good enough to furnish the following brief of the facts, giving the reference where they may be found in the Proceedings of the Supreme Council:
In regard to Brother Rosenbaum’s letter questioning your statement regarding Thomas H. Benton, Grand Master of Masons in Iowa posting a guard to protect the home of Pike and his library, I would refer you to page 127, Proceedings of the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction for October 25, 1895. On that date the Supreme Council went in a body to Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, District of Columbia, to hold appropriate services over the grave of Albert Pike. T.S. Parvin gave the memorial address and in reference to a remark of the Library of the Supreme Council there is printed the following: “It is due to history and to the memory of a dear friend and Brother that an incident, of no little importance, touching our great Library, the gift to the Supreme Council of General Pike, be placed upon our records, that honor may be given to whom honor is due.
“I had the facts, first by letter, and then, upon his ‘return from the war,’ from the lips of Colonel Thomas Hart Benton, Jr., at the time Grand Master of Masons in Iowa (my superior officer). Thomas H. Benton, Jr. (“nephew of his uncle” of that name), ex-State Senator, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Grand Master 1860-’63, entered the Union Army as Colonel of the 29th Iowa Infantry and was later promoted to the rank of brevet brigadier-general, and in command of a division encamped for a time at Little Rock, Arkansas.
“It was at this period, when the passions of the Union soldiers werearoused against General Pike, who was at the head of the Indians in the Confederate (Rebel, as they said) Army, that the soldiers of his division determined to burn the house and everything, including the valuable library of General Pike, wherever found. The Grand Master, Colonel Benton, hearing of this, rushed to its rescue, and to guard against, any further attempt at its destruction, made the General’s house his headquarters and placed a guard over his library. “But for this noble deed of Iowa’s Grand Master, my bosom friend for half a century, this Supreme Council would today be without, instead of possessing, one of the most rare and valuable libraries in the land.
“General Benton was too modest to publish this, save to his intimatefriends. Of him we may say, in General Pike’s own words, “He has lived – the fruits of his labors live after him;” and you, my Brothers, are enjoying them, as it was this service that made it possible for General Pike in later years to place his library in our House of the Temple and dispose of it, as he did, for his honor and our good.”
There is, however, one mistake in the statement which Brother Rosenbaum criticizes, and that is in calling Thomas H. Benton the commanding general. At that time our Thomas H. Benton was a colonel, commanding the second brigade of a the third division, under General Steele. (See page 471, part 1, Volume 29, Series 1 of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.) Also, the Thomas H. Benton referred to as colonel at the time the Federal troops took possession at Little Rock, was at that time Grand Master of Iowa and was serving his second year. He was in the army at the time of the Grand Lodge communication in 1863 and his deputy acted for him in presiding over the Grand Lodge.
Thomas H. Benton was a nephew of the Senator Thomas H. Benton, to whom Brother Rosenbaum refers.
Every Grand President and President throughout the universe is bound to summon and convene his Knot on the 17th of March in each year, that being the anniversary festival of St. Patrick, the patron of the Order, except it fall on a Sunday, in which case the meeting shall be convened for the following day.
No Friendly Brother may quarrel with or affront another Brother. If,however, through the frailty of human nature a member of the Ordershall so far forget the love he owes his Brother and the obedience due to the statutes as to proceed to anger with him and to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the Order, he is not to decide his own quarrel according to the laws of pretended honour by the barbarous practice of duelling, but with due obedience he must submit his differences to the decision of the Knot who will cause the offender to make sufficient and honourable payment for his error. Any great breach of the known rules of friendship to a Brother or generaldisrespect for the rules of the Order will be punished with perpetualdiscontinuance and no person so totally discontinued may ever again be admitted to the Order.
The Friendly Brothers profess themselves to be lovers of all mankind, and are therefore to endeavour by their advice and example to promote and encourage among men the practice of all the social virtues. Although there was no settled system of relief it was readily andhandsomely accorded to any Brother who might be in distress and want.
On this day, July 3, 2015, I found the Cyber State of Fremont, the first step in Fremont becoming the 51st. State.
The Republican Party is disintegrating as I predicted. Seven years ago I became a Republican so that my family history could help in the reconstruction of the Grand Party founded by my kindred, John Fremont, who married Jessie Benton, whose father Senator Thomas Hart Benton, was the proprietor of the Oregon Territory. Fremont played a big role in Oregon and California becoming a State. Fremont means ‘Guardian of Liberty’.
What I propose, is the leaders of the State of Jefferson adopt the ideals of John Fremont and the early Republicans, even change the name of their proposed state, to Fremont. Because Jessie and Susan Benton held Salons in Paris and San Francisco, I see the new State of Fremont offering a sanctuary to serious Artists and Writers. I suggest a Creative Homesteading Act that will give land away to creative souls. Port Orford, can be a creative colony for artists and writers.
The Internet will always be free in the State of Fremont. We can build a new Internet without the flaws that allow the original Internet to be hacked. I am going to invite the founders of Wikipedia to make Fremont their home. Indeed, we invite all men and women who are inventors and innovators to become citizens of Cyber Fremont, for the time being, until we can become a State with borders and land.
I also propose the return of free antennae Television, and the city of Fremont California becoming a Sympathetic City. We will establish a Bohemian Colony in Puerto Rico.
For the reason a supporter of the State of Jefferson employs two crossed Confederate flags on his site, I am compelled to put forth this Declaration. John Fremont was the first Presidential candidate for the newly founded Abolitionist Republican Party. John Breckenridge was running as the rival Vice President. Breckenridge was a close kin of Jessie Benton. It is my dream to see the bitterness of the Civil War be put behind us in the State of Fremont, and our new focus on Freedom, be a lighthouse to the Nation and the World. Being good Guardians of Freedom should be our goal. Let our statue of ‘The Guardian of Liberty’ be erected on our shore!
The fact is, the 1941 move for statehood was mostly a publicity stunt. It was crafted over drinks by two guys who seem right out of central casting for a Hollywood movie — a high-rolling, back-slapping business promoter and a hard-drinking, wildly imaginative newspaper man.
The newsman actually won a Pulitzer prize for his part in the affair. His name was Stanton Delaplane; he wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle.
The business promoter was a stocky, dynamic man named Gilbert E. Gable, onetime dinosaur egg hunter, movie maker, NBC radio-show star and (he claimed) Navajo Indian chief. In 1941, he was mayor of the tiny Oregon town of Port Orford and, for a brief and shining moment, governor of the State of Jefferson.
The radio star
By the early 1930s, Gable had gotten involved in the new world of radio broadcasting with an NBC show called “Highway of Adventure” (sometimes listed as “High Road to Adventure”), in which he recounted spine-tingling moments from the previous dozen years of hunting for dinosaur eggs and exploring unknown landscapes. He also sought and won the hand of Miss Paulina Stearns, daughter of a wealthy Michigan timber family. And then, in 1933, he went to Port Orford — probably to search for the legendary Port Orford Meteorite. It was a historic moment indeed.
“Two years later, to the amazement of its 300 inhabitants, Gilbert Gable appeared at Port Orford, Ore., and formed six companies to promote it as the only natural deep-water harbor on the rugged coast between Puget Sound and the Golden Gate,” reports TIME Magazine in its somewhat supercilious 1938 article.
I wan on the phone with my campaign manager and co-host of our Radio show in the works, when there was a knock on my door. I answered it, and there stood two sisters. I told them I was busy because I just announced an hour earlier on my blog, I am a Republican Candidate for President – and could they come back later. One sister asked my name. As she left – she pulled her cellphone out.
Is Putin going to attack the U.S.? He said he would in some manner. How about nuking one of our Aircraft carriers?
I know next to nothing about Mormonism. I used to go with Marilyn to the Mormon Temple at night, and at sixteen I would open my mouth – and out came these spiritual dialogues. I just found out about the Two Witnesses that appeared to Joseph Smith. I’ve been preparing to post more images of the pages carrying electoral votes to – The New Hill. Will a new Mormon Temple be built on The Hill? Where?
Seer John
EXTRA!! I just found Cumorah ‘Mormon Hill 6:30 P.M. 2/18/22. I have been trying to identify the angel that appeared to me – and my sisters. Is this MORONI – who I am reading about for the fist time!
In the text of the Book of Mormon, “Cumorah” is a hill located in a land of the same name, which is “a land of many waters, rivers and fountains”.[9] In this hill, a Book of Mormon figure, Mormon, deposited a number of metal plates containing the record of his nation of Nephites,[10] just prior to their final battle with the Lamanites in which at least 230,000 people were killed.[11]
White House: Trump represented unique, ‘existential threat’
WASHINGTON – The National Archives said Friday that documents former President Donald Trump removed from the White House in early 2021 included classified national security information and that it has contacted the Department of Justice about the matter.
The agency “has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes” that Trump stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Fla., the National Archives and Records Administration said in a letter to Rep, Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.
The Archives did not detail its contacts with Justice Department officials or the nature of the classified documents that Trump stored in Florida.
More: Lawmakers ask National Archives to probe whether Donald Trump took White House documents to Mar-a-Lago
Maloney, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and other lawmakers have asked the National Archives and the Justice Department to investigate whether Trump violated the Presidential Records Act. That law requires chief executives to turn over all official records when they leave office.
After receiving the response from the Archives, Maloney said “these new revelations deepen my concern about former President Trump’s flagrant disregard for federal records laws and the potential impact on our historical record.”
The Justice Department had no comment on the Archives’ disclosures.
Last month, the National Archives recovered 15 boxes of documents that Trump moved to Mar-a-Lago when he left the White House on Jan. 20, 2021.
More: National Archives obtained 15 boxes of presidential records from Mar-a-Lago
Trump said the recovery of the boxes followed “collaborative and respectful discussions” with National Archives, and he denied any wrongdoing in retaining some of his records.
“It was viewed as routine and ‘no big deal,’” Trump said in a statement last week. “In actuality, I have been told I was under no obligation to give this material based on various legal rulings that have been made over the years.”
That includes some “non-official electronic messaging accounts” used by some staff members that “were not copied or forwarded into their official electronic messaging accounts.”
Trump and allies had criticized 2016 election opponent Hillary Clinton for her use of private email during her time as secretary of State.
The National Archives also announced that it has “identified certain social media records that were not captured and preserved by the Trump Administration.”
In its letter to Congress, the Archives confirmed that documents recovered from Trump included papers that had been ripped up by the president and taped back together.
The letter added that “a number of other torn-up records that were transferred had not been reconstructed by the White House.”
With the light apparition in my painting ‘The Guardians of The Voice’ I have been led to look at the Two Witnesses in Revelations who may have been the men in white at Jesus’ tomb. Owning a near-death experience, I will go into a realm few can follow.
In the previous article we saw God’s two anointed witnesses: theWord of God and the Spirit of God, be totally disrespected by the spirit of hypocrisy. This type of total disrespect will kill the ability of any true conviction upon sinners. Consequently sinners will have no fear to become religious hypocrites who call themselves “Christian”.
But now we see that God ended this day of hypocritical darkness. Spiritually this period of time of disrespect towards the Word and the Spirit lasted three and a half days. But now the day of God’s wrath…
I talked to the people inside the building that replaced KORE about doing a mural on this wall. I collected some earth in remembrance of Ben Toney. I have to put the video on youtube. I put five scoops of dirt in bag that had these words printed on it:
I am now locked into MORMON PROPHECY! I will inform Governor Mitt Romney – on many levels! We are fellow Republicans. However, he did not enter SECULAR POLITICS as a Mormon Prophet. He has been doing the CHRISTIANIZED GHOST DANCE which looks like it will do – ANYTHING to destroy the Democrats, who are the designated secular party. Lying to Democrats and about them is God-Permitted? We are looking at a REAL CHRISTIAN COUP!
Why has no Christian Leader offered comforting prayers to the People of Ukraine? The late Herbert Armstrong would be doing so – around the clock – because he predicted the U.S. would go to war with THE SOVIET UNUION. His own son turned on him after the fall of Putin’s Union – as did his church – that I claimed! Perhaps God and Jesus is gathering all the churches – no matter how false they are – because they were founded in HIS NAME? Putin is wanting to invade Ukraine – TO RESTORE THE SOVIET UNION! How many Americans had a clue anything was going on?
Maybe I made it all up that Victoria Bond and Miriam Christling are Lesbians just to throw the real enemy off, get them to drop their guard – when they dismiss me? But, now that a I am REAL REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE, who uses Jesus-Talk, and knows his Bible – like Starfish – then you got a real prophet……don’t you? I wrote this July 12, 2018.
“Register as a Republican, because I am going to bring the House that Fremont built – down to the ground, because, they don’t Trust God! They are a pack of political tricksters who think lying will get them closer to Me.”
WASHINGTON — John H. Durham, the Trump-era special counsel scrutinizing the investigation into Russia’s 2016 election interference, distanced himself on Thursday from false reports by right-wing news outlets that a motion he recently filed said Hillary Clinton’s campaign had paid to spy on Trump White House servers.
Citing a barrage of such reports on Fox News and elsewhere based on the prosecutor’s Feb. 11 filing, defense lawyers for a Democratic-linked cybersecurity lawyer, Michael Sussmann, have accused the special counsel of including unnecessary and misleading information in filings “plainly intended to politicize this case, inflame media coverage and taint the jury pool.”
In a filing on Thursday, Mr. Durham defended himself, saying those accusations about his intentions were “simply not true.” He said he had “valid and straightforward reasons” for including the information in the Feb. 11 filing that set off the firestorm, while disavowing responsibility for how certain news outlets had interpreted and portrayed it.
“If third parties or members of the media have overstated, understated or otherwise misinterpreted facts contained in the government’s motion, that does not in any way undermine the valid reasons for the government’s inclusion of this information,” he wrote.
You can hear the voice of Herbert Armstrong who said we would go to war with Russia in 1971. His radio station was located on Laura Street in Springfield. My friend was looking to buy the property across the street where they got horses.
While all the Liberal Babies slept, and counted their eggs that Hen Hillary was going to lay for them, God sent his prophet to work, to prepare His Way. I was looking for a buyer for KORE, but, they tore this station down. A huge hunk of local and world history was reduced to ashes!
Now, we are about to reap the whirlwind. Who saw the rise of America’s Dictator who got real chummy with Putin and the Russians?
That’s my truck I bought with Uncle Vinnie’s money. I may run for the Governor of Oregon – as a Republican! I am a registered Republican! Stop beating about the bush. If it’s a prophet you want – then put one in office! You tried it the other way! Go directly to God! You don’t need a Get out of Jail card! After Obama won his second term, God said;
“Register as a Republican, because I am going to bring the House that Fremont built – down to the ground, because, they don’t Trust God! They are a pack of political tricksters who think lying will get them closer to Me.”
I wish I owned KORE, and my friend had bought that tiny ranch. I could hobble over leaning on my Rod of God, and shoot the fat with him and his wife. If they got a white horse, then they could get me up on it – for my Victory Parade!
Who thought that abused boy, and his abused sister, from Empty Chair California, would amount to anything.
In memory of my Friend, Ben Toney, and Herbert Armstrong who broadcast WARNINGS about the Russian Menace. I talked with my man, Spooky Noodles, to get Meg Whitman to put a replica of Radio London offshore of her property in Dogpatch – two years ago!
“He argued that Russia should retaliate quickly and not rush to accept Biden’s summit offer.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold,” Kosachev wrote. “I believe the saying is quite adaptable to a situation when we talk not about revenge but a due answer to aggressive action by an opponent.”
By Neil EarleRadio Caroline was the first of the offshore “pirate ships” beaming into Britain, though the idea had been tried off California and elsewhere in the 1930’s.
(Jingle) “Radio London reminds you: Go to the Church of your choice.”
(Pause)
(Announce, loudly): “THE WORLD TOMORROW! Garner Ted Armstrong brings you the plain truth about today’s world news with the prophecies of the World Tomorrow!
(GTA): “And greetings friends, this is Garner Ted Armstrong with the good news of the World Tomorrow. World leaders admit that they are frightened, that they are engaged in a fantastic nightmare. They’re scared. They don’t know what to do. They’re wondering what is going to happen in the future and none of them really know.”
This was a typical opener for a “World Tomorrow” radio show beaming down on millions of Englishman in the Greater London area between late 1964 and August 15, 1967. This period is now somewhat notable in British broadcasting circles as the heyday of the Pirate Ships. A fascinating tale, this, of how the Armstrongs, Herbert and Garner Ted (successful radio evangelists based in America) ended up in a curious roundelay involving Her Majesty’s government in London, the BBC, some of Britain’s elite publications and a host of over-the-top radio personalities – some of whom ended up as legends of British popular culture.
The genius behind the pirate ship idea was the offshore positioning of creaky vessels and the occupation of abandoned World War Two-era sea forts as staging platforms to beam in the music millions in “swinging England” craved. As covered earlier, Radio Luxembourg had represented the first crack in the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) exclusive monopoly over radio broadcasting in Britain. But on March 28, 1964, from a 763-ton vessel propelled by a 1,000 h.p. diesel engine off England’s southeast coast came the jived up sounds of Radio Caroline, broadcasting on 199 metres. Radio Caroline was the first of the offshore “pirate ships” beaming into Britain, though the idea had been tried off California and elsewhere in the 1930’s. 1
This British version of “offshore radio” was the brainchild of Irish entrepreneur Rohan O’Rahilly. O’Rahilly soon had competition from another swashbuckling entrepreneur named Alan Crawford. Both men came to the same conclusion about radio at the same time. An arrangement was made whereby Radio Caroline, now called Radio Caroline North, steamed to a position five miles off the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea while Crawford’s 470-ton Mi Amigo became Radio Caroline South, perched off the Essex coast. A Texas businessman named Don Pierson soon got into the act and set up Wonderful Radio London that Christmas, 1964.2
The assault was on. What tart British journalist Christopher Booker dubbed as “the farce of the pirate radio stations” had begun.3
Farcial only because of the nearly three year battle that soon ensued between the British Government and the “pirate ships,” as they were soon dubbed. Though the official term was “offshore broadcasting” there was just enough “nuts to the Establishment” tone embedded in the talented tonsils of deejays Simon Dee, Robbie Dale, Kenny Everett, and others to bother Harold Wilson’s Labour Government no end. “Some tastes are worse than wild” Lord Sorenson complained in the House of Lords. The House of Lords no less! Pop music and trendy D.J. patter in a pseudo-American style wafted onto an island population seeking relief from some of the BBC’s stuffier productions. “I can’t understand the Government’s attitude over the pirates,” Beatle George Harrison declaimed in an interview. ”Why don’t they make the BBC illegal as well. It doesn’t give the public the service it wants, otherwise the pirates wouldn’t be here to fill the gap.”4
Politics and Religion
Perhaps the “quiet Beatle” had missed the point. Not only had American religious broadcasters rushed in with their programming – from The Lutheran Hour to the Seventh day Adventist’s Voice of Prophecy – but concerns were being raised in parliament about the political nature of the matters being discussed along the blue yonder.5 Though there was never direct evidence in Hansard, the official record of British Parliamentary Debates, the indirect evidence is compelling that Garner Ted Armstrong may have been a particular thorn in the flesh. A December, 1966 Good News article by Charles Hunting, then Business Manager for the RCG’s United Kingdom operation, reported on the tug of war between the pirate ships and Her Majesty’s government, with “The World Tomorrow” often caught in the middle. “The Last Battle for Britain” was the hyperbolic, but not unreasonable in terms of broadcasting, title. Charles Hunting’s centerpiece was a quote from an editorial appearing in The Guardian, one of Britain’s most prestigious dailies. The writer may have got to the nub of the issue:
One reason why the Government got shifting over radio pirates was the threat of new pirate stations pouring out political polemic instead of perpetual pop. That seems to have been forestalled, but MPs are starting to take an interest in the pronouncements of one Garner Ted Armstrong, an American evangelist… who brings “news of the World Tomorrow.” News mostly about fundamentalist religion, but news too of political trends. One recent broadcast said that Britain was about to scuttle out of Gibraltar as a result of American pressure.6
Ouch! Ted was never averse to treading on Whitehall’s toes. In some ways as a red-blooded banjo-playing American he reveled in twisting the lion’s tail. Slightly up-tight Britain was never his favorite place to visit, though he admired the stalwart British character. So it came to pass that he was pleasantly surprised and bemused to hear his own voice coming out of several car radios one evening in the middle of Picadilly Circus. Interestingly, Dr. Scott Lupo, presenting on the Armstrongs at academic conferences in England in the 1990’s, found former British listeners turned academics remembering The Plain Truth’s dire warnings against the Common Market evolving into a future danger for Britain.7 Diverse audiences decode diversely. Broadcast scholar Eric Gilder even suggests on his web site that the Armstrongs received funding from the CIA in order to keep Britain out of Europe and safely pro-American. This is certainly untrue but…in popular culture decodings take place on multiple levels.8 In the event, typical British suspicion of Americans definitely affected the way GTA’s message was being received.
Ted’s days as “Captain Outrageous” in well-targeted Britain would be numbered but not before substantial inroads had been made into British thinking-man’s culture. The faceless bureaucrats across the Channel did make a tempting target for red-blooded Brits fearful of becoming perpetual Little Englanders in Europe’s shadow. The result? Guardian editors in sympathy with an irritating American orator – good heavens!
Thus tweaked, the British lion turned this challenge from the ether into a minor comic opera of sorts. The BBC’s supporters in parliament tried to turn the screws:
April 27, 1967: M.P Mr. Faulds asked the Secretary of State: “Will he amend the ‘Representation of the People Acts’ to give him power to proceed against persons who broadcast political propaganda from illegal radio stations.” Answer: “The Postmaster General has already done so.”
May 11, 1967: Faulds was back: “This is the first time that this country has been subjected to a stream of misleading propaganda from outside our territorial waters. I do not think that this is a matter for jokes.”
June 1, 1967: Sir C. Osborne counters: “Why should pirate radio stations be denied free speech on political matters?”9
Official harassment began. The Government Post Office (GPO) cut off Caroline’s ship-to-shore telephone. The Foreign Office lodged a protest with the government of Panama, where the Caroline was registered. The Times was suitably indignant. M.P.s fulminated. British audiences, however, were distinctly unamused. They rallied to the pirates from the beginning, especially the youth. “Within weeks,” wrote Booker, “a Gallup Poll provided the evidence – the Caroline was already rivaling Radio Luxembourg in popularity with around 7 million radio listeners.” Radio Caroline spawned a host of imitators – Radio 270, Radio Scotland, Radio 370, and five others. Roger Lippross, now a California resident after serving as the church’s publishing representative, was enchanted. He had remembered the distinctive Armstrong voice from Radio Luxemburg in the 1950’s when his father had forced him to burn RCG (Radio Church of God) booklets and other “American propaganda.” Now Radio Caroline North beamed into his home between Blackpool and Liverpool and the young pre-press expert was hooked.
Today he looks back and reminds us: “It was actually illegal to be listening to pirate radio!”
Tuned-in Britain
The struggling Radio Church of God in Britain was quick to eye this strategic opportunity. With the appearance of off-shore radio, Ambassador College executives in England could dream of saturating the British Isles with “The World Tomorrow.” A fascinating spin-off is the fact that for all the Armstrong media dominance in the United States and Canada, some of the most insightful appraisals as to their impact on 1960’s culture would come from irreligious, slightly-jaded Great Britain. Great Britain – where radio broadcasting was state-controlled even down to the 1980’s.
How did it happen?
Charles Hunting’s article traced it to the chance meeting of two old friends on a London street in late 1964. One of them was the advertising representative for “The World Tomorrow” in England. His friend was selling radio time on a new radio station due to soon start broadcasting off shore. The Good News reported:
A hurried conference was arranged with the station manager and Mr. Herbert Armstrong flew in from the United States. It was a difficult and tense situation! Although The World Tomorrow was one of the world’s largest buyers of radio time…a very sensitive situation developed. The station wanted to get away from the staid, rather dreary broadcasting format that was the normal bill of fare for British listeners. They wanted to project a new radio image – alive, fast-moving, totally musical-type programming. Talking programs were “out!” Educational-type programs were “out!” Religious programs were totally unacceptable!10
But HWA with his blood well up was hard to refuse, as Charles Hunting reported. “After two conferences with Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong and four-and-a-half hours of conversation, they were ‘in’ and probably the most costly single commercial radio contract in history was signed. Now, all stations have accepted The World Tomorrow program.” This was not an exaggeration. Robert Chapman and other sources mention “The World Tomorrow” and “Herbert W. Armstrong’s Radio Church of God” as the largest advertiser on the pirate ships.11 Edward Smith’s detailed notes of Bricket Wood Bible Studies and Church Services are eloquent on that score. Church leaders of that era were worried about cost overruns, as much of the money was coming from the United States churches.12 The Pirate Ship venture was proving expensive but, just as in America, the radio broadcast was a tremendous boon to the Work in Britain. Charles Hunting measured the sweep of that dramatic surge. “Just twenty short months ago [writing in 1966] there was no broadcasting of the World Tomorrow in England, and no possible hope of any,” he intoned,” Today, with the exception of a very few areas, the entire nation has access to the program.”
Access indeed!
Throughout 1965 and 1966 responses to the pirate ships dramatically pushed the WCG’s work ahead in Britain. The Bricket Wood office received about 135,000 letters in 1965 alone. This meant the addition of some 53,000 people to The Plain Truth mailing list – the church’s life blood. The 1966 Envoy reported that British Mail staggered away with sixty-five tons of PT subscriptions! By the end of 1965 there had emerged a total of nine WCG churches across the British Isles, servicing some 900 people. Festival attendance figures were always a primary index of church growth. It was thus exhilarating to report that Britain’s festival attendance zoomed from 1532 in 1965 to 3350 in 1972. As early as the June, 1965 Plain Truth editor Herman Hoeh was suitably ecstatic if a little hyperbolic about potential audience:
From the estuary of the Thames River “The World Tomorrow” can now be heard on Radio London by millions all over southern England at 8 o’clock in the evening. It booms in over London as a local station. And from the Irish Sea, Radio Caroline North beams the gospel over the British Isles daily at the same time – 8 p.m. Never in all history has there been anything like it. The potential listening audience of these two superpower stations broadcasting from ships at sea, is a condensed, concentrated 55 million people! The British Isles are, in area, only about the size of the southern half of California…yet more than 55,000,000 people are condensed in that little area.13
“Rare Sincerity”
By 1967, the growth of the British churches, fueled by the phenomenon of nationwide broadcasting, was impressive. Even more encouraging was the obvious impact of the radio program on the British Isles as a whole. Even faster than in the United States, Garner Ted Armstrong became virtually a household name almost overnight. Charles Hunting’s December, 1966 Good News report recorded a high-profile evaluation of “The World Tomorrow” from a leading medical journal. A letter to the editor penned in elegant style the listener’s pique at the seemingly indecent haste of the British Postmaster General (PMG) to ban the pirate ships:
The sudden urgency on the part of the PMG to ban “pirate” radio stations interests me. Is it because of the threat of an extra recruit allegedly about to broadcast political propaganda?…A type of propaganda is already being broadcast from private radios. Every day a remarkably attractive and compelling American orator, one Garner Ted Armstrong, puts over some extraordinarily healthy views to millions of listeners. His “plain truth” doctrine, under the generic title The World Tomorrow, always delivered with rare humor and sincerity, contains material which may well vex certain MPs [Members of Parliament] of all parties.
“Rare humor and sincerity” – a telling phrase. Garner Ted’s dramatic flair and yen for rhetorical “cut and thrust” could be quite appealing to the British temperament, American accent and all! “Heavy irony is always appreciated more in England than America,” says Roger Lippross “and Ted was almost fatally addicted to good sarcasm.” Some of his irreverent one-liners – “You could get yourself killed in a peace march,” “We can destroy the world fifty times over when once would be quite enough,” “What’s Lent? Something that sticks in your navel?” – took on legs. More highbrow listeners enjoyed the RCG’s tweaking of the accepted liberal myths of the 1960’s. That was one level. On another, worried Anglican parishioners could enjoy Ted’s witty sallies against evolution. Scoffing at evolution was particularly controversial in England, the home of Charles Darwin. Ted’s verbal Molotov cocktails were embedded even in the booklet titles he advertised over the air – the irresistible “A Theory for the Birds,” “Some Fishy Stories.” Then he would pause dramatically as a staged afterthought: “I think they call it evil-ution in England.” Or he might ask coyly: “Is it significant that the most popular idea for the origin of the universe is described as a huge cloud of gas?”
Rare humor had always been a Ted Armstrong stock in trade. But what were those “extraordinarily healthy views”? This phrase underscores just how much of a “broad text” of the popular culture the Armstrong radio insurgency had become. The upscale British listener continued his analysis:
For example, he advocates proper and reasonable discipline for children; deplores the “new morality;” is saddened by Britain’s decline as a world power; does not care for “weirdoes;” assaults sentimental Christianity as being against Bible teaching; is horrified by Britain’s obsession with gambling; considers that granting independence to unready countries is a mistake – and so on. Is this the real reason for the new drive to stop that voice as well as less attractive sounds?14
There was even subdued comedy “in house.” Herbert Armstrong with his dander up was often entertaining to watch, especially if you were well out of range. He decoded the controversy in an altogether different way. His Midwestern law and order proclivities were outraged at the mention of the phrase “pirate ships.” Pirate ships? “Pirate ships?” HWA was always ready to fulminate on the subject even years later: “They were not pirate ships!” he would protest to no-one in particular. Years later in the USBC booklet he was still settling scores. “They were not illegal! They violated no law of man,” he wrote. “But the British authorities called them ‘pirate’ ships. They were not pirates. They were not marauders…They harmed no one. But most governments of man would like to control what their people hear or do not hear.” As was not unusual, HWA’s hearers would glance down politely at the floor to hide slightly concealed smiles. In some ways this predictable Amstrong pique at Whitehall and its ways would be a rhetorical dress rehearsal for the far greater strife with the state of California in the next decade. In 1967, however, the British government was indeed able to bring pressure to bear to squelch the offshore broadcasting in the form of the Marine Broadcasting Offenses Act, to go into effect August 14, 1967. This was not, it turned out, a happy moment for the British churches. But for a while the Armstrong radio onslaught had thrown sedate Britain for a loop.
A Frenetic Summer
The implementation of the Marine Offenses Bill effectively ended the Worldwide Church of God’s radio insurgency in the British Isles. Bricket Wood Bible Studies and Sabbath services were replete with updates on this last-ditch “Battle for Britain” as the intensely mission-driven WCG put it. Elder Ed Smith’s detailed notes from the messages delivered to the headquarters congregation give some of the flavor of that frenetic summer with Pirate Ships, the Six Day War, WCG expansion into the Middle East and “end-time fever” all jumping around in the hopper:
May 5, 1967 – Good comments about HWA’s broadcast about sex. Many letters from teenagers. John Butterfield (head of Ambassador College Press) visited a printing seminar and spoke to groups of young people who had heard “The World Tomorrow” broadcast. An amendment is under way in parliament to suspend the Marine Offences Bill until BBC offers some suitable replacement. Radio Caroline vows to carry on regardless (Charles Hunting).
May 6, 1967 – Our new office being furnished in Jerusalem. The Marine Offences Bill to be raised in the House of Lords on Monday for its third reading before it goes back to the House of Commons to become law (Ronald Dart).
May 12, 1967 – Last night the first “World Tomorrow” television program broadcasted since 1955 – in USA on Channel 22; meanwhile new mail from radio ships up to 892 letters this week – third highest total ever. Radio London has the best reception; Radio Scotland heard in Glasgow… and coming through loud and clear (Charles Hunting).
May 20, 1967 – John Jewell, Mail Receiving Department head, will be going to Nicosia to assist in establishing a new office in Cyprus (Raymond McNair).
May 26, 1967 – Now nearly six weeks since Mrs. Armstrong died. New mail from radio ships now reached 897 letters this week. Only Radio 390 broadcasts once a day – all other ships twice daily (Raymond McNair).
May 27, 1967 – Middle East situation could blow up very soon, foul up God’s Work there. Remember Radio 390 and the ship situation in prayers (Raymond McNair).
June 2, 1967 – This week in U.K. the new mail from radio ships was above 1000 letters – the second highest response. Breakdown was: Radio London, 253 letters; Radio Caroline, 225; Radio 355, 190; Radio 390, 189, etc. There are only a few years left. Time has come for Israelis to take over the Temple site (Raymond McNair).
June 3, 1967 – Exciting news: entire Bricket Wood Chorale (the college choir) to be sent to Pasadena next January. Troubled situation in the Middle East – our advertising man, Milt Scott, has backed out; Stanley Rader also. We have perhaps four and a half years to go (before January, 1972); this world reeling in its corruption won’t be here in ten years; London won’t be here unless saved by God’s mercy (Herbert Armstrong).
June 10, 1967 – HWA has received many letters about Mrs. Loma Armstrong’s good example; Israelis will be building a temple very soon; perhaps only four more Ambassador graduations to go (Hebert Armstrong).
June 16, 1967 – Ship stations being allowed to carry on until BBC introduces a replacement; God had TV, radio and the press invented for the use of his church and no other purpose; God has warned the people through HWA and GTA (Hebert Armstrong).
June 23, 1967 – GTA in Texas; wife Shirley just had a still birth with normal labor but lost this little girl at five and a half months; they had hoped for a little daughter. HWA conferred today with Jordanian government representative Adli Muhktadi – “World Tomorrow” will now begin on Amman radio on July 1 (short wave and medium wave); HWA fells sympathy for King Hussein and the Jordanians; every penny they receive (from WCG) will be allocated to help Palestinian refugees; Jordanians look with favor on the Work of God (Herbert Armstrong).
July 1, 1967 – Pray for situation in Palestine; our broadcast due today on radio Amman; don’t get careless because of the Postmaster General’s latest dictum – a reprieve from banning the ship stations till September (Raymond McNair).
July 7, 1967 – The WCG’s broadcast named in the Sunday Sun newspaper; the article suggested that religion could save the North Sea radio pirates since their people could survive on “Church of God” revenues; “The World Tomorrow” has been the big financial backing behind these ships (John Portune).
July 15, 1967 – The ship stations due to be thrown off the air on August 15; all expect to end their transmissions by midnight, August 14. God can continue to hear our prayers and keep these stations open. Two new offices now established (Cyprus and Jerusalem); pray for safety of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Dick and family; new office opening in Mexico City.
July 22, 1967 – Mr. Robert Boraker (Letter Answering Department, U.K.) back from seven months in Pasadena; speaks on crisis of Mrs. Armstrong’s sickness yet Mr. Armstrong very concerned about Mrs. Boraker’s health battles; Mr. Armstrong very lonesome in the evenings without his wife; a call for a further church day of fasting (re. pirate ship legislation) this week (Robert Boraker).
July 28, 1967 – Radio 390 off the air for good; their last message goes out tonight at 5:10 PM, closing with the national anthem; Radio London is also through; Radio Caroline will be on until August 15; feel a sense of loss as a part of the Work is shut down (Charles Hunting).15
A Bang Not a Whimper
The WCG’s pirate ship venture expired in fighting style. Edward Smith was in Belfast for the Sabbath of August 5, 1967 to hear local pastor James Wells report that Radio Manx on the Isle of Man will keep broadcasting. The next week, in Glasgow church, pastor Colin Adair passed on the news that the previous week was a record week for mail in the WCG’s British operation. People sough frantically to receive a Plain Truth subscription before the doors closed and 1119 of them wrote to the Bricket Wood office. The official tally went as
Casey gave me the final clue. I had a Psychic reading in 1987. A woman asked me what I do.
“I write novels.”
“Your books are being dictated to you by a powerful ENTITY that roams the planet coming to the aid of planets in dire trouble!”
She had a funny look on her face that I wondered about. Casey told me the Mormons have contact with terrestrial beings? Is that what Noodles said. THEN – his phone went dead. It is 5:45 P.M. 7/2/24
Radical Christians used the Supreme Court to draw a line in the sand – FOR GOD! This is a great sin and breaks the second Commandment.
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain“
How many people who are happy Woe vs. Wade is repealed – are Christians? How many agnostics and atheist are Pro-life? Elected leaders who have taken a religious stance have NOT made their case that is is God’s Will – they get their way. They have not given any real, or Biblical Evidence that life in the womb – is sacred! I alone have provided THE PROOF, this is so in regards to Hannah taking the test of the Sotah – that Elizabeth may have replicated! Thus her son, John the Baptist was filled with The Holy Host while in his mother’s womb – to the day of his death!
Yet another midrash shows Hannah as forcing God to heed her prayer. She told Him: “Master of the Universe! If You will look upon [with the double wording im ra’oh tireh] the suffering of Your maidservant’
The Christus statue in the Mormon temple in the Oakland Hills, looks like the “Master of the Universe”. Jesus said; “I have come for the sinners and not the righteous!” What does he mean by this? I believe these words belong to John the Baptist. When I met Sister Higgins and Mitchelle, I gave them the secret of Judging the Adulteress, and the search for the Secret Name of God kept in the Holy of Holies. In wondering about the NAME controversy over the True Name of the Mormon Church, this morning I found TWO BRANCHES
Church of Christ With the Elijah Message and, The Word of the Lord
William Draves was ordained an apostle in his new organization, and continued to receive alleged visitations from John the Baptist until his death in 1994.
I have SIGNED my posts, as John ‘The Nazarite Judge’. I have declared I am a prophet. For this reason, my daughter, Heather Hanson, came to believe I am insane. My grandson overheard this belief. They are seen in the Stuttmeister-Janke crypt. On this day – I fully claim them! I was old and childless with my sixteen year old daughter came into my life. I have said that I may be The End Time Elijah. I have suggested I am – a Moses! I ran for Governor of Oregon. I suggest the Mormons around the Great Salt Lake – move to Eastern Oregon – and walk the Oregon Trail – again. One of the first names for the LDS church is…..THE MORMON TRAIL!
I suggest EVERYONE who has been PUT OUT by the Christian-right, join my Church…..
Mormon Trail of John
EVERYONE QUALIFIES! Together, we will be the largest church in America – if not the world. There will tithing. We will have the best attorneys. We will Favour OUR politicians. We, will, overcome!
John ‘The Nazarite’
Thus I will be suspected of infidelity, and in order to test me, I will be given the water of the sotah to drink. Since I will emerge innocent from this test, I will be blessed with a child, for it is said in Num. 5:28: ‘But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she shall be unharmed and able to retain seed’; if the charges against a woman are proven to be unfounded, she will be blessed with a child. And so I will have the child that I wanted.
On October 31, 2012, the California Department of Public Health mailed me a copy of my birth certificate. My mother and father were living on Berlin Way where William Stuttmesiter and his cousin, William Buyer built over forty new homes on this street, and on Maple Street just around the corner. My father had a framed marriage certificate of Frederick William Stuttmeister to a women named Charlotte. Vicki Presco did not have this certificate as I hoped. Vic’s mother’s middle name was Charlotte. Some citation on the web have Charlottenburg as the meaning of the name Stuttmeister. No. 1 Berlin Way was the address on this certificate. This street was founded by a King of Prussia who was into the Arts, thus one finds several famous Art Colleges here.
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” (Hebrew: לֹא תִשָּׂא אֶת-שֵׁם-ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ לַשָּׁוְא) (KJV; also “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God” (NRSV) and variants) is the second or third (depending on numbering) of God’s Ten Commandments to man in the Abrahamic religions.
In the Hebrew Bible itself, the commandment is directed against abuse of the name of God, not against any use; there are numerous examples in the Hebrew Bible and a few in the New Testament where God’s name is called upon in oaths to tell the truth or to support the truth of the statement being sworn to, and the books of Daniel and Revelation include instances where an angel sent by God invokes the name of God to support the truth of apocalyptic revelations.[2] God himself is presented as swearing by his own name (“As surely as I live …”) to guarantee the certainty of various events foretold through the prophets.[3]
Yet another midrash shows Hannah as forcing God to heed her prayer. She told Him: “Master of the Universe! If You will look upon [with the double wording im ra’oh tireh] the suffering of Your maidservant’ [v. 11]—‘if You will look [im ra’oh]’—it will be well; and if not, ‘tireh’ [i.e., I will force You to heed it]. How so? I will go and be alone with another man with the knowledge of my husband Elkanah. Thus I will be suspected of infidelity, and in order to test me, I will be given the water of the sotah to drink. Since I will emerge innocent from this test, I will be blessed with a child, for it is said in Num. 5:28: ‘But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she shall be unharmed and able to retain seed’; if the charges against a woman are proven to be unfounded, she will be blessed with a child. And so I will have the child that I wanted. Will You make of Your Torah a lie?” (BT Berakhot 31b). This midrash portrays Hannah’s desperate straits. She is even willing to be suspected as a sotah and debase herself in the humiliating ceremony of being forced to drink the water of bitterness, so that the Lord will give her children. In order to “force” God to listen to her, she uses His Torah as a weapon.
Ina Donna Coolbrith (March 10, 1841 – February 29, 1928), born Josephine Donna Smith, was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the “Sweet Singer of California”,[1] she was the first California Poet Laureate and the first poet laureate of any American state.[2]
While Miller toured Europe and lived out their mutual dream of visiting Lord Byron’s tomb, Coolbrith cared for his Wintu daughter and members of her own family. As a result, she came to reside in Oakland and accepted the position of city librarian. Her poetry suffered as a result of her long work hours, but she mentored a generation of young readers including Jack London and Isadora Duncan. After she served for 19 years, Oakland’s library patrons called for reorganization, and Coolbrith was fired. She moved back to San Francisco and was invited by members of the Bohemian Club to be their librarian.[4]
Coolbrith began to write a history of California literature, including much autobiographical material, but the fire following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake consumed her work. Author Gertrude Atherton and Coolbrith’s Bohemian Club friends helped set her up again in a new house, and she resumed writing and holding literary salons. She traveled by train to New York City several times and, with fewer worldly cares, greatly increased her poetry output.
On June 30, 1915, Coolbrith was named California’s poet laureate, and she continued to write poetry for eight more years. Her style was more than the usual melancholic or uplifting themes expected of women—she included a wide variety of subjects in her poems, which were noted as being “singularly sympathetic” and “palpably spontaneous”.[5] Her sensuous descriptions of natural scenes advanced the art of Victorian poetry to incorporate greater accuracy without trite sentiment, foreshadowing the Imagist school and the work of Robert Frost.[6] California poet laureate Carol Muske-Dukes wrote of Coolbrith’s poems that, though they “were steeped in a high tea lavender style”, influenced by a British stateliness, “California remained her inspiration.”[7]
Both the Fettingite and Elijah Message editions of The World of the Lord are divided into sections of varying lengths, called “messages”. In each message, John the Baptist speaks in the first person, claiming to fulfill prophecies given in Malachi 3:1 and Malachi 4:5-6, where “Elijah the prophet” is promised before the coming of the “great and dreadful day of the Lord”. This latter verse is also referred to by Jesus Christ in Matthew 11:17, where the relationship between Elijah and John is clarified. The Messenger—as he is called by Fetting and Draves—also claims to be fulfilling Deuteronomy 18:15-19’s prophecy of a prophet like Moses, and to be the angel “flying in the midst of heaven” mentioned in Revelation 14:6. He claims to be purifying the Levites in preparation for the Lord’s return.
The Word of the Lord originated in the claimed angelic visitations of John the Baptist to Otto Fetting, an Apostle in the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) who lived in Port Huron, Michigan. These visits commenced in February 1927,[1] and ended with Fetting’s death in January 1933.[2] Directives were given to build the long-awaited temple in Independence, Missouri, together with instructions about its dimensions and Temple Lot doctrine and practices. While the first eleven of these messages were enthusiastically accepted by the Temple Lot organization, the twelfth message[3] caused considerable controversy. Mandating rebaptism for those who had come into the Church of Christ from other Latter Day Saint denominations (contrary to Temple Lot practice at that time), this message was rejected by the leadership of that organization during a church conference October 6–7, 1929, and Fetting was “silenced”. Unwilling to continue under such a restriction, Fetting left the Temple Lot church and founded his own organization, the Church of Christ (Fettingite). The Temple Lot organization retained possession of the Temple Lot and other church properties.
Four years after Fetting’s death in 1933, a young Fettingite elder named William Draves claimed that the “messenger” had come to him, with further revelations for the Fettingite organization. While many Fettingites accepted Draves’ claims, some did not, and this led to a split in Fetting’s church in 1939. Those who accepted Draves formed the Church of Christ With the Elijah Message, while those who rejected him remained in the original Fettingite organization; it subsequently split during the 1950s over the introduction of Seventh-day Sabbatarianism. This separation between Draves’ organization and the Fettingite remnant continues, with each group proclaiming itself the true continuation of Fetting’s work.
William Draves was ordained an apostle in his new organization, and continued to receive alleged visitations from John the Baptist until his death in 1994.
Otto Fetting emphasized the ability to physically feel the touch of this alleged angel, indicating in his 1929 testimonial that he “felt his hand on my head, and the slap on my shoulder”. Draves, too, indicated that he could feel the visitor’s touch on his shoulder, and felt him hold his hand. In addition to the testimonies of the two “scribes” (Fetting and Draves), the book contains an additional testimony of four witnesses who saw the angel during his final visit to Fetting in 1933. This latter testimony is signed and notarized.
In the preface to his first message, and in his 1940 personal testimony about the heavenly “messenger”, William Draves wrote the following:”The messenger wears a white robe, his hair is a tiny bit gold next to his skin and blended to whiteness like pure wool, white as snow. His eyes are like a flame and his feet like the brightness of fine brass, as if they were ablaze. His voice has the sound of one having authority. His countenance is as the brightness of the sun with its greatness in light, even brighter than light that shineth down on the earth. He is enveloped in light and immediately around him is very bright”.
Because the messenger could be seen and touched, some in Draves’ church have expressed a belief that the messages in the Word of the Lord are not revelations, since for a revelation (according to them), the author is unseen.
Both the Fettingite and Elijah Message editions of The World of the Lord are divided into sections of varying lengths, called “messages”. In each message, John the Baptist speaks in the first person, claiming to fulfill prophecies given in Malachi 3:1 and Malachi 4:5-6, where “Elijah the prophet” is promised before the coming of the “great and dreadful day of the Lord”. This latter verse is also referred to by Jesus Christ in Matthew 11:17, where the relationship between Elijah and John is clarified. The Messenger—as he is called by Fetting and Draves—also claims to be fulfilling Deuteronomy 18:15-19’s prophecy of a prophet like Moses, and to be the angel “flying in the midst of heaven” mentioned in Revelation 14:6. He claims to be purifying the Levites in preparation for the Lord’s return.
The Word of the Lord covers a wide array of topics, containing encouraging words, warnings of dark events (but also of a bright future, ultimately), appointments to church office, visions, and several prophecies. The early portion of the Word of the Lord (common to both editions) contains detailed descriptions of architecture for the temple which is to be built on the Temple Lot in Independence, Missouri. This temple is described in the Articles of Faith and Practice for the church, which quotes from the original prophecy on this subject made by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Editions of The Word of the Lord utilized within those Fettingite organizations who rejected William Draves all contain only the thirty “messages” given to Otto Fetting. At least two of these organizations are extant today, and at least one still publishes an edition of this work.
The Word of the Lord Brought to Mankind by an Angel is subtitled, “A warning to all people on the second coming of Jesus Christ, revelations on the building of the temple, and instructions to the Church of Christ: The Lord has spoken and revealed his purpose by the mouth of his servant John the Baptist”.
The book is divided into 131 sections, on 3 levels, all with a view: the thirty messages originally given to Fetting, and ninety more allegedly given to William Draves. Some of its revelations include a description of the course and end of World War II written in 1939. Describing the end of the war, Draves writes: “I saw that Germany was no more; she had become divided, part of her going to America and part joining with the armies of the man at Rome. Great Britain was also broken up never again to be united as an empire.” However, Draves prophesied that the war would last seven years, and although it ended as described here, it only lasted six. The “man at Rome” is a cryptic character.
Another message, first published in 1968, contains the prophecy: “The great powers, not of God’s will, will find their failing and end. This will consummate in 1989.” Church members believe this alludes to the end of the Cold War. This same message states that ‘Armageddon’ would begin in “the nineties” (1990s). Some believe this may refer to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, and the ensuing chain of events.
The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message is the name of three related church groups and a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement, headquartered in Independence, Missouri. It split from the Church of Christ (informally referred to as the “Fettingites”) in 1943 in a dispute over claimed revelations given to its founder William A. Draves. Draves, an elder in the Fettingite group, claimed to be receiving messages from an angelic being who identified himself as John the Baptist—the same person who had allegedly appeared to Fettingite founder Otto Fetting, a former apostle of the Temple Lot Church of Christ. While many Fettingites accepted these new missives, some did not, leading Draves to form his own church. His adherents claim it to be the sole legitimate continuation of Fetting’s organization, as well as that of the Temple Lot church. As of 1987, the church had approximately 12,500 adherents spread between Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.[3]
The church’s name originates in the alleged visitations of John the Baptist to Otto Fetting and William Draves. In the Gospel of Matthew 11:14, Jesus Christ identifies John with the prophet Elijah in the Book of Malachi; hence the use of “Elijah Message”. Malachi 4:5-6 says: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the land with a curse”.[4] Members believe that the purported visits of this “messenger” fulfill Malachi’s prophecy, as well as others found in Revelation 14:6, Malachi 3:1, Deuteronomy 18:15-19, and Daniel 7:9-10.[5]
Otto Fetting was born on 20 November 1871 in Casco, St. Clair County, Michigan. Making his home in Port Huron, Michigan, he was baptised into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on February 9, 1891, and ordained to its priesthood in 1899. In 1925, dismayed by the “Supreme Directional Control” controversy within the RLDS church, Fetting switched his allegiance to the Temple Lot Church of Christ (also informally known as “Hedrickites”). At the time, this did not require rebaptism or reordination, as each group accepted the priesthood and sacraments of the other. In the spring of 1926, he was among seven men ordained to be Apostles in the Church of Christ.
On February 4 of 1927, Otto Fetting claimed that he had been visited by John the Baptist, who had delivered a message[6] for him to relay to the Temple Lot organization. This missive directed the construction of the long-awaited Temple in Independence, Missouri, first foretold by Latter Day Saint founder Joseph Smith in 1831. The Temple Lot church had a long history of direction via revelation and angelic visits and thus was originally receptive to these alleged visits of the Biblical prophet, publishing Fetting’s messages in their monthly periodical Zion’s Advocate. They also began work on the temple with a groundbreaking ceremony held on 6 April 1929. According to Fetting, the Hedrickites were given seven years to complete the structure.
Fetting’s messenger revealed various architectural details for the building and specifically directed surveyors to move their markers ten feet to the east of where they had originally been placed. The angel also revealed the location of two of Joseph Smith’s original marker stones, which Smith had buried 98 years before to indicate the location for his planned temple. Another revelation indicated that the “Articles of Faith and Practice” of the Temple Lot church were correct, and should not be changed from their original form. On other occasions, the messenger indicated particular men to be ordained within the organization, including to its Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
Although the Temple Lot organization had enthusiastically accepted the first eleven of Fetting’s messages, this would not hold true for the twelfth. In verse four of this missive, John the Baptist states that all persons coming into the Church of Christ must be rebaptized, as “the Lord has rejected all creeds and factions of men”. While this reflects the practice of the majority of Latter Day Saint denominations (including the Temple Lot church itself, today), it did not reflect the policy of the Temple Lot church at the time, which accepted members during this period from the Reorganized church, certain other Latter Day Saint organizations, and Joseph Smith’s pre-1844 church on their original baptisms. This message equally declared Fetting to have been given the same “keys to the priesthood” that were given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on May 15, 1829.
Controversy over the meaning and application of Fetting’s twelfth message became so great that Fetting himself was “silenced” in October 1929 by the Temple Lot organization. Choosing to withdraw rather than continue under such a restriction, Fetting led approximately half of the Church of Christ members (including some of its apostles) to found a “Church of Christ” of his own, which became known as the Church of Christ (Fettingite). Since the main Temple Lot organization retained possession of the Temple Lot and its meetinghouse, Fetting’s organization met in members’ homes for a considerable period prior to building their own worship facilities.
Fetting would claim to be visited a total of 30 times by the messenger prior to his death on 30 January 1933.
Four years after Fetting’s death, a young Fettingite elder named William A. Draves from Nucla, Colorado claimed that the same messenger who had appeared to Fetting had begun to appear to him, as well. While the Fettingite organization was initially receptive to these new missives, it ultimately decided to reject them all, leading to a split in the Fettingite organization in 1943. Draves’ adherents formed the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, which claims to be the sole legitimate continuance of Fetting’s original organization. Draves himself announced a total of 90 messages prior to his death in 1994, which were combined with Fetting’s into a book entitled The Word of the Lord Brought to Mankind by an Angel. Fetting’s organization publishes its own compendium, simply entitled The Word of the Lord, which contains only Fetting’s original 30 messages.
Prior to W.A. Draves’s death in 1994 the final three messages he had recorded reflected leadership disputes within The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message.[7] These led to a division causing Apostles W.A. Draves, Leonard Draves and Mervyn Johnson to be blocked from church property by way of a restraining order.[8] After a short legal battle, a failure to reconcile, and the death of W.A. Draves, six of the twelve leading Apostles decided to reincorporate the Church under the name The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Inc. in August 1994.[9] This new organization would go on to become the Church of Christ With the Elijah Message, The Assured Way of the Lord, Inc. The remaining five Apostles, including those who filed the above restraining order, retained the corporate name “The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Established Anew 1929” and all properties including the headquarters building at 608 Lacy Rd. Independence, Missouri.
Other than their acceptance of Fetting’s 30 messages and the 90 offered by William Draves, the beliefs and practices of the Elijah Message organization are virtually identical to those of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot). In common with the Temple Lot church, the Elijah Message church rejects the office of President of the Church, being led instead by their Quorum of Twelve Apostles; all members of that quorum are considered equal.
Also, like their Temple Lot cousins, the church rejects the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, as well as Joseph Smith’s Inspired Version of the Bible, preferring to use only the King James Bible and the Record of the Nephites (their name for the Book of Mormon) as standards. They also await an as-yet-unrevealed work of scripture which the Messenger was alleged to have shown to Draves in 1946. Baptism for the Dead, eternal marriage, polygamy and the eternal progression doctrine are all rejected. Members of the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message still believe that a temple will be reared on the Temple Lot, but it will not be like any of the LDS or Community of Christ temples currently in use.
Hannah’s attempt to arouse divine compassion: the midrash learns from the verse “Now Hannah was praying in her heart” (v. 13) that she was praying for matters that concerned her heart (that is, what rested on her heart—her breasts). She said: “Master of the Universe, of all that you created in woman, You did not create anything for naught. Eyes with which to see, ears with which to hear, a nose with which to smell, a mouth with which to talk, hands with which to do work, feet with which to walk, and breasts with which to nurse. These breasts that You placed on my heart—what for? not to nurse from them? Give me a son and I will nurse with them!” (BT Berakhot 31b). Hannah addresses God as man’s Creator. It was He who created her as a woman, and she asks Him to let her fulfill her body’s destiny as a mother.
Hannah uses a special term in her prayer: “Lord of Hosts” (v. 11). The Rabbis assert that Hannah was the first person since God created His world to use the name “Hosts.” She said to Him: “Master of the Universe! there is a heavenly host and an earthly one. The heavenly host neither eat nor drink, are not fruitful and don’t multiply, and do not die, but live forever. The earthly host eat and drink, are fruitful and multiply, and die. I do not know to which host I belong, whether to the heavenly host or the earthly one. If I am of the heavenly host, for I do not give birth, then I do not eat or drink [as Hannah did at Shiloh], and I shall not die, but live forever. But if I am of the earthly host, let me then eat and drink, give birth, and die” (Pesikta Rabbati 43). As in the previous midrash, Hannah wonders about her destiny as a person, but views herself as part of humankind as a whole, different from the angels.
Hannah tries to persuade God to give her a son by playing upon her merits. In her prayer she mentions the term “Your maidservant” three times (v. 11): “the suffering of Your maidservant […] and not forget Your maidservant, and if You will grant Your maidservant […].” The Rabbis ask why this phrase appears three times and answer: Hannah said to God: “Master of the Universe! You have created three death tests [a wordplay based on the similarity between amatkha, Your maidservant, and mitah, death] for woman [You have given women three tests, and transgressing one of them is liable to result in her demise]: niddah, the taking of hallah, and the kindling of the Sabbath lights. Have I violated any of these?” (BT Berakhot 31b; see above). Hannah compares her situation to a woman who is sentenced to death, which is how she feels since she has no children. She asks God to let her become pregnant by merit of her being His maidservant, a woman who is scrupulous in her observance of the commandments that are reserved exclusively for women.
In another exegetical approach, Hannah is presented as protesting against God’s own behavior. The Rabbis derive from the unusual wording of v. 10—“She prayed to the Lord,” with the preposition al (instead of the usual el), literally meaning: “She prayed concerning the Lord”—that this was an accusation directed against the Lord (BT Berakhot 31b).
An additional tradition depicts Hannah as complaining about the injustice in God’s world. Hannah proclaimed: “Master of the Universe! Abraham did Your bidding, and You gave him a son when he was a hundred years old, while Ahab, who was a sinner and idolater, begot seventy sons! Sarah did Your bidding, and You gave her a son when she reached the age of ninety, while the wicked Jezebel bore seventy sons!” (Midrash Samuel 2:1).
Yet another midrash shows Hannah as forcing God to heed her prayer. She told Him: “Master of the Universe! If You will look upon [with the double wording im ra’oh tireh] the suffering of Your maidservant’ [v. 11]—‘if You will look [im ra’oh]’—it will be well; and if not, ‘tireh’ [i.e., I will force You to heed it]. How so? I will go and be alone with another man with the knowledge of my husband Elkanah. Thus I will be suspected of infidelity, and in order to test me, I will be given the water of the sotah to drink. Since I will emerge innocent from this test, I will be blessed with a child, for it is said in Num. 5:28: ‘But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she shall be unharmed and able to retain seed’; if the charges against a woman are proven to be unfounded, she will be blessed with a child. And so I will have the child that I wanted. Will You make of Your Torah a lie?” (BT Berakhot 31b). This midrash portrays Hannah’s desperate straits. She is even willing to be suspected as a sotah and debase herself in the humiliating ceremony of being forced to drink the water of bitterness, so that the Lord will give her children. In order to “force” God to listen to her, she uses His Torah as a weapon.
HIDDEN EAST BAY WONDERS: JOAQUIN MILLER’S STONE MONUMENTS
Hidden East Bay Wonders brings you everything weird, whimsical and wonderful in the East Bay. This week: Joaquin Miller’s hand-built monuments in Joaquin Miller Park.
Imagine a time when the East Bay was nothing but a grove of Oak trees stretching to the water, interspersed with neat rows of Victorian homes, sprawling, estates, and stuccoed missions.In 1886, turn-of-the-century poet, environmentalist, adventurer, judge, newspaper writer, and occasional horse thief Joaquin Miller built his “Abbey” in the hills of Oakland–a modest, Victorian-styled white frame building that served as an artists’ retreat, hosting repeat visitors like Jack London, Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, John Muir, Ambrose Bierce, and Walt Whitman. Acquired by the City of Oakland in 1919, the area is today known as Joaquin Miller Park.
Miller’s Abbey hosted literary giants like Mark Twain and Jack London when Oakland was still part of the wild west.
The Abbey consisted of a single small room with a porch and a high-shingled peak with no ceiling. The rafters supporting the roof were left bare. Its rough board walls were decorated with animal hides, bear claws, antlers, horns, Mexican saddles, swords, daggers, and bows. Sprawled across 70 grassy acres in “the Hights” (sic) above the “City of the Oaks,” Miller erected three stone monuments on the acreage surrounding the Abbey, today enshrined by the 75,000 cypress, pine, olive and eucalyptus trees that he had planted on the grounds.
The steps beginning at the Writer’s Circle ascend to the Woodminster Amphitheater.
The area where Miller built his home is naturally splendorous–wandering the hills, you can see the rare Oakland star tulip bloom in fields of purple needlegrass, leatherwood, and manzanita flowers. The elusive Gray Fox makes his home here, and all around the area are colorful rocky outcroppings of blueschist, serpentine, and pink basalt.
This area, known as the “Writer’s Circle” or “Fire Circle” is where Bohemians like Stein, Twain, and Miller gathered for theatrics and readings. The stone fringe and reflection pool were constructed by the Works Progress Administration in 1937.
Joaquin Hiner Miller was born Cincinnatus Hiner Miller in 1839 (though he lied and said it was 1941–he was a known liar) in Millersville, Indiana (supposedly founded by his father) and grew up in Oregon, making the journey to California during the Gold Rush. On his many adventures, Miller lived and battled alongside the Wintu tribe, and even fathered a daughter with a princess of the tribe, Cali-Shasta (Lilly of the Shasta). He changed his name in 1870 at the behest of California’s first poet Laureate, Ina Coolbirth, who convinced him to take the pen name “Joaquin”–a bit sexier than “Cincinnatus.”
A statue built in 1942 by Berkeley artist Kisa Beeck memorializes Miller on the back of a horse–probably one he stole.
Dubbed the “Poet of the Sierras,” Miller traveled the world, producing several books of poetry and plays that were especially well-received in London, where he was more of a celebrity than in the United States.
On his literary tours and adventures around the world, he played the part of California bushwhacker and vagabond; a ruffian with a heart of gold and a tongue of silver. A womanizer, a scoundrel, an outdoorsman, and at his crux, a poet. Miller was at touch with worlds natural and manmade, and much preferred the former. His seminal body of poetry, “Songs of the Sierras,” is still known throughout the world today, and evokes the same sense of place and personality that it did when it was written:
“And I have said, and I say it ever As the years go on and the world goes over ‘Twere better to be content and clever In the tending of cattle and the tossing of clover.”
The John C. Fremont Monument in Joaquin Miller Park.
Back at home in Oakland, Miller built four strange concrete and rubble monuments scattered atop the eminences surrounding his property. The first monument, his “Pyramid to Moses,” was built in 1892 as a representation of Miller’s respect for the ten commandments (or so it’s said–remember: Miller was a known liar). Sturdy and foreboding, its shadows chart a path along the ground with the hours of the day, and it stands ominously looming over the city below it.
The Pyramid to Moses looms over the City of Oaks.
Miller built his second monument in 1898 just north of the Pyramid: his own funeral pyre. The pyre was a Romanesque altar of stone indented at its peak to cradle Miller’s dead body.
The Pyramid to Moses, damaged by assholes.
He wished to be burned without embalming and without a religious ceremony. Unfortunately, his wishes went unheeded. His very traditional funeral drew thousands in Oakland. After he was cremated, the mysterious Bohemian Club in San Francisco arranged to have his ashes scattered on the pyre that he built.
The top of the Funeral Pyre, today filled with broken glass and trash.
Interestingly, in 2016, a local man named Reginald Richardson committed suicide by self-immolation, burning himself on top of Miller’s pyre. His body was found smoldering at noon when a jogger noticed the smoke as he was passing by. Today, the pyre is a punchbowl of broken glass, condom wrappers, and cigarette butts. East of the Pyramid, Miller erected his third monument in 1904: a small, medieval-style drum tower crowned with merlons dedicated to the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who were husband and wife.
Radio Caroline was the first of the offshore “pirate ships” beaming into Britain, though the idea had been tried off California and elsewhere in the 1930’s.
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