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And when He had called all the people unto Him, He said unto them, “Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand. There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him, can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.” Mark 7: 14-16
I proclaim to you these greetings by His glorious name the Redeemer and Savior Jesus the Anointed who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit now and ever and unto ages and ages. Amen. The blessings of the Lord are upon me to send you this document from out of His revealed Word.
On January 16, 2006 we spoke on the telephone and confirmed that you “poured heart, soul, and mind into editing and revising” the manuscript entitled ‘Rise Above It’ authored by Ray and Star Silverman. In the acknowledgements section also named as providing valuable doctrinal assistance in the development of that manuscript are: Chris Bown, Stephen Cole, Andrew Heilman, Willard Heinrichs, Kent Junge’, Dick Keyworth, John Odhner, J. Durban Odhner, Peter Rhodes, Bruce Rogers, Prescott Rogers, Don Rose, Frank Rose, Jonathan Rose, and Erik Sandstrom. This document is sent to you with copies also sent to the above, as Ray Silverman requested this writer to review pages 59, 162-165 for opinion.
While examining ‘Rise Above It’ also of note were pages 22-24 and referred to here as pertinent and included in this critique. Kurt H. Asplundh and Kurt Hy. Asplundh are sent copies per correspondence in relation to page 59. The priests and Solomon Liku with the Oriental Orthodox churches and the prophet Roger Christie are sent copies as witness to the Doctrine of Divine Truth they received previous. Grant Odhner is sent a copy in the stead of his deceased uncle J. Durban Odhner. Both Ian Arnold, Principal of the Australian New Church College and James Lawrence, Dean of the Swedenborgian House of Studies at Pacific School of Religion expressed an interest. These two leading figures in Swedenborgian Writings are sent copies for Public Notice in regards to the gravity of the issues involved. Jeremy F. Simmons is sent a courtesy copy. Thomas Kline is sent a copy for evidentiary purposes.
On the back jacket of ‘Rise Above It’ in the caption describing the education of Ray and Star Silverman they failed to state that Ray Silverman attended the Theological School at Bryn Athyns, Pennsylvania from 1981 through 1984. Becky Henderson the secretary there informed this writer of his attendance during those years and thesis ‘Veils and Correspondences’. Willard Heinrichs confirmed that Ray Silverman was one of his students and is a ‘virtual priest’ in the General Church of the New Jerusalem.
In ‘Rise Above It’ no mention is made of this ersatz ordination (Heb.9: 6) or their affiliation with the General Church of the New Jerusalem. The site captioned under their photograph, “visit them at: Touchstoneseminars.com” does not compute. The quoted Word in Matthew beside their photograph is deeply disturbing in its out of context use.
Most of the named individuals acknowledged as providing valuable doctrinal assistance are ‘virtual priests’ according to the Conference of 1818, the Bryn Athyn Church Directory 2006 and confirmed by telephone. The title Reverend is not present in ‘Rise Above It’ nor is there any explanation given as to what training or education these persons could possibly have or be endowed with regarding the things of heaven or truth of doctrine. On page 2 in the second paragraph “a personal guide” is referred to twice and is defined as “minister, rabbi, guru, shaman, imam, etc.” Also, the term “reliable guide” is used in the context of “so that we may search for a particular religion”.
Over four hours was spent on the telephone with Ray Silverman commencing on January 2nd of 2006 after this writer had received Holy Supper at Morning Star Chapel, Georgia the day previous. The writer was baptized by order of the General Church of the New Jerusalem in November of 2002.
Don Rogers having the office of priest performed the Office of Holy Oil for Gregory Karl Davis on September 24, 2003 at Mount Paran Church of God Chapel, Atlanta. And was later called by name “Greg” when blessed by Patriarch Abune Merkorios of the Holy Synod in exile for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church of North America on December 25, 2005.
This propitious occasion followed the celebration of the deliverance of the three princes Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and dates this Christian Church back to the days of King Solomon and thereby further to the Ancient Church.
The service that day was officiated by the true Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and included the revealing and worship of the Divine Man from out of the Holy of holies, which began the procession out into the churchyard and back. Ray Silverman was informed of this and that according to the ‘Doctrine of Divine Truth’ filed with Thomas Kline this past year, the priesthood for the New Church has not yet been established. In response, Ray Silverman asked for commentary in regard to the pages referred to above.
From the Heavenly Doctrines in THE WORD OF THE LORD XXI
The Spiritual Sense:
58. No one can see the spiritual sense except from the doctrine of genuine truth; from this doctrine the spiritual sense can be seen, when there is some knowledge of correspondences. He who is in false doctrine cannot see anything of the spiritual sense. He draws out and applies the correspondences, which he sees to the falsities of his doctrine; and thus he can still more falsify the Word. Wherefore the true spiritual sense of the Word is from the Lord alone. This is the reason why it is not permitted any one in the natural world, nor in the spiritual world, to investigate the spiritual sense of the Word from the sense of the letter, unless he is wholly in the doctrine of Divine truth and in enlightenment from the Lord, wherefore from the doctrine of Divine truth confirmed from the sense of the letter of the Word, the spiritual sense can be seen, but doctrine can never first be seen from the spiritual sense. He thinks falsely who says within himself, I know many correspondences, I can know the true doctrine of the Divine Word, the spiritual sense will teach it to me. This cannot be done. But, as has been said, let him say with himself, I know the doctrine of Divine truth, now I can see the spiritual sense, provided I know correspondences. But still this must be in enlightenment from the Lord, because the spiritual sense is Divine truth itself in its light, and is meant by glory, and the sense of the letter by a cloud in passages in the Word where these are mentioned.
From the Heavenly Doctrines in the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURES
26. The Spiritual Sense of the Word will not be given to any one hereafter who is not in genuine truths from the Lord. The reason is that no one can see the spiritual sense except from the Lord alone, and unless he is in genuine truths from Him; for the spiritual sense of the Word treats of the Lord alone and of His kingdom; and that is the sense in which His angels in heaven are, for it is His Divine truth there. A man can violate this if he has a knowledge of correspondences, and wishes by it to investigate the spiritual sense of the Word from his own intelligence; for by means of some correspondences known to him he can pervert its meaning, and force it to confirm even what is false; and this would be doing violence to Divine truth, and to heaven also. Wherefore, if any one wishes, from himself and not from the Lord, to open that sense, heaven is closed; and when it is closed, the man either sees nothing, or becomes spiritually insane. The reason also is that the Lord teaches every one by the Word, and He teaches him from the truths that are with man, and does not infuse new ones without a medium. Wherefore, if man is not in Divine truths, or if he is in only a few truths and at the same time is in falsities, he may from these falsify truths; as is also done by every heretic with the sense of the letter of the Word, as is known. Lest, therefore, any one should enter into the spiritual sense, or should pervert the genuine truth, which is of that sense, the Lord has placed guards, which are meant in the Word by cherubs. That guards are set, was represented to me in this manner: - It was given me to see great purses, appearing like sacks, in which silver was stored up in great abundance; and as they were open, it seemed as if everyone could take out the silver there laid up, yes, carry it off. But near the purses two angels were sitting, who were the keepers. The place where the purses were stored appeared like a manger in a stable. In the next room were seen modest virgins with a chaste wife; and near that room stood two little children; and it was said that they were not to be played with childishly, but wisely. Afterwards appeared a harlot, then a horse lying dead. Having seen these things, I was instructed that they represented the sense of the letter of the Word, in which is the spiritual sense. The great purses full of silver signified cognitions of truth in great abundance. That they were open, and yet guarded by angels, signified that every care is taken lest any one violated the spiritual sense, in which are unmixed truths. The manger in the stable, in which the purses were lying, signified spiritual nourishment for the understanding; a manger has this signification, because a horse, which eats from it, signifies the understanding. The modest virgins, who were seen in the next room, signified affections for truth; and the chaste wife, the conjunction of good and truth. The little children signified the innocence of wisdom therein; these little children were angels from the third heaven, who all appear like little children. The harlot, with the dead horse, signified the falsification of the Word by many at this day, by which all understanding of truth perishes: a harlot signifies falsification; and a dead horse, no understanding of truth.
When my eyes were opened to the concept of writing the Doctrine of Genuine Truth after filing the Doctrine of Divine Truth the struggle began on how this could be put into a format that identifies these genuine truths of the Word and puts them to use. Right after receiving the blessing from Patriarch Abune Merkorios I told Solomon Egegu as I floated by when he asked, “Greg, how are you doing?” that, “What an incredible blessing Solomon! The Patriarch has just blessed me. There is a paper that I must write.” Solomon Egegu was standing beside Aba Tsinge Dengle when he replied, “The finishing work in this basement was done by me.” The thought that the Doctrine of the Genuine Truth can now be put on record appealed to me and that the Divine help needed for this project would now be forthcoming. The rest of the week was spent moving to my new place.
The disappointment with the meeting at Saint Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Decatur, Georgia with monk Alemu, Patrick Rose and myself still bore heavily upon me. When Patrick Rose drove me to my brothers’ house where I lived then our final words just depressed me. Over the course of time I had related to him that the Lord is revealing to me the hidden mysteries in the Word, which centers on the literal interpretation of KHN as hemp.
The way I had come to cope with his piercing English wit was to question his reality. “We only receive from the proprium which is conjoined to the hells or we receive the Divine Truth from the heavens. Maybe there is a third option made especially for me. I am given the divine bullshit,” I would chide in response.
“That must be what is happening to me,” I would say continuing along these lines. “I am not being taught by the Lord alone. I am being bullshitted by the Lord alone,” as I laughed.
But on the ride home that day the disappointing thought that a breakthrough did not occur gave me pause to fish for another wry response.
“Do you want to know what I told the Ethiopian priest when I handed him the Doctrine of Divine Truth when he opened the door and looked out before locking it on the dedication day of the new church, at Saint Gabriel,” I asked Patrick Rose. “Yes,” he bit.
“I told him that, ‘it is white like coriander seed,” telling him the mystery to see if it registered and what the response would be. “Oh, you are full of bullshit,” he admitted. “So that is what he really thinks,” I could not help but be persuaded when we arrived at my place, at that time in my brothers basement.
I hoped Bill Burke would officiate at Holy Supper this past New Years Day. Previous, I had sent to his wife Elanore a request that an invitation be extended to me to stay with them so that they both could review my work and agree that the hand of the Lord is upon me. They both had gifted to me Bill’s old binders of the Heavenly Doctrines from his seminary days and my proficiency in the Writings and my knowledge of the deeper mysteries left me with no doubt that recognition of my achievement should be granted.
Back in the old days before the Theological School at Bryn Athyns a clergy member would ordain an adept student. I could see no reason why Bill Burke could refuse me. Bill Burke and I had had many conversations regarding clergy recognition.
An affidavit from a recognized cleric is required in Georgia to visit the imprisoned which is known by him and heaven that I seek. Clergy recognition was in mind along with the Patriarch’s blessing that brought me that day to Morning Star Chapel, Georgia.
Before the morning service Bill Burke and Elanore were readying the Church and as there were a few moments available the opportunity presented itself for me to give him a small Christmas card with the three wise men following the star on the front. Inside, I had written; “Anointed Jesus revealed” with the verse number in reference as Revelation 14: 6, 7. A thumbprint made with the Holy oil of Moses was the only other statement made. Bill Burke examined the card and inscription without comment.
I then explained to him that it is the doctrine of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church that the three wise men were Ethiopian priests from the days when the Israelite Church was a practicing faith there. It seems that I also told him that the Ark of the Covenant with Ten Commandments is in Ethiopia.
Further, that the past Sunday when I was blessed the celebration was in honor of the deliverance of the three princes, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fire because it is an institutional memory of that Church.
“Can’t you see the genuine truth of this Bill,” I asked. “The chief priest and all of Jerusalem were in an uproar because the wise men were of the religion the Israelite Church established by King Solomon. The Lord Himself affirmed the existence of this Church when he decried the Pharisees and said that the Queen of the South would rise up in condemnation of this generation.
Do you think a priest is going to be upset over someone who has a different religion,” I asked. “The correspondence is that they were from the Ancient Church,” was his only reply. It was too difficult for him to conceive this genuine truth. The revealing of the Divine Man who comes from out of the Holy of holies and the procession that winds its way through the Churchyard were all part of the service that previous week. The mystery of the symbolism of the Writings manifested there is not known within the General Church of the New Jerusalem or even a subject of curiosity, I could not help but identify.
At that I went to the library and looked up what has been published in New Church Life. A directory there was present and listed a publication entitled ‘The Doctrine of Genuine Truth’ in the 1920’s. Bill Burke came by to check on me and told me that New Church Life was his donation and that some had gone missing but that there is a CD that is available that would have that sermon and all papers published.
We then engaged in the following conversation:
“Bill,” I stated, “I have been working on this concept of the Doctrine of Genuine Truth for a long time and in the Writings there is a statement in Heaven where the angels say, ‘good, now see if you make it all cohere in series'.”
I went on to explain that I would like to make a statement on the Doctrine of Genuine Truth. To which Bill Burke replied, “OK, go ahead.”
“It is because of the priests that cannot say and the priests that cannot know that the prophets are yet to understand the Doctrine of Genuine Truth,” I read from the statement that I have been working on for the previous month.
“That is what I have been saying for years,” he exclaimed and then, “I have to get ready for my sermon,” as he excused himself. Later, I considered my reasoned statement in series describing the current state of the New Church to be my passing grade in answer to a heavenly exam.
The sermon that day before the Holy Supper centered upon the manifestations of the Lord as an angel in the Old Testament Word and the command that accompanies to make His presence known. The example that comes to mind was the reply of Samuel, “Here I am Lord.”
After the service a Linda Carr complimented my voice and ability to read music when singing to the organ playing of Elanore Burke. I told her that I did miss coming there but that my attendance at Saint Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Decatur, Georgia takes precedent. She asked how I came to attend there and I related the story that I relate to you here now.
My purchase and perusal of the book just received by special order Rykwerts’ The Dancing Column on Order in Architecture had just been completed at Borders Bookstore. The frustration of knowing the mystery of KNH and the lack of identification in history was glaringly apparent.
The work of the cherubim succeeded in creating what I have termed ‘a hole in the head of mankind’. The dismissal of my request from Bishop Yousef on Coptic Information Day for the identification of KNH BSM for the edification of the New Church left me with at a loss of where to turn. It was the old daylight/train scenario that I sardonically had come to appreciate in the Lord’s teaching program.
Suddenly I brightened, “If this was so easy to figure out somebody would have figured it out already,” I pondered. “Now where do I turn?” It was this thought in mind that I related, “Now is the time to drive by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church just up the road, they know what is in Moses Holy anointing oil.” And as I drove there I knew that just simply asking the priest a question would not be possible because of course he does not speak English. An interpreter must be present as well.
There were other odd threads of correspondences involving this Church but too numerous to relate. Right before arriving there I cut off the ignition and coasted up to the Church on the left hand side of the road. Looking out into the street that day on the sidewalk in front of the Church was obviously a priest and another man. I snuck up on both of them looking out into the street just standing side by side. It was extremely odd and a true Kodak moment.
I looked over both and determined one to be the priest and turned to the other, “Is he your priest?” “Yes”, Solomon Liku replied. “I would like to ask your priest a question,” I said to him. Solomon Liku told me, “He does not speak English well but I can interpret for you.” “That would be great,” I replied. “Go and park your vehicle,” I was told.
After parking and approaching the priest I asked, “What is calamus?” and the quizzical expression on their faces and lack of understanding led me to amplify the question. “It is a plant in the Old Testament Word I want to know what it is in English.” And again the lack of understanding was related. “It is a term used in the Septuagint when the Old Testament was translated into Greek from the Hebrew,” I explained.
But still no enlightenment registered with either Ethiopian. That is when I knew that the places where Emanuel Swedenborg had translated KNH into calamus were all bogus and that the Lord was leading me deep into this mystery. The falsified term in the Word we share just would not register in their minds. It was the same initial reaction that the Coptic priests had given me on Coptic Information Day.
Bishop Yousef that day would only rejoin, “Why do you want to know this thing.” And again, I asked the Ethiopian priest the same question I had asked the Coptic priest and Bishop. “It is the third term in the Holy oil of Moses in Exodus 30: 23. The Hebrew is KNH BSM what is the term in English,” I pointedly asked. And then the discussion began in earnest between the priest and translator.
After some discussion then the translator turned to me and said, “It cannot be said in English.” At that response I rejoined, “If I write the question can a written answer be given?” And another heated discussion ensued between the translator and the priest who then turned to me and said, “It cannot be written.” Well now I had them. They knew but they weren’t going to say.
Obviously left out of the explanation was the fact that the term is considered holy and this confirms the theory that it is the secret knowledge of the priests. Well if that is the way they want to play then obviously one mystery deserves another I thought, as there is now nothing more to find out. “Truly a reed like unto a rod,” I grinned saying and bowed to them both thanking them for allowing me to share the experience. A gleam of recognition to this mystery rejoinder registered in Aba Tsinge Dengles eyes as he smiled.
After relating the above story to the woman at Morning Star Chapel that New Year’s Day in 2006 she rejoined, “Well it worked. You are still going there trying to get an answer out of them.” I grin even now in admiration of her astute wisdom.
Bill Burke then called everyone to order and asked if the lesson had been learned from his sermon that day. As I stood to his left he said, “If the Lord calls you then you go,” Later, Corinne Echols came into the library and arranged a sale to me of the first two volumes of Apocalypse Explained. The oddity of how I came to read this work in reverse order and my desire to be able to finish soon gave me a great sense of accomplishment. Now I have the final two volumes. Because I do not drive, Corrinne Echols and her husband Roger Echols had agreed to ride me home on their way. We had talked earlier about my imprisonment for KNH KNH BSM and how the Lord had turned it for good.
Immediately as we left the Church the first vehicle we saw upon the way was an Asplundh truck with a crew working on that New Years Sunday. Roger Echols remarked, “That truck and the company it represents is owned by the largest contributor to the General Church of the New Jerusalem.” “But I thought it was the Pitcairns who were the largest supporters of this religion,” I replied. “No, when you have large families and split up millions it tends to shrink after time. The big Picairn money was back in the day,” he explained. The subject of my imprisonment came up again and the mention of Ray Silverman and his ministry when he was a pastor in Atlanta.
I knew the name, Don Rogers a.k.a. Dakota Daniels had told me about his work with prisoners in Georgia. There were some in the Atlanta society who considered that this work was misplaced. Their thinking was typified with the idea that his obligation was to the society and not to Georgia prisoners. It seemed to me a rather cold idea and I knew that Roger was one of those who held that view of Ray Silverman’s work. Don Rogers a.k.a. Dakota Daniels had shown me Ray Silverman’s resignation letter from when he quit the General Church of the New Jerusalem. I decided that the next day I would try and locate him and say hello. And this is what led me to the following conversation and how I came to form the Doctrine of Genuine Truth in critical form opposing ‘Rise Above It’.
It was a surprise to learn that Monday, Ray Silverman is the Chaplain at Bryn Athyns. From what I understood of the man he had left the General Church of the New Jerusalem and joined the Lord’s New Church.
When I told him about having read his resignation letter back a few years ago he explained that this occurred in 1992. The Lord’s New Church believes that there is a hidden meaning within the Writings and so the curiosity on Ray Silverman’s theological vision. I questioned him about whether they are still in business. The last I had heard they had lost in court the money they had founded their religion with after one of the clergy members squirreled it away from the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Ray Silverman said that their religion is still operational but is quirky like all religions. When I told him that I am prophetic he became intrigued and shut the door to his office so that we would not be disturbed. Then, we engaged in a deep discussion on the mysteries. While spending the next two hours on the telephone I told him as much as I could to what I considered to be a receptive audience. Later, I even commented to my brother Howard because he knows it is rare for me to engage the clergy; the mysteries are too difficult a subject for them.
And during those two hours I laid it out. “All of the references in the Hebrew Word to KNH are hemp and the return of the Lord in the literal sense is that understanding and more. Jesus the Anointed will be seen as just that literally because He is the Anointed physically. The upright Gentiles are the Hittites, medical marijuana activists know the genuine truths of the Word. Their attitude is that the Christians aren’t Christian because they don’t believe the Word.
The medical marijuana movement is not Christian but now they use the Holy oil of Moses to heal the sick. They are in good and antipathy for the religionist who supports the State in its oppression and the ongoing death and destruction visited upon them by the Drug War are real.
This is not a concept that I came up with,” I explained during our long conversation. “It is not like the argument is over whether or not the General Church of the New Jerusalem is in error over the use of calamus in the anointing oil. There is no place in the Word, Orthodox practice, the doctrines of the early Church or the Writings for the use of strictly olive oil for the anointing of priests.
This is a profane practice. All of this is documented in my paper the Doctrine of Divine Truth that I filed with Thomas Kline. The literal meaning of the term KNH is known within the Oriental Orthodox Churches but is the secret knowledge of the priests. This is incredibly difficult for me to deal with and the only response is silence from the General Church of the New Jerusalem.
"Don Rogers anointed me when he officiated during the Office of Holy Oil.” And I went on in my complaint, “It is like I am so far into the Word I just fell out the other side. The revealing of Joseph to his brothers and so many of the mysteries just cannot be understood without this literal meaning being understood.
Don’t you all realize that the mystery of the woman clothed in the sun speaks of the New Church starting out small because they are not in good? Don’t you all realize that the Writings go on to say that because this beginning Church is without good it will also be without truth?” I asked Ray Silverman.
“There is a book my wife and I authored that I would like to let you have. I planned to send it someone else but learned they have a copy. There is a note written to them on it, so it cannot be sold. Can I send it to you without cost,” he enquired. “Sure,” I told him. And that is how I came to receive; ‘Rise Above It’. “What an intriguing story,” Ray Silverman closed in our conversation that day as he seemingly related. “You are a very interesting man and I have enjoyed speaking with you today,” he said.
When I received ‘Rise Above It’ I could only just glance through it. The symbolism seemed odd, incongruent and the teaching weak. Breaking down the Ten Commandments for the simple minded did not appeal to me. Revelation 6 in Apocalypse Explained was opening up before me. Having the ability to understand this work on the level for which it was intended is unique.
Ray Silverman called and wanted to know if I had received the book he sent me. “Yes,” I told him. “OK I just wanted to make sure you got it,” he stated. Then he continued, “The International Fellowship of Chaplains is the vehicle I used to obtain credentials when visiting prisoners in Georgia.
"They do have a place in their application where it asks if you have ever been convicted of a felony so I am not sure that you will be accepted.”
I had told him in our first conversation my spending 14 months imprisoned for KNH KNH BSM and intention to visit the imprisoned. I asked him, “Did you relay our conversation to Thomas Kline and inquire about the Doctrine of Divine Truth, sent to him?” To which Ray Silverman replied, “No, I did not.”
The return of the Lord is to be in the understanding of the literal and spiritual meaning of the Word according to the prophetic Word revealed in the Heavenly Doctrines. The religion of the General Church of the New Jerusalem is founded upon these Heavenly Doctrines.
Ray Silverman engaged this writer, who identified himself as holding the office of prophet and called upon to reveal this literal Word, in a two-hour telephone conversation. Yet, this doesn’t warrant a simple telephone inquiry?
At the time I was into paragraph 375 and swimming around in the deepest of all mystery. “The depth in which the Writings are opening to me are just incredible,” I tried to relate. “Don’t you all even read your own material?” And with that statement the confrontation began.
“I want you to read Numbers 15: 32-36 but you don’t have to right now,” Ray Silverman told me. “What is it about,” I wanted to know. “It is a story about a man who was caught picking up sticks on the Sabbath and the Lord spoke to Moses and ordered that this man be stoned to death. I do not believe that the Lord, the same Jesus that I know to be a loving God, ever ordered this. It did not happen.
The Lord did not speak to Moses,” Ray Silverman told me. And then he asked, “What do you think about that?” As I pondered the new development of a cleric on the payroll of this religion denying the Word, “The naked truth is that this man was simply executed for violating the Sabbath and that is the apparent truth,” I replied.
“There is symbolism involved a dead branch separated from the tree,” I grasped. “This is not a trick question,” Ray continued and reaffirmed, “The Lord did not order this mans death. I do not believe that the Lord spoke to Moses, what do you think about that,” was again the pointed in my face denial of the Word.
“Maybe it was just as well for this man,” I pondered. “He did not want to work on the Sabbath and then he got translated straight to heaven and got out of working,” I joked with Ray as we both grinned over the silliness of the mental exercise. “Ok,” I continued in that vein. “How about just because he was condemned to die doesn’t mean he went to hell. He paid his dues was made an example now the Lord greeted him in heaven,” but this really didn’t answer the question. “I’ll want to read the passages and think about this. Let me get back to you later,” I told Ray Silverman and we agreed to end our conversation on that note.
It was all so odd. Interrupted by a ‘virtual priest’ who denied the Word while reading paragraph 375 in Apocalypse Explained. This passage was not new to me. Just lately prophet Roger Christie with the THC-MINISTRY in Hilo, Hawaii had sent two new big bottles of the Holy oil of Moses. When I was blessed that Christmas Day by Patriarch Abune Merkorios after the celebration of the deliverance of the three princes they were hidden in my pocket. In a letter sent to prophet Roger Christie just previous to receiving this gift, paragraph 375 was printed out at the public library and mailed to him. I relate to him well. I had really been looking forward to reading this section again from my own book along with the leading and closing mysteries. And now my concentration was broken.
At Saint Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church, before the Divine Liturgy, a deacon passes around the Holy Bible. The priest in prayer had just given the Word. All the congregants worship Him as the Word by touching their head and kisses to it. As I walked this out, the Spirit compelled me to preach to the startled Canadian Geese gathered along the riverbank. “The Lord did not speak to Moses, what do you think about that?” I shouted to them as they just honked in reply.
But what is the genuine truth of what happened that day so long ago? Is this really just a story of a simple man that was just simply picking up sticks on the Sabbath and the Creator of the Universe came down on a specific individual in the Wilderness for simply this? No, I could not believe that because I knew the goodness of the Lord better than that and the evil of men to be far worse. I understand the evil of men and their depraved conspiracies only too well. I could see the genuine truth of what occurred that day.
The next morning I called Ray Silverman and left a message on his machine to call me and get educated. The insight of what genuinely happened that day is much closer to reality than the apparent truth anyone with depth in the Word will agree. Ray Silverman returned my telephone call and wanted to hear my insight into what really happened in that time long ago. The genuine truth that I relate now applies only too well to the reality of today. I could not see that then. But now, let me tell you what I told him, about the man who was picking up sticks on the Sabbath, that later went to meet his maker when the Israelites rose up.
“Your message said you had an insight to share with me about the man picking up sticks if this is a good time for you I would like to hear it,” Ray Silverman told me. “Sure is,” and then I told him that, “This is not a simple story about a simple man who was simply picking up sticks to make his simple little meal and the Creator of the Universe took it personal and ordered him executed. That is an apparent truth but that is not the genuine truth of what happened.
This was a major Supreme Court decision that was decided on the simple facts but the drama was much larger. This was an incredibly complex issue that involved the whole camp upon which Moses was called to judge and he refused. You should recall that it was his father-in-law Jethro, who taught Moses. Only the great controversies were to be decided by Moses in the future. This was one of those controversies,” I warmed to the story as Ray Silverman agreed.
“You're right, this is very interesting you should be a preacher I am on the edge of my chair,” Then continuing, “The fact is that some of the men in the camp grabbed this man and put him in the hold and if he left they would kill him. This man had angered men to such a degree that if he walked about in the camp they would murder him. But according to the law if they did, they would be guilty of shedding innocent blood. So they demanded that Moses decide.
Now, what could possibly make men so angry that they wanted to take life of this man for picking up sticks? Well, every time the Israelites moved camp this man would go out and pick up sticks. But, it was not just him doing the picking, it was his whole extended family and even servants were involved,” I conjectured. “How did you arrive at that,” Ray Silverman wanted to know.
“This is a patriarchal society and the head of the clan decides for everyone. Everyone in that extended family is bound by his decision. And if that decision put life in forfeit it would only be him to pay the penalty not the whole clan. ‘The sons are not to be put to death for the sins of the father.’ He was engaged in commerce,” I concluded because, “What is the big business on the Sabbath? It is sacrifice day. And on sacrifice day things get bloody, smoky, the priests are well fed, incensed and had the ‘anointing oil of the Lord’ upon them.
Also, let us not forget it is their big payday. Nobody else is working and the priests get all the cash. Now what does a man do after working, feasting and sated while sitting on a big fat wallet? Why, he lays around the house with the woman and doesn’t do a lick. Now do you think for a minute he is going to worry about cleaning his clothes or having his woman do that? Of course not, he has the laundryman come by to pick up the soiled linen. And that is what the sticks were all about, firewood for heating the water to wash the priests clothes.
When anyone in the camp complained because the laundryman was getting first dibs on the easy firewood, they were shot down; after all, the laundryman wasn’t really working he was serving God. He was part of the priest work force, get it?” I asked. “This really is interesting, I have never heard this story put like this” Ray Silverman commented. “Now what does a man do when he is exempt from the law, why he takes advantage of it of course and being a Jew he pushed it to the limit.
Can you picture this? Before you know it, what started out as a simple exemption blossomed into a full-scale commercial business. So that now, the only one that had firewood was the laundryman. When the camp moved it marched till it came to rest, on the Sabbath. Then, out went the laundryman and now his hired help gathered everything that could be gotten. Finally too many people got upset and grabbed him. And what did he say in defense?
“Moses, you’re talking about your laundryman here. You can’t kill me. If it weren’t for me your priest garments would be dirty. I clean up your mess. I clean up after all the priests. The priests did not say no before now. If it was such a problem why didn’t you do something about it before? It is not like you didn’t know. You knew what I was doing. Everybody knew what I was doing. It wasn’t a big secret. Now you want to kill me for it?”
No wonder Moses hated the job and he refused to rule on the issue. Moses recuses himself from the issue for conflict of interest and refused to rule. The Lord stepped in and decided on basic law.”
“That is a very interesting way of looking at this story. I hadn’t thought of it like that but still, I don’t believe the Lord ordered this man’s execution,” Ray Silverman confessed. “The interesting thing about this story is what happened next,” I continued with the tale. “This issue of the divine right of the priests to decide did not go over big, a revolution ensued. There were people on the laundryman’s side who did not care for the decision and like you, did not believe that the Lord spoke to Moses.”
“Korah decided that the Lord did not speak to Moses either. So he led a rebellion of 250 men against Moses. Korah said that they could be priests. We have the ephod (error), we have the censure, we burn the incense therefore we are priests. We don’t have to obey the Law of Moses because the Lord did not speak to Moses. Just like the priests of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. We don’t have to obey the Lord and be anointed according to the Law of Moses because the Lord did not speak to Moses.
We can use olive oil alone. It does not matter what it says in the law that established the priesthood. It does not matter what the Orthodox practices are of the churches established by the apostles who were taught by the Lord. It does not matter what the Heavenly Doctrines say because according to our self-intelligence, the Lord did not speak to Moses. Well the General Church of the New Jerusalem is in error for disobeying the Word of the Lord and Ray Silverman you are in error for disobeying the Word of the Lord.
Your whole crew, the lot of you needs to repent for your rebellion and conform to the gracious Word of our Lord and obey Him and be anointed according to the Law of Moses. And don’t forget what happened to Korah and his gang next. The Lord opened up the earth and swallowed them,” and as these words were flowing forth the influx of the Divine tickled my spine.
“If the Jesus I know is the Jehovah who condemns because of this then I will just go to hell,” Ray Silverman confessed. “Tell me I am wrong Ray,” I demanded. “I want to have just one of you educated in the Word and the Writings show me where I am wrong.” “It sounds like you have a lot of frustration dealing with all of this,” Ray Silverman identified. “You sound like you are having a difficult time,” he empathized.
“Really, I am used to it by now,” I said calming down. “This is really just par for the course, this is all too much for you,” I realized recognizing the blindness of Ray Silverman and the spiritual block when encountering Christian mysticism. “There is a section in my book I want you to read and give your opinion on but I am afraid to ask because I don’t want to take away from you your spirituality,” Ray Silverman continued.
“Whatever, you have to say in your book is not going to bother me. I contend with Bishops over doctrine. As a matter of fact, I have graduated from Bishops and now I contend with the Patriarch of the oldest religion on the face of the planet. The Lord has called upon me to introduce the Heavenly Doctrines to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which has 30 million Christians. So really don’t sweat it, what have you got,” or words to that effect. And that is how I came to document the following critique of the religion of Ray hereinafter referred to as RR:
The stick story begins on page 59 with the idea developed there concluding on page 62 with an example given of a father having difficulty with the concept of life and the focus of his work being a ‘false god’. This father decided to try and pray instead of letting his mind be consumed by work issues after making the initial discovery that his will alone was not capable of stopping the mind from turning over this subject. This father discovered that in prayer the Lord Jesus would come to him in His Word and comfort the mind. Instead of work issues, a scripture from the Word was given him and he felt refreshed.
So began for this troubled father a simple prayer practice. This principle is broadened to be included as a working example for RR, which does not look to the Lord. The teachings of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” are just as valid as the Word of the Lord, which oddly is established in RR by this Christians’ spiritual experience.
The whole stick story this writer found to be a fascinating example of correspondences. When first deciding how to begin this project, the correspondence struck that the Asplundh should be contacted but it did not really register why. Odd threads of thought had been brewing and Roger pointing out the Asplundh work truck after leaving Morning Star Chapel. Compensation for the expense incurred in service to the New Church was a consideration.
Until Ray Silverman imposed upon me, my intention then and even afterwards was to edit New Church sources in the same manner as the Doctrine of Divine Truth. So as an experiment the first call that morning was made to Kurt H. Asplundh who informed me that he was the editor for New Church Life and that his son, Kurt Hy. Asplundh is the secretary for the Council of Clergy. To me, that was a signal that this project should go forward as a comparison of genuine truth and spurious falsity but it just did not register about the stick story.
And then later after contacting most of the individuals named in RR and talking it over with my brother Howard the thought came to both of us. Why of course, they are still picking up sticks on the Sabbath and nobody will say boo to the biggest contributor to the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Things haven’t really changed at all from the days of Moses. We wash the priests robes. We are exempt. We are not working on the Sabbath but serving the Church.
In RR at the top of page 24, “Because he trusted in marijuana as his ‘link’ to the Divine presence, he had lost faith in the myriad ways that God was actually present and leading him in every moment of his life.” RR is founded upon the teaching of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” but with this doctrine there is no identification of any religion or any documentation named in support of this novel idea except a term called ‘link’.
In RR when the individual is using marijuana the conclusion is that the Divine presence is not actually present but departs. I point this out because this doctrine; that the Divine presence leaves the individual when they are high on marijuana, is expounded upon in RR and critiqued in the pages that follow.
In RR the explanation of the Commandment Do Not Steal, the following is quoted from the second paragraph on page 163. “Taking what is not our own has a long history. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve took what was not their own. God had just told Adam and Eve that they could freely eat of all the trees in that garden-all of the trees, that is, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent, however, urged Eve to take and eat the forbidden fruit, saying, ‘In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be as God, knowing good and evil.’ (Genesis 3: 5).
When the serpent showed her that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and would make her wise, Eve succumbed to this first temptation. She took the forbidden fruit, ate it, and offered some to her husband who also chose to eat. This is the first theft recorded in the Bible. As a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were banished from Paradise.”
After a two-paragraph diatribe decrying the evils of creating a religion based upon self-intelligence RR continues at the top of page 164. “The serpent told Eve that if she ate of the fruit she would be like God, that it would make her wise, and that she would know good and evil. The simple truth is that we can never derive a knowledge of spiritual things, or attain “special enlightenment,” through physical objects. No fruit, no leaf, no drug, no temple, no ritual, no sacred relic or holy oil, not even our own human reason or imagination, can give us a knowledge of good and evil.
Only God can reveal this knowledge to us. And this comes to us through the Sacred Scriptures, according to our willingness to receive, our ability to understand, and our efforts to keep the commandments. To try to attain the knowledge of good and evil by some other way is to try to enter “like a thief in the night.” As it is written in the New Testament, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10: 3).
What follows next is the story of an African who describes his experiences smoking “Dagga” (marijuana) and is used as an illustration of what the Lord was speaking about as one that is “climbing up by some other way.” Again the doctrine of one becoming separated from the Lord when stoned on marijuana in RR continues on page 165. “We, too, seriously delude ourselves whenever we believe that ‘we know’ – especially when it comes to spiritual things. Ultimately, we must come to the realization that only God has the power to discern between good and evil. And even though this knowledge is indeed revealed to us through the Sacred Scriptures of all religions, we can never have total perception, total charity, or total understanding any more that we can stare directly at the sun.
We may, of course, ‘enter in’ to the Divine mysteries, and understand them more deeply to eternity. This is according to order. But to presume that we have anything more than a limited amount of understanding is to believe that a tiny candle, flickering in the darkness, is really the Sun of heaven. As Emanuel Swedenborg writes, ‘The wisest of angels know that they have nothing of wisdom from themselves, and that acknowledging this is being wise. They know also that what they know is as nothing compared to what they do not know’ Heaven and Hell 280.”
Now, the doctrine of separation from God of those who are stoned on Marijuana or Dagga is established in RR and seemly confirmed by Heavenly Doctrine and the Word. This doctrine is developed further to the point that one who smokes marijuana is guilty of being deluded by the serpent (satan) into believing that they are gods. “As we enter more deeply into this commandment, we come to realize that the real ‘fall of man’ occurs whenever we ‘fall victim’ to the seductive illusion offered by the serpent – the illusion that ‘we think we know,’ and that, like God, we have a perfect knowledge of good and evil.
"As we fall victim to this illusion, we come into the delusive belief that the way we see things is the highest reality, and that we understand with the greatest clarity. In other words, we believe that we know what is right, and we know it better than others. We begin to believe the prophecy of the serpent: ‘Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ As we have seen in the journal entry about the young Africans who smoked Dagga, this delusive state begins with it an inflated sense of our own abilities and powers of perception. We begin to believe that the origin of goodness, wisdom, and even Life Itself, is within ourselves, or at least in the leaves of a plant. Having eaten of this forbidden fruit, we begin to believe that we are gods.”
The proper way to begin this critical review of this novel doctrine in RR is to examine the use of the Word. In John chapter 9, Jesus the Anointed sets the stage for this concluding address to the Pharisees in chapter 9 & 10 after the blind man is healed and examined by the priests. The Lord found the former blind man who then prostrated at His feet worshipping Him.
In John; And Jesus said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” 9: 39-10: 5
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
26. The Spiritual Sense of the Word will not be given to any one hereafter who is not in genuine truths from the Lord. The reason is that no one can see the spiritual sense except from the Lord alone, and unless he is in genuine truths from Him; for the spiritual sense of the Word treats of the Lord alone and of His kingdom; and that is the sense in which His angels in heaven are, for it is His Divine truth there.
A man can violate this if he has a knowledge of correspondences, and wishes by it to investigate the spiritual sense of the Word from his own intelligence; for by means of some correspondences known to him he can pervert its meaning, and force it to confirm even what is false; and this would be doing violence to Divine truth, and to heaven also. Wherefore, if any one wishes, from himself and not from the Lord, to open that sense, heaven is closed; and when it is closed, the man either sees nothing, or becomes spiritually insane.
The reason also is that the Lord teaches every one by the Word, and He teaches him from the truths that are with man, and does not infuse new ones without a medium. Wherefore, if man is not in Divine truths, or if he is in only a few truths and at the same time is in falsities, he may from these falsify truths; as is also done by every heretic with the sense of the letter of the Word, as is known.
Lest, therefore, any one should enter into the spiritual sense, or should pervert the genuine truth, which is of that sense, the Lord has placed guards, which are meant in the Word by cherubs. That guards are set, was represented to me in this manner: - It was given me to see great purses, appearing like sacks, in which silver was stored up in great abundance; and as they were open, it seemed as if everyone could take out the silver there laid up, yes, carry it off.
But near the purses two angels were sitting, who were the keepers. The place where the purses were stored appeared like a manger in a stable. In the next room were seen modest virgins with a chaste wife; and near that room stood two little children; and it was said that they were not to be played with childishly, but wisely. Afterwards appeared a harlot, then a horse lying dead.
Having seen these things, I was instructed that they represented the sense of the letter of the Word, in which is the spiritual sense. The great purses full of silver signified cognitions of truth in great abundance. That they were open, and yet guarded by angels, signified that every care is taken lest any one violated the spiritual sense, in which are unmixed truths. The manger in the stable, in which the purses were lying, signified spiritual nourishment for the understanding; a manger has this signification, because a horse, which eats from it, signifies the understanding. The modest virgins, who were seen in the next room, signified affections for truth; and the chaste wife, the conjunction of good and truth. The little children signified the innocence of wisdom therein; these little children were angels from the third heaven, who all appear like little children. The harlot, with the dead horse, signified the falsification of the Word by many at this day, by which all understanding of truth perishes: a harlot signifies falsification; and a dead horse, no understanding of truth.
When my eyes were opened to the concept of writing the Doctrine of Genuine Truth after filing the Doctrine of Divine Truth the struggle began on how this could be put into a format that identifies these genuine truths of the Word and puts them to use. Right after receiving the blessing from Patriarch Abune Merkorios I told Solomon Egegu as I floated by when he asked, “Greg, how are you doing?” that, “What an incredible blessing Solomon! The Patriarch has just blessed me. There is a paper that I must write.” Solomon Egegu was standing beside Aba Tsinge Dengle when he replied, “The finishing work in this basement was done by me.” The thought that the Doctrine of the Genuine Truth can now be put on record appealed to me and that the Divine help needed for this project would now be forthcoming. The rest of the week was spent moving to my new place.
The disappointment with the meeting at Saint Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Decatur, Georgia with monk Alemu, Patrick Rose and myself still bore heavily upon me. When Patrick Rose drove me to my brothers’ house where I lived then our final words just depressed me. Over the course of time I had related to him that the Lord is revealing to me the hidden mysteries in the Word, which centers on the literal interpretation of KHN as hemp.
The way I had come to cope with his piercing English wit was to question his reality. “We only receive from the proprium which is conjoined to the hells or we receive the Divine Truth from the heavens. Maybe there is a third option made especially for me. I am given the divine bullshit,” I would chide in response.
“That must be what is happening to me,” I would say continuing along these lines. “I am not being taught by the Lord alone. I am being bullshitted by the Lord alone,” as I laughed.
But on the ride home that day the disappointing thought that a breakthrough did not occur gave me pause to fish for another wry response.
“Do you want to know what I told the Ethiopian priest when I handed him the Doctrine of Divine Truth when he opened the door and looked out before locking it on the dedication day of the new church, at Saint Gabriel,” I asked Patrick Rose. “Yes,” he bit.
“I told him that, ‘it is white like coriander seed,” telling him the mystery to see if it registered and what the response would be. “Oh, you are full of bullshit,” he admitted. “So that is what he really thinks,” I could not help but be persuaded when we arrived at my place, at that time in my brothers basement.
I hoped Bill Burke would officiate at Holy Supper this past New Years Day. Previous, I had sent to his wife Elanore a request that an invitation be extended to me to stay with them so that they both could review my work and agree that the hand of the Lord is upon me. They both had gifted to me Bill’s old binders of the Heavenly Doctrines from his seminary days and my proficiency in the Writings and my knowledge of the deeper mysteries left me with no doubt that recognition of my achievement should be granted.
Back in the old days before the Theological School at Bryn Athyns a clergy member would ordain an adept student. I could see no reason why Bill Burke could refuse me. Bill Burke and I had had many conversations regarding clergy recognition.
An affidavit from a recognized cleric is required in Georgia to visit the imprisoned which is known by him and heaven that I seek. Clergy recognition was in mind along with the Patriarch’s blessing that brought me that day to Morning Star Chapel, Georgia.
Before the morning service Bill Burke and Elanore were readying the Church and as there were a few moments available the opportunity presented itself for me to give him a small Christmas card with the three wise men following the star on the front. Inside, I had written; “Anointed Jesus revealed” with the verse number in reference as Revelation 14: 6, 7. A thumbprint made with the Holy oil of Moses was the only other statement made. Bill Burke examined the card and inscription without comment.
I then explained to him that it is the doctrine of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church that the three wise men were Ethiopian priests from the days when the Israelite Church was a practicing faith there. It seems that I also told him that the Ark of the Covenant with Ten Commandments is in Ethiopia.
Further, that the past Sunday when I was blessed the celebration was in honor of the deliverance of the three princes, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fire because it is an institutional memory of that Church.
“Can’t you see the genuine truth of this Bill,” I asked. “The chief priest and all of Jerusalem were in an uproar because the wise men were of the religion the Israelite Church established by King Solomon. The Lord Himself affirmed the existence of this Church when he decried the Pharisees and said that the Queen of the South would rise up in condemnation of this generation.
Do you think a priest is going to be upset over someone who has a different religion,” I asked. “The correspondence is that they were from the Ancient Church,” was his only reply. It was too difficult for him to conceive this genuine truth. The revealing of the Divine Man who comes from out of the Holy of holies and the procession that winds its way through the Churchyard were all part of the service that previous week. The mystery of the symbolism of the Writings manifested there is not known within the General Church of the New Jerusalem or even a subject of curiosity, I could not help but identify.
At that I went to the library and looked up what has been published in New Church Life. A directory there was present and listed a publication entitled ‘The Doctrine of Genuine Truth’ in the 1920’s. Bill Burke came by to check on me and told me that New Church Life was his donation and that some had gone missing but that there is a CD that is available that would have that sermon and all papers published.
We then engaged in the following conversation:
“Bill,” I stated, “I have been working on this concept of the Doctrine of Genuine Truth for a long time and in the Writings there is a statement in Heaven where the angels say, ‘good, now see if you make it all cohere in series'.”
I went on to explain that I would like to make a statement on the Doctrine of Genuine Truth. To which Bill Burke replied, “OK, go ahead.”
“It is because of the priests that cannot say and the priests that cannot know that the prophets are yet to understand the Doctrine of Genuine Truth,” I read from the statement that I have been working on for the previous month.
“That is what I have been saying for years,” he exclaimed and then, “I have to get ready for my sermon,” as he excused himself. Later, I considered my reasoned statement in series describing the current state of the New Church to be my passing grade in answer to a heavenly exam.
The sermon that day before the Holy Supper centered upon the manifestations of the Lord as an angel in the Old Testament Word and the command that accompanies to make His presence known. The example that comes to mind was the reply of Samuel, “Here I am Lord.”
After the service a Linda Carr complimented my voice and ability to read music when singing to the organ playing of Elanore Burke. I told her that I did miss coming there but that my attendance at Saint Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Decatur, Georgia takes precedent. She asked how I came to attend there and I related the story that I relate to you here now.
My purchase and perusal of the book just received by special order Rykwerts’ The Dancing Column on Order in Architecture had just been completed at Borders Bookstore. The frustration of knowing the mystery of KNH and the lack of identification in history was glaringly apparent.
The work of the cherubim succeeded in creating what I have termed ‘a hole in the head of mankind’. The dismissal of my request from Bishop Yousef on Coptic Information Day for the identification of KNH BSM for the edification of the New Church left me with at a loss of where to turn. It was the old daylight/train scenario that I sardonically had come to appreciate in the Lord’s teaching program.
Suddenly I brightened, “If this was so easy to figure out somebody would have figured it out already,” I pondered. “Now where do I turn?” It was this thought in mind that I related, “Now is the time to drive by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church just up the road, they know what is in Moses Holy anointing oil.” And as I drove there I knew that just simply asking the priest a question would not be possible because of course he does not speak English. An interpreter must be present as well.
There were other odd threads of correspondences involving this Church but too numerous to relate. Right before arriving there I cut off the ignition and coasted up to the Church on the left hand side of the road. Looking out into the street that day on the sidewalk in front of the Church was obviously a priest and another man. I snuck up on both of them looking out into the street just standing side by side. It was extremely odd and a true Kodak moment.
I looked over both and determined one to be the priest and turned to the other, “Is he your priest?” “Yes”, Solomon Liku replied. “I would like to ask your priest a question,” I said to him. Solomon Liku told me, “He does not speak English well but I can interpret for you.” “That would be great,” I replied. “Go and park your vehicle,” I was told.
After parking and approaching the priest I asked, “What is calamus?” and the quizzical expression on their faces and lack of understanding led me to amplify the question. “It is a plant in the Old Testament Word I want to know what it is in English.” And again the lack of understanding was related. “It is a term used in the Septuagint when the Old Testament was translated into Greek from the Hebrew,” I explained.
But still no enlightenment registered with either Ethiopian. That is when I knew that the places where Emanuel Swedenborg had translated KNH into calamus were all bogus and that the Lord was leading me deep into this mystery. The falsified term in the Word we share just would not register in their minds. It was the same initial reaction that the Coptic priests had given me on Coptic Information Day.
Bishop Yousef that day would only rejoin, “Why do you want to know this thing.” And again, I asked the Ethiopian priest the same question I had asked the Coptic priest and Bishop. “It is the third term in the Holy oil of Moses in Exodus 30: 23. The Hebrew is KNH BSM what is the term in English,” I pointedly asked. And then the discussion began in earnest between the priest and translator.
After some discussion then the translator turned to me and said, “It cannot be said in English.” At that response I rejoined, “If I write the question can a written answer be given?” And another heated discussion ensued between the translator and the priest who then turned to me and said, “It cannot be written.” Well now I had them. They knew but they weren’t going to say.
Obviously left out of the explanation was the fact that the term is considered holy and this confirms the theory that it is the secret knowledge of the priests. Well if that is the way they want to play then obviously one mystery deserves another I thought, as there is now nothing more to find out. “Truly a reed like unto a rod,” I grinned saying and bowed to them both thanking them for allowing me to share the experience. A gleam of recognition to this mystery rejoinder registered in Aba Tsinge Dengles eyes as he smiled.
After relating the above story to the woman at Morning Star Chapel that New Year’s Day in 2006 she rejoined, “Well it worked. You are still going there trying to get an answer out of them.” I grin even now in admiration of her astute wisdom.
Bill Burke then called everyone to order and asked if the lesson had been learned from his sermon that day. As I stood to his left he said, “If the Lord calls you then you go,” Later, Corinne Echols came into the library and arranged a sale to me of the first two volumes of Apocalypse Explained. The oddity of how I came to read this work in reverse order and my desire to be able to finish soon gave me a great sense of accomplishment. Now I have the final two volumes. Because I do not drive, Corrinne Echols and her husband Roger Echols had agreed to ride me home on their way. We had talked earlier about my imprisonment for KNH KNH BSM and how the Lord had turned it for good.
Immediately as we left the Church the first vehicle we saw upon the way was an Asplundh truck with a crew working on that New Years Sunday. Roger Echols remarked, “That truck and the company it represents is owned by the largest contributor to the General Church of the New Jerusalem.” “But I thought it was the Pitcairns who were the largest supporters of this religion,” I replied. “No, when you have large families and split up millions it tends to shrink after time. The big Picairn money was back in the day,” he explained. The subject of my imprisonment came up again and the mention of Ray Silverman and his ministry when he was a pastor in Atlanta.
I knew the name, Don Rogers a.k.a. Dakota Daniels had told me about his work with prisoners in Georgia. There were some in the Atlanta society who considered that this work was misplaced. Their thinking was typified with the idea that his obligation was to the society and not to Georgia prisoners. It seemed to me a rather cold idea and I knew that Roger was one of those who held that view of Ray Silverman’s work. Don Rogers a.k.a. Dakota Daniels had shown me Ray Silverman’s resignation letter from when he quit the General Church of the New Jerusalem. I decided that the next day I would try and locate him and say hello. And this is what led me to the following conversation and how I came to form the Doctrine of Genuine Truth in critical form opposing ‘Rise Above It’.
It was a surprise to learn that Monday, Ray Silverman is the Chaplain at Bryn Athyns. From what I understood of the man he had left the General Church of the New Jerusalem and joined the Lord’s New Church.
When I told him about having read his resignation letter back a few years ago he explained that this occurred in 1992. The Lord’s New Church believes that there is a hidden meaning within the Writings and so the curiosity on Ray Silverman’s theological vision. I questioned him about whether they are still in business. The last I had heard they had lost in court the money they had founded their religion with after one of the clergy members squirreled it away from the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Ray Silverman said that their religion is still operational but is quirky like all religions. When I told him that I am prophetic he became intrigued and shut the door to his office so that we would not be disturbed. Then, we engaged in a deep discussion on the mysteries. While spending the next two hours on the telephone I told him as much as I could to what I considered to be a receptive audience. Later, I even commented to my brother Howard because he knows it is rare for me to engage the clergy; the mysteries are too difficult a subject for them.
And during those two hours I laid it out. “All of the references in the Hebrew Word to KNH are hemp and the return of the Lord in the literal sense is that understanding and more. Jesus the Anointed will be seen as just that literally because He is the Anointed physically. The upright Gentiles are the Hittites, medical marijuana activists know the genuine truths of the Word. Their attitude is that the Christians aren’t Christian because they don’t believe the Word.
The medical marijuana movement is not Christian but now they use the Holy oil of Moses to heal the sick. They are in good and antipathy for the religionist who supports the State in its oppression and the ongoing death and destruction visited upon them by the Drug War are real.
This is not a concept that I came up with,” I explained during our long conversation. “It is not like the argument is over whether or not the General Church of the New Jerusalem is in error over the use of calamus in the anointing oil. There is no place in the Word, Orthodox practice, the doctrines of the early Church or the Writings for the use of strictly olive oil for the anointing of priests.
This is a profane practice. All of this is documented in my paper the Doctrine of Divine Truth that I filed with Thomas Kline. The literal meaning of the term KNH is known within the Oriental Orthodox Churches but is the secret knowledge of the priests. This is incredibly difficult for me to deal with and the only response is silence from the General Church of the New Jerusalem.
"Don Rogers anointed me when he officiated during the Office of Holy Oil.” And I went on in my complaint, “It is like I am so far into the Word I just fell out the other side. The revealing of Joseph to his brothers and so many of the mysteries just cannot be understood without this literal meaning being understood.
Don’t you all realize that the mystery of the woman clothed in the sun speaks of the New Church starting out small because they are not in good? Don’t you all realize that the Writings go on to say that because this beginning Church is without good it will also be without truth?” I asked Ray Silverman.
“There is a book my wife and I authored that I would like to let you have. I planned to send it someone else but learned they have a copy. There is a note written to them on it, so it cannot be sold. Can I send it to you without cost,” he enquired. “Sure,” I told him. And that is how I came to receive; ‘Rise Above It’. “What an intriguing story,” Ray Silverman closed in our conversation that day as he seemingly related. “You are a very interesting man and I have enjoyed speaking with you today,” he said.
When I received ‘Rise Above It’ I could only just glance through it. The symbolism seemed odd, incongruent and the teaching weak. Breaking down the Ten Commandments for the simple minded did not appeal to me. Revelation 6 in Apocalypse Explained was opening up before me. Having the ability to understand this work on the level for which it was intended is unique.
Ray Silverman called and wanted to know if I had received the book he sent me. “Yes,” I told him. “OK I just wanted to make sure you got it,” he stated. Then he continued, “The International Fellowship of Chaplains is the vehicle I used to obtain credentials when visiting prisoners in Georgia.
"They do have a place in their application where it asks if you have ever been convicted of a felony so I am not sure that you will be accepted.”
I had told him in our first conversation my spending 14 months imprisoned for KNH KNH BSM and intention to visit the imprisoned. I asked him, “Did you relay our conversation to Thomas Kline and inquire about the Doctrine of Divine Truth, sent to him?” To which Ray Silverman replied, “No, I did not.”
The return of the Lord is to be in the understanding of the literal and spiritual meaning of the Word according to the prophetic Word revealed in the Heavenly Doctrines. The religion of the General Church of the New Jerusalem is founded upon these Heavenly Doctrines.
Ray Silverman engaged this writer, who identified himself as holding the office of prophet and called upon to reveal this literal Word, in a two-hour telephone conversation. Yet, this doesn’t warrant a simple telephone inquiry?
At the time I was into paragraph 375 and swimming around in the deepest of all mystery. “The depth in which the Writings are opening to me are just incredible,” I tried to relate. “Don’t you all even read your own material?” And with that statement the confrontation began.
“I want you to read Numbers 15: 32-36 but you don’t have to right now,” Ray Silverman told me. “What is it about,” I wanted to know. “It is a story about a man who was caught picking up sticks on the Sabbath and the Lord spoke to Moses and ordered that this man be stoned to death. I do not believe that the Lord, the same Jesus that I know to be a loving God, ever ordered this. It did not happen.
The Lord did not speak to Moses,” Ray Silverman told me. And then he asked, “What do you think about that?” As I pondered the new development of a cleric on the payroll of this religion denying the Word, “The naked truth is that this man was simply executed for violating the Sabbath and that is the apparent truth,” I replied.
“There is symbolism involved a dead branch separated from the tree,” I grasped. “This is not a trick question,” Ray continued and reaffirmed, “The Lord did not order this mans death. I do not believe that the Lord spoke to Moses, what do you think about that,” was again the pointed in my face denial of the Word.
“Maybe it was just as well for this man,” I pondered. “He did not want to work on the Sabbath and then he got translated straight to heaven and got out of working,” I joked with Ray as we both grinned over the silliness of the mental exercise. “Ok,” I continued in that vein. “How about just because he was condemned to die doesn’t mean he went to hell. He paid his dues was made an example now the Lord greeted him in heaven,” but this really didn’t answer the question. “I’ll want to read the passages and think about this. Let me get back to you later,” I told Ray Silverman and we agreed to end our conversation on that note.
It was all so odd. Interrupted by a ‘virtual priest’ who denied the Word while reading paragraph 375 in Apocalypse Explained. This passage was not new to me. Just lately prophet Roger Christie with the THC-MINISTRY in Hilo, Hawaii had sent two new big bottles of the Holy oil of Moses. When I was blessed that Christmas Day by Patriarch Abune Merkorios after the celebration of the deliverance of the three princes they were hidden in my pocket. In a letter sent to prophet Roger Christie just previous to receiving this gift, paragraph 375 was printed out at the public library and mailed to him. I relate to him well. I had really been looking forward to reading this section again from my own book along with the leading and closing mysteries. And now my concentration was broken.
At Saint Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church, before the Divine Liturgy, a deacon passes around the Holy Bible. The priest in prayer had just given the Word. All the congregants worship Him as the Word by touching their head and kisses to it. As I walked this out, the Spirit compelled me to preach to the startled Canadian Geese gathered along the riverbank. “The Lord did not speak to Moses, what do you think about that?” I shouted to them as they just honked in reply.
But what is the genuine truth of what happened that day so long ago? Is this really just a story of a simple man that was just simply picking up sticks on the Sabbath and the Creator of the Universe came down on a specific individual in the Wilderness for simply this? No, I could not believe that because I knew the goodness of the Lord better than that and the evil of men to be far worse. I understand the evil of men and their depraved conspiracies only too well. I could see the genuine truth of what occurred that day.
The next morning I called Ray Silverman and left a message on his machine to call me and get educated. The insight of what genuinely happened that day is much closer to reality than the apparent truth anyone with depth in the Word will agree. Ray Silverman returned my telephone call and wanted to hear my insight into what really happened in that time long ago. The genuine truth that I relate now applies only too well to the reality of today. I could not see that then. But now, let me tell you what I told him, about the man who was picking up sticks on the Sabbath, that later went to meet his maker when the Israelites rose up.
“Your message said you had an insight to share with me about the man picking up sticks if this is a good time for you I would like to hear it,” Ray Silverman told me. “Sure is,” and then I told him that, “This is not a simple story about a simple man who was simply picking up sticks to make his simple little meal and the Creator of the Universe took it personal and ordered him executed. That is an apparent truth but that is not the genuine truth of what happened.
This was a major Supreme Court decision that was decided on the simple facts but the drama was much larger. This was an incredibly complex issue that involved the whole camp upon which Moses was called to judge and he refused. You should recall that it was his father-in-law Jethro, who taught Moses. Only the great controversies were to be decided by Moses in the future. This was one of those controversies,” I warmed to the story as Ray Silverman agreed.
“You're right, this is very interesting you should be a preacher I am on the edge of my chair,” Then continuing, “The fact is that some of the men in the camp grabbed this man and put him in the hold and if he left they would kill him. This man had angered men to such a degree that if he walked about in the camp they would murder him. But according to the law if they did, they would be guilty of shedding innocent blood. So they demanded that Moses decide.
Now, what could possibly make men so angry that they wanted to take life of this man for picking up sticks? Well, every time the Israelites moved camp this man would go out and pick up sticks. But, it was not just him doing the picking, it was his whole extended family and even servants were involved,” I conjectured. “How did you arrive at that,” Ray Silverman wanted to know.
“This is a patriarchal society and the head of the clan decides for everyone. Everyone in that extended family is bound by his decision. And if that decision put life in forfeit it would only be him to pay the penalty not the whole clan. ‘The sons are not to be put to death for the sins of the father.’ He was engaged in commerce,” I concluded because, “What is the big business on the Sabbath? It is sacrifice day. And on sacrifice day things get bloody, smoky, the priests are well fed, incensed and had the ‘anointing oil of the Lord’ upon them.
Also, let us not forget it is their big payday. Nobody else is working and the priests get all the cash. Now what does a man do after working, feasting and sated while sitting on a big fat wallet? Why, he lays around the house with the woman and doesn’t do a lick. Now do you think for a minute he is going to worry about cleaning his clothes or having his woman do that? Of course not, he has the laundryman come by to pick up the soiled linen. And that is what the sticks were all about, firewood for heating the water to wash the priests clothes.
When anyone in the camp complained because the laundryman was getting first dibs on the easy firewood, they were shot down; after all, the laundryman wasn’t really working he was serving God. He was part of the priest work force, get it?” I asked. “This really is interesting, I have never heard this story put like this” Ray Silverman commented. “Now what does a man do when he is exempt from the law, why he takes advantage of it of course and being a Jew he pushed it to the limit.
Can you picture this? Before you know it, what started out as a simple exemption blossomed into a full-scale commercial business. So that now, the only one that had firewood was the laundryman. When the camp moved it marched till it came to rest, on the Sabbath. Then, out went the laundryman and now his hired help gathered everything that could be gotten. Finally too many people got upset and grabbed him. And what did he say in defense?
“Moses, you’re talking about your laundryman here. You can’t kill me. If it weren’t for me your priest garments would be dirty. I clean up your mess. I clean up after all the priests. The priests did not say no before now. If it was such a problem why didn’t you do something about it before? It is not like you didn’t know. You knew what I was doing. Everybody knew what I was doing. It wasn’t a big secret. Now you want to kill me for it?”
No wonder Moses hated the job and he refused to rule on the issue. Moses recuses himself from the issue for conflict of interest and refused to rule. The Lord stepped in and decided on basic law.”
“That is a very interesting way of looking at this story. I hadn’t thought of it like that but still, I don’t believe the Lord ordered this man’s execution,” Ray Silverman confessed. “The interesting thing about this story is what happened next,” I continued with the tale. “This issue of the divine right of the priests to decide did not go over big, a revolution ensued. There were people on the laundryman’s side who did not care for the decision and like you, did not believe that the Lord spoke to Moses.”
“Korah decided that the Lord did not speak to Moses either. So he led a rebellion of 250 men against Moses. Korah said that they could be priests. We have the ephod (error), we have the censure, we burn the incense therefore we are priests. We don’t have to obey the Law of Moses because the Lord did not speak to Moses. Just like the priests of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. We don’t have to obey the Lord and be anointed according to the Law of Moses because the Lord did not speak to Moses.
We can use olive oil alone. It does not matter what it says in the law that established the priesthood. It does not matter what the Orthodox practices are of the churches established by the apostles who were taught by the Lord. It does not matter what the Heavenly Doctrines say because according to our self-intelligence, the Lord did not speak to Moses. Well the General Church of the New Jerusalem is in error for disobeying the Word of the Lord and Ray Silverman you are in error for disobeying the Word of the Lord.
Your whole crew, the lot of you needs to repent for your rebellion and conform to the gracious Word of our Lord and obey Him and be anointed according to the Law of Moses. And don’t forget what happened to Korah and his gang next. The Lord opened up the earth and swallowed them,” and as these words were flowing forth the influx of the Divine tickled my spine.
“If the Jesus I know is the Jehovah who condemns because of this then I will just go to hell,” Ray Silverman confessed. “Tell me I am wrong Ray,” I demanded. “I want to have just one of you educated in the Word and the Writings show me where I am wrong.” “It sounds like you have a lot of frustration dealing with all of this,” Ray Silverman identified. “You sound like you are having a difficult time,” he empathized.
“Really, I am used to it by now,” I said calming down. “This is really just par for the course, this is all too much for you,” I realized recognizing the blindness of Ray Silverman and the spiritual block when encountering Christian mysticism. “There is a section in my book I want you to read and give your opinion on but I am afraid to ask because I don’t want to take away from you your spirituality,” Ray Silverman continued.
“Whatever, you have to say in your book is not going to bother me. I contend with Bishops over doctrine. As a matter of fact, I have graduated from Bishops and now I contend with the Patriarch of the oldest religion on the face of the planet. The Lord has called upon me to introduce the Heavenly Doctrines to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which has 30 million Christians. So really don’t sweat it, what have you got,” or words to that effect. And that is how I came to document the following critique of the religion of Ray hereinafter referred to as RR:
The stick story begins on page 59 with the idea developed there concluding on page 62 with an example given of a father having difficulty with the concept of life and the focus of his work being a ‘false god’. This father decided to try and pray instead of letting his mind be consumed by work issues after making the initial discovery that his will alone was not capable of stopping the mind from turning over this subject. This father discovered that in prayer the Lord Jesus would come to him in His Word and comfort the mind. Instead of work issues, a scripture from the Word was given him and he felt refreshed.
So began for this troubled father a simple prayer practice. This principle is broadened to be included as a working example for RR, which does not look to the Lord. The teachings of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” are just as valid as the Word of the Lord, which oddly is established in RR by this Christians’ spiritual experience.
The whole stick story this writer found to be a fascinating example of correspondences. When first deciding how to begin this project, the correspondence struck that the Asplundh should be contacted but it did not really register why. Odd threads of thought had been brewing and Roger pointing out the Asplundh work truck after leaving Morning Star Chapel. Compensation for the expense incurred in service to the New Church was a consideration.
Until Ray Silverman imposed upon me, my intention then and even afterwards was to edit New Church sources in the same manner as the Doctrine of Divine Truth. So as an experiment the first call that morning was made to Kurt H. Asplundh who informed me that he was the editor for New Church Life and that his son, Kurt Hy. Asplundh is the secretary for the Council of Clergy. To me, that was a signal that this project should go forward as a comparison of genuine truth and spurious falsity but it just did not register about the stick story.
And then later after contacting most of the individuals named in RR and talking it over with my brother Howard the thought came to both of us. Why of course, they are still picking up sticks on the Sabbath and nobody will say boo to the biggest contributor to the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Things haven’t really changed at all from the days of Moses. We wash the priests robes. We are exempt. We are not working on the Sabbath but serving the Church.
In RR at the top of page 24, “Because he trusted in marijuana as his ‘link’ to the Divine presence, he had lost faith in the myriad ways that God was actually present and leading him in every moment of his life.” RR is founded upon the teaching of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” but with this doctrine there is no identification of any religion or any documentation named in support of this novel idea except a term called ‘link’.
In RR when the individual is using marijuana the conclusion is that the Divine presence is not actually present but departs. I point this out because this doctrine; that the Divine presence leaves the individual when they are high on marijuana, is expounded upon in RR and critiqued in the pages that follow.
In RR the explanation of the Commandment Do Not Steal, the following is quoted from the second paragraph on page 163. “Taking what is not our own has a long history. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve took what was not their own. God had just told Adam and Eve that they could freely eat of all the trees in that garden-all of the trees, that is, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent, however, urged Eve to take and eat the forbidden fruit, saying, ‘In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be as God, knowing good and evil.’ (Genesis 3: 5).
When the serpent showed her that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and would make her wise, Eve succumbed to this first temptation. She took the forbidden fruit, ate it, and offered some to her husband who also chose to eat. This is the first theft recorded in the Bible. As a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were banished from Paradise.”
After a two-paragraph diatribe decrying the evils of creating a religion based upon self-intelligence RR continues at the top of page 164. “The serpent told Eve that if she ate of the fruit she would be like God, that it would make her wise, and that she would know good and evil. The simple truth is that we can never derive a knowledge of spiritual things, or attain “special enlightenment,” through physical objects. No fruit, no leaf, no drug, no temple, no ritual, no sacred relic or holy oil, not even our own human reason or imagination, can give us a knowledge of good and evil.
Only God can reveal this knowledge to us. And this comes to us through the Sacred Scriptures, according to our willingness to receive, our ability to understand, and our efforts to keep the commandments. To try to attain the knowledge of good and evil by some other way is to try to enter “like a thief in the night.” As it is written in the New Testament, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10: 3).
What follows next is the story of an African who describes his experiences smoking “Dagga” (marijuana) and is used as an illustration of what the Lord was speaking about as one that is “climbing up by some other way.” Again the doctrine of one becoming separated from the Lord when stoned on marijuana in RR continues on page 165. “We, too, seriously delude ourselves whenever we believe that ‘we know’ – especially when it comes to spiritual things. Ultimately, we must come to the realization that only God has the power to discern between good and evil. And even though this knowledge is indeed revealed to us through the Sacred Scriptures of all religions, we can never have total perception, total charity, or total understanding any more that we can stare directly at the sun.
We may, of course, ‘enter in’ to the Divine mysteries, and understand them more deeply to eternity. This is according to order. But to presume that we have anything more than a limited amount of understanding is to believe that a tiny candle, flickering in the darkness, is really the Sun of heaven. As Emanuel Swedenborg writes, ‘The wisest of angels know that they have nothing of wisdom from themselves, and that acknowledging this is being wise. They know also that what they know is as nothing compared to what they do not know’ Heaven and Hell 280.”
Now, the doctrine of separation from God of those who are stoned on Marijuana or Dagga is established in RR and seemly confirmed by Heavenly Doctrine and the Word. This doctrine is developed further to the point that one who smokes marijuana is guilty of being deluded by the serpent (satan) into believing that they are gods. “As we enter more deeply into this commandment, we come to realize that the real ‘fall of man’ occurs whenever we ‘fall victim’ to the seductive illusion offered by the serpent – the illusion that ‘we think we know,’ and that, like God, we have a perfect knowledge of good and evil.
"As we fall victim to this illusion, we come into the delusive belief that the way we see things is the highest reality, and that we understand with the greatest clarity. In other words, we believe that we know what is right, and we know it better than others. We begin to believe the prophecy of the serpent: ‘Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ As we have seen in the journal entry about the young Africans who smoked Dagga, this delusive state begins with it an inflated sense of our own abilities and powers of perception. We begin to believe that the origin of goodness, wisdom, and even Life Itself, is within ourselves, or at least in the leaves of a plant. Having eaten of this forbidden fruit, we begin to believe that we are gods.”
The proper way to begin this critical review of this novel doctrine in RR is to examine the use of the Word. In John chapter 9, Jesus the Anointed sets the stage for this concluding address to the Pharisees in chapter 9 & 10 after the blind man is healed and examined by the priests. The Lord found the former blind man who then prostrated at His feet worshipping Him.
In John; And Jesus said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” 9: 39-10: 5
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
When my eyes were opened to the concept of writing the Doctrine of Genuine Truth after filing the Doctrine of Divine Truth the struggle began on how this could be put into a format that identifies these genuine truths of the Word and puts them to use. Right after receiving the blessing from Patriarch Abune Merkorios I told Solomon Egegu as I floated by when he asked, “Greg, how are you doing?” that, “What an incredible blessing Solomon! The Patriarch has just blessed me. There is a paper that I must write.” Solomon Egegu was standing beside Aba Tsinge Dengle when he replied, “The finishing work in this basement was done by me.” The thought that the Doctrine of the Genuine Truth can now be put on record appealed to me and that the Divine help needed for this project would now be forthcoming. The rest of the week was spent moving to my new place.
The disappointment with the meeting at Saint Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Decatur, Georgia with monk Alemu, Patrick Rose and myself still bore heavily upon me. When Patrick Rose drove me to my brothers’ house where I lived then our final words just depressed me. Over the course of time I had related to him that the Lord is revealing to me the hidden mysteries in the Word, which centers on the literal interpretation of KHN as hemp.
The way I had come to cope with his piercing English wit was to question his reality. “We only receive from the proprium which is conjoined to the hells or we receive the Divine Truth from the heavens. Maybe there is a third option made especially for me. I am given the divine bullshit,” I would chide in response.
“That must be what is happening to me,” I would say continuing along these lines. “I am not being taught by the Lord alone. I am being bullshitted by the Lord alone,” as I laughed.
But on the ride home that day the disappointing thought that a breakthrough did not occur gave me pause to fish for another wry response.
“Do you want to know what I told the Ethiopian priest when I handed him the Doctrine of Divine Truth when he opened the door and looked out before locking it on the dedication day of the new church, at Saint Gabriel,” I asked Patrick Rose. “Yes,” he bit.
“I told him that, ‘it is white like coriander seed,” telling him the mystery to see if it registered and what the response would be. “Oh, you are full of bullshit,” he admitted. “So that is what he really thinks,” I could not help but be persuaded when we arrived at my place, at that time in my brothers basement.
I hoped Bill Burke would officiate at Holy Supper this past New Years Day. Previous, I had sent to his wife Elanore a request that an invitation be extended to me to stay with them so that they both could review my work and agree that the hand of the Lord is upon me. They both had gifted to me Bill’s old binders of the Heavenly Doctrines from his seminary days and my proficiency in the Writings and my knowledge of the deeper mysteries left me with no doubt that recognition of my achievement should be granted.
Back in the old days before the Theological School at Bryn Athyns a clergy member would ordain an adept student. I could see no reason why Bill Burke could refuse me. Bill Burke and I had had many conversations regarding clergy recognition.
An affidavit from a recognized cleric is required in Georgia to visit the imprisoned which is known by him and heaven that I seek. Clergy recognition was in mind along with the Patriarch’s blessing that brought me that day to Morning Star Chapel, Georgia.
Before the morning service Bill Burke and Elanore were readying the Church and as there were a few moments available the opportunity presented itself for me to give him a small Christmas card with the three wise men following the star on the front. Inside, I had written; “Anointed Jesus revealed” with the verse number in reference as Revelation 14: 6, 7. A thumbprint made with the Holy oil of Moses was the only other statement made. Bill Burke examined the card and inscription without comment.
I then explained to him that it is the doctrine of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church that the three wise men were Ethiopian priests from the days when the Israelite Church was a practicing faith there. It seems that I also told him that the Ark of the Covenant with Ten Commandments is in Ethiopia.
Further, that the past Sunday when I was blessed the celebration was in honor of the deliverance of the three princes, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fire because it is an institutional memory of that Church.
“Can’t you see the genuine truth of this Bill,” I asked. “The chief priest and all of Jerusalem were in an uproar because the wise men were of the religion the Israelite Church established by King Solomon. The Lord Himself affirmed the existence of this Church when he decried the Pharisees and said that the Queen of the South would rise up in condemnation of this generation.
Do you think a priest is going to be upset over someone who has a different religion,” I asked. “The correspondence is that they were from the Ancient Church,” was his only reply. It was too difficult for him to conceive this genuine truth. The revealing of the Divine Man who comes from out of the Holy of holies and the procession that winds its way through the Churchyard were all part of the service that previous week. The mystery of the symbolism of the Writings manifested there is not known within the General Church of the New Jerusalem or even a subject of curiosity, I could not help but identify.
At that I went to the library and looked up what has been published in New Church Life. A directory there was present and listed a publication entitled ‘The Doctrine of Genuine Truth’ in the 1920’s. Bill Burke came by to check on me and told me that New Church Life was his donation and that some had gone missing but that there is a CD that is available that would have that sermon and all papers published.
We then engaged in the following conversation:
“Bill,” I stated, “I have been working on this concept of the Doctrine of Genuine Truth for a long time and in the Writings there is a statement in Heaven where the angels say, ‘good, now see if you make it all cohere in series'.”
I went on to explain that I would like to make a statement on the Doctrine of Genuine Truth. To which Bill Burke replied, “OK, go ahead.”
“It is because of the priests that cannot say and the priests that cannot know that the prophets are yet to understand the Doctrine of Genuine Truth,” I read from the statement that I have been working on for the previous month.
“That is what I have been saying for years,” he exclaimed and then, “I have to get ready for my sermon,” as he excused himself. Later, I considered my reasoned statement in series describing the current state of the New Church to be my passing grade in answer to a heavenly exam.
The sermon that day before the Holy Supper centered upon the manifestations of the Lord as an angel in the Old Testament Word and the command that accompanies to make His presence known. The example that comes to mind was the reply of Samuel, “Here I am Lord.”
After the service a Linda Carr complimented my voice and ability to read music when singing to the organ playing of Elanore Burke. I told her that I did miss coming there but that my attendance at Saint Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Decatur, Georgia takes precedent. She asked how I came to attend there and I related the story that I relate to you here now.
My purchase and perusal of the book just received by special order Rykwerts’ The Dancing Column on Order in Architecture had just been completed at Borders Bookstore. The frustration of knowing the mystery of KNH and the lack of identification in history was glaringly apparent.
The work of the cherubim succeeded in creating what I have termed ‘a hole in the head of mankind’. The dismissal of my request from Bishop Yousef on Coptic Information Day for the identification of KNH BSM for the edification of the New Church left me with at a loss of where to turn. It was the old daylight/train scenario that I sardonically had come to appreciate in the Lord’s teaching program.
Suddenly I brightened, “If this was so easy to figure out somebody would have figured it out already,” I pondered. “Now where do I turn?” It was this thought in mind that I related, “Now is the time to drive by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church just up the road, they know what is in Moses Holy anointing oil.” And as I drove there I knew that just simply asking the priest a question would not be possible because of course he does not speak English. An interpreter must be present as well.
There were other odd threads of correspondences involving this Church but too numerous to relate. Right before arriving there I cut off the ignition and coasted up to the Church on the left hand side of the road. Looking out into the street that day on the sidewalk in front of the Church was obviously a priest and another man. I snuck up on both of them looking out into the street just standing side by side. It was extremely odd and a true Kodak moment.
I looked over both and determined one to be the priest and turned to the other, “Is he your priest?” “Yes”, Solomon Liku replied. “I would like to ask your priest a question,” I said to him. Solomon Liku told me, “He does not speak English well but I can interpret for you.” “That would be great,” I replied. “Go and park your vehicle,” I was told.
After parking and approaching the priest I asked, “What is calamus?” and the quizzical expression on their faces and lack of understanding led me to amplify the question. “It is a plant in the Old Testament Word I want to know what it is in English.” And again the lack of understanding was related. “It is a term used in the Septuagint when the Old Testament was translated into Greek from the Hebrew,” I explained.
But still no enlightenment registered with either Ethiopian. That is when I knew that the places where Emanuel Swedenborg had translated KNH into calamus were all bogus and that the Lord was leading me deep into this mystery. The falsified term in the Word we share just would not register in their minds. It was the same initial reaction that the Coptic priests had given me on Coptic Information Day.
Bishop Yousef that day would only rejoin, “Why do you want to know this thing.” And again, I asked the Ethiopian priest the same question I had asked the Coptic priest and Bishop. “It is the third term in the Holy oil of Moses in Exodus 30: 23. The Hebrew is KNH BSM what is the term in English,” I pointedly asked. And then the discussion began in earnest between the priest and translator.
After some discussion then the translator turned to me and said, “It cannot be said in English.” At that response I rejoined, “If I write the question can a written answer be given?” And another heated discussion ensued between the translator and the priest who then turned to me and said, “It cannot be written.” Well now I had them. They knew but they weren’t going to say.
Obviously left out of the explanation was the fact that the term is considered holy and this confirms the theory that it is the secret knowledge of the priests. Well if that is the way they want to play then obviously one mystery deserves another I thought, as there is now nothing more to find out. “Truly a reed like unto a rod,” I grinned saying and bowed to them both thanking them for allowing me to share the experience. A gleam of recognition to this mystery rejoinder registered in Aba Tsinge Dengles eyes as he smiled.
After relating the above story to the woman at Morning Star Chapel that New Year’s Day in 2006 she rejoined, “Well it worked. You are still going there trying to get an answer out of them.” I grin even now in admiration of her astute wisdom.
Bill Burke then called everyone to order and asked if the lesson had been learned from his sermon that day. As I stood to his left he said, “If the Lord calls you then you go,” Later, Corinne Echols came into the library and arranged a sale to me of the first two volumes of Apocalypse Explained. The oddity of how I came to read this work in reverse order and my desire to be able to finish soon gave me a great sense of accomplishment. Now I have the final two volumes. Because I do not drive, Corrinne Echols and her husband Roger Echols had agreed to ride me home on their way. We had talked earlier about my imprisonment for KNH KNH BSM and how the Lord had turned it for good.
Immediately as we left the Church the first vehicle we saw upon the way was an Asplundh truck with a crew working on that New Years Sunday. Roger Echols remarked, “That truck and the company it represents is owned by the largest contributor to the General Church of the New Jerusalem.” “But I thought it was the Pitcairns who were the largest supporters of this religion,” I replied. “No, when you have large families and split up millions it tends to shrink after time. The big Picairn money was back in the day,” he explained. The subject of my imprisonment came up again and the mention of Ray Silverman and his ministry when he was a pastor in Atlanta.
I knew the name, Don Rogers a.k.a. Dakota Daniels had told me about his work with prisoners in Georgia. There were some in the Atlanta society who considered that this work was misplaced. Their thinking was typified with the idea that his obligation was to the society and not to Georgia prisoners. It seemed to me a rather cold idea and I knew that Roger was one of those who held that view of Ray Silverman’s work. Don Rogers a.k.a. Dakota Daniels had shown me Ray Silverman’s resignation letter from when he quit the General Church of the New Jerusalem. I decided that the next day I would try and locate him and say hello. And this is what led me to the following conversation and how I came to form the Doctrine of Genuine Truth in critical form opposing ‘Rise Above It’.
It was a surprise to learn that Monday, Ray Silverman is the Chaplain at Bryn Athyns. From what I understood of the man he had left the General Church of the New Jerusalem and joined the Lord’s New Church.
When I told him about having read his resignation letter back a few years ago he explained that this occurred in 1992. The Lord’s New Church believes that there is a hidden meaning within the Writings and so the curiosity on Ray Silverman’s theological vision. I questioned him about whether they are still in business. The last I had heard they had lost in court the money they had founded their religion with after one of the clergy members squirreled it away from the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Ray Silverman said that their religion is still operational but is quirky like all religions. When I told him that I am prophetic he became intrigued and shut the door to his office so that we would not be disturbed. Then, we engaged in a deep discussion on the mysteries. While spending the next two hours on the telephone I told him as much as I could to what I considered to be a receptive audience. Later, I even commented to my brother Howard because he knows it is rare for me to engage the clergy; the mysteries are too difficult a subject for them.
And during those two hours I laid it out. “All of the references in the Hebrew Word to KNH are hemp and the return of the Lord in the literal sense is that understanding and more. Jesus the Anointed will be seen as just that literally because He is the Anointed physically. The upright Gentiles are the Hittites, medical marijuana activists know the genuine truths of the Word. Their attitude is that the Christians aren’t Christian because they don’t believe the Word.
The medical marijuana movement is not Christian but now they use the Holy oil of Moses to heal the sick. They are in good and antipathy for the religionist who supports the State in its oppression and the ongoing death and destruction visited upon them by the Drug War are real.
This is not a concept that I came up with,” I explained during our long conversation. “It is not like the argument is over whether or not the General Church of the New Jerusalem is in error over the use of calamus in the anointing oil. There is no place in the Word, Orthodox practice, the doctrines of the early Church or the Writings for the use of strictly olive oil for the anointing of priests.
This is a profane practice. All of this is documented in my paper the Doctrine of Divine Truth that I filed with Thomas Kline. The literal meaning of the term KNH is known within the Oriental Orthodox Churches but is the secret knowledge of the priests. This is incredibly difficult for me to deal with and the only response is silence from the General Church of the New Jerusalem.
"Don Rogers anointed me when he officiated during the Office of Holy Oil.” And I went on in my complaint, “It is like I am so far into the Word I just fell out the other side. The revealing of Joseph to his brothers and so many of the mysteries just cannot be understood without this literal meaning being understood.
Don’t you all realize that the mystery of the woman clothed in the sun speaks of the New Church starting out small because they are not in good? Don’t you all realize that the Writings go on to say that because this beginning Church is without good it will also be without truth?” I asked Ray Silverman.
“There is a book my wife and I authored that I would like to let you have. I planned to send it someone else but learned they have a copy. There is a note written to them on it, so it cannot be sold. Can I send it to you without cost,” he enquired. “Sure,” I told him. And that is how I came to receive; ‘Rise Above It’. “What an intriguing story,” Ray Silverman closed in our conversation that day as he seemingly related. “You are a very interesting man and I have enjoyed speaking with you today,” he said.
When I received ‘Rise Above It’ I could only just glance through it. The symbolism seemed odd, incongruent and the teaching weak. Breaking down the Ten Commandments for the simple minded did not appeal to me. Revelation 6 in Apocalypse Explained was opening up before me. Having the ability to understand this work on the level for which it was intended is unique.
Ray Silverman called and wanted to know if I had received the book he sent me. “Yes,” I told him. “OK I just wanted to make sure you got it,” he stated. Then he continued, “The International Fellowship of Chaplains is the vehicle I used to obtain credentials when visiting prisoners in Georgia.
"They do have a place in their application where it asks if you have ever been convicted of a felony so I am not sure that you will be accepted.”
I had told him in our first conversation my spending 14 months imprisoned for KNH KNH BSM and intention to visit the imprisoned. I asked him, “Did you relay our conversation to Thomas Kline and inquire about the Doctrine of Divine Truth, sent to him?” To which Ray Silverman replied, “No, I did not.”
The return of the Lord is to be in the understanding of the literal and spiritual meaning of the Word according to the prophetic Word revealed in the Heavenly Doctrines. The religion of the General Church of the New Jerusalem is founded upon these Heavenly Doctrines.
Ray Silverman engaged this writer, who identified himself as holding the office of prophet and called upon to reveal this literal Word, in a two-hour telephone conversation. Yet, this doesn’t warrant a simple telephone inquiry?
At the time I was into paragraph 375 and swimming around in the deepest of all mystery. “The depth in which the Writings are opening to me are just incredible,” I tried to relate. “Don’t you all even read your own material?” And with that statement the confrontation began.
“I want you to read Numbers 15: 32-36 but you don’t have to right now,” Ray Silverman told me. “What is it about,” I wanted to know. “It is a story about a man who was caught picking up sticks on the Sabbath and the Lord spoke to Moses and ordered that this man be stoned to death. I do not believe that the Lord, the same Jesus that I know to be a loving God, ever ordered this. It did not happen.
The Lord did not speak to Moses,” Ray Silverman told me. And then he asked, “What do you think about that?” As I pondered the new development of a cleric on the payroll of this religion denying the Word, “The naked truth is that this man was simply executed for violating the Sabbath and that is the apparent truth,” I replied.
“There is symbolism involved a dead branch separated from the tree,” I grasped. “This is not a trick question,” Ray continued and reaffirmed, “The Lord did not order this mans death. I do not believe that the Lord spoke to Moses, what do you think about that,” was again the pointed in my face denial of the Word.
“Maybe it was just as well for this man,” I pondered. “He did not want to work on the Sabbath and then he got translated straight to heaven and got out of working,” I joked with Ray as we both grinned over the silliness of the mental exercise. “Ok,” I continued in that vein. “How about just because he was condemned to die doesn’t mean he went to hell. He paid his dues was made an example now the Lord greeted him in heaven,” but this really didn’t answer the question. “I’ll want to read the passages and think about this. Let me get back to you later,” I told Ray Silverman and we agreed to end our conversation on that note.
It was all so odd. Interrupted by a ‘virtual priest’ who denied the Word while reading paragraph 375 in Apocalypse Explained. This passage was not new to me. Just lately prophet Roger Christie with the THC-MINISTRY in Hilo, Hawaii had sent two new big bottles of the Holy oil of Moses. When I was blessed that Christmas Day by Patriarch Abune Merkorios after the celebration of the deliverance of the three princes they were hidden in my pocket. In a letter sent to prophet Roger Christie just previous to receiving this gift, paragraph 375 was printed out at the public library and mailed to him. I relate to him well. I had really been looking forward to reading this section again from my own book along with the leading and closing mysteries. And now my concentration was broken.
At Saint Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church, before the Divine Liturgy, a deacon passes around the Holy Bible. The priest in prayer had just given the Word. All the congregants worship Him as the Word by touching their head and kisses to it. As I walked this out, the Spirit compelled me to preach to the startled Canadian Geese gathered along the riverbank. “The Lord did not speak to Moses, what do you think about that?” I shouted to them as they just honked in reply.
But what is the genuine truth of what happened that day so long ago? Is this really just a story of a simple man that was just simply picking up sticks on the Sabbath and the Creator of the Universe came down on a specific individual in the Wilderness for simply this? No, I could not believe that because I knew the goodness of the Lord better than that and the evil of men to be far worse. I understand the evil of men and their depraved conspiracies only too well. I could see the genuine truth of what occurred that day.
The next morning I called Ray Silverman and left a message on his machine to call me and get educated. The insight of what genuinely happened that day is much closer to reality than the apparent truth anyone with depth in the Word will agree. Ray Silverman returned my telephone call and wanted to hear my insight into what really happened in that time long ago. The genuine truth that I relate now applies only too well to the reality of today. I could not see that then. But now, let me tell you what I told him, about the man who was picking up sticks on the Sabbath, that later went to meet his maker when the Israelites rose up.
“Your message said you had an insight to share with me about the man picking up sticks if this is a good time for you I would like to hear it,” Ray Silverman told me. “Sure is,” and then I told him that, “This is not a simple story about a simple man who was simply picking up sticks to make his simple little meal and the Creator of the Universe took it personal and ordered him executed. That is an apparent truth but that is not the genuine truth of what happened.
This was a major Supreme Court decision that was decided on the simple facts but the drama was much larger. This was an incredibly complex issue that involved the whole camp upon which Moses was called to judge and he refused. You should recall that it was his father-in-law Jethro, who taught Moses. Only the great controversies were to be decided by Moses in the future. This was one of those controversies,” I warmed to the story as Ray Silverman agreed.
“You're right, this is very interesting you should be a preacher I am on the edge of my chair,” Then continuing, “The fact is that some of the men in the camp grabbed this man and put him in the hold and if he left they would kill him. This man had angered men to such a degree that if he walked about in the camp they would murder him. But according to the law if they did, they would be guilty of shedding innocent blood. So they demanded that Moses decide.
Now, what could possibly make men so angry that they wanted to take life of this man for picking up sticks? Well, every time the Israelites moved camp this man would go out and pick up sticks. But, it was not just him doing the picking, it was his whole extended family and even servants were involved,” I conjectured. “How did you arrive at that,” Ray Silverman wanted to know.
“This is a patriarchal society and the head of the clan decides for everyone. Everyone in that extended family is bound by his decision. And if that decision put life in forfeit it would only be him to pay the penalty not the whole clan. ‘The sons are not to be put to death for the sins of the father.’ He was engaged in commerce,” I concluded because, “What is the big business on the Sabbath? It is sacrifice day. And on sacrifice day things get bloody, smoky, the priests are well fed, incensed and had the ‘anointing oil of the Lord’ upon them.
Also, let us not forget it is their big payday. Nobody else is working and the priests get all the cash. Now what does a man do after working, feasting and sated while sitting on a big fat wallet? Why, he lays around the house with the woman and doesn’t do a lick. Now do you think for a minute he is going to worry about cleaning his clothes or having his woman do that? Of course not, he has the laundryman come by to pick up the soiled linen. And that is what the sticks were all about, firewood for heating the water to wash the priests clothes.
When anyone in the camp complained because the laundryman was getting first dibs on the easy firewood, they were shot down; after all, the laundryman wasn’t really working he was serving God. He was part of the priest work force, get it?” I asked. “This really is interesting, I have never heard this story put like this” Ray Silverman commented. “Now what does a man do when he is exempt from the law, why he takes advantage of it of course and being a Jew he pushed it to the limit.
Can you picture this? Before you know it, what started out as a simple exemption blossomed into a full-scale commercial business. So that now, the only one that had firewood was the laundryman. When the camp moved it marched till it came to rest, on the Sabbath. Then, out went the laundryman and now his hired help gathered everything that could be gotten. Finally too many people got upset and grabbed him. And what did he say in defense?
“Moses, you’re talking about your laundryman here. You can’t kill me. If it weren’t for me your priest garments would be dirty. I clean up your mess. I clean up after all the priests. The priests did not say no before now. If it was such a problem why didn’t you do something about it before? It is not like you didn’t know. You knew what I was doing. Everybody knew what I was doing. It wasn’t a big secret. Now you want to kill me for it?”
No wonder Moses hated the job and he refused to rule on the issue. Moses recuses himself from the issue for conflict of interest and refused to rule. The Lord stepped in and decided on basic law.”
“That is a very interesting way of looking at this story. I hadn’t thought of it like that but still, I don’t believe the Lord ordered this man’s execution,” Ray Silverman confessed. “The interesting thing about this story is what happened next,” I continued with the tale. “This issue of the divine right of the priests to decide did not go over big, a revolution ensued. There were people on the laundryman’s side who did not care for the decision and like you, did not believe that the Lord spoke to Moses.”
“Korah decided that the Lord did not speak to Moses either. So he led a rebellion of 250 men against Moses. Korah said that they could be priests. We have the ephod (error), we have the censure, we burn the incense therefore we are priests. We don’t have to obey the Law of Moses because the Lord did not speak to Moses. Just like the priests of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. We don’t have to obey the Lord and be anointed according to the Law of Moses because the Lord did not speak to Moses.
We can use olive oil alone. It does not matter what it says in the law that established the priesthood. It does not matter what the Orthodox practices are of the churches established by the apostles who were taught by the Lord. It does not matter what the Heavenly Doctrines say because according to our self-intelligence, the Lord did not speak to Moses. Well the General Church of the New Jerusalem is in error for disobeying the Word of the Lord and Ray Silverman you are in error for disobeying the Word of the Lord.
Your whole crew, the lot of you needs to repent for your rebellion and conform to the gracious Word of our Lord and obey Him and be anointed according to the Law of Moses. And don’t forget what happened to Korah and his gang next. The Lord opened up the earth and swallowed them,” and as these words were flowing forth the influx of the Divine tickled my spine.
“If the Jesus I know is the Jehovah who condemns because of this then I will just go to hell,” Ray Silverman confessed. “Tell me I am wrong Ray,” I demanded. “I want to have just one of you educated in the Word and the Writings show me where I am wrong.” “It sounds like you have a lot of frustration dealing with all of this,” Ray Silverman identified. “You sound like you are having a difficult time,” he empathized.
“Really, I am used to it by now,” I said calming down. “This is really just par for the course, this is all too much for you,” I realized recognizing the blindness of Ray Silverman and the spiritual block when encountering Christian mysticism. “There is a section in my book I want you to read and give your opinion on but I am afraid to ask because I don’t want to take away from you your spirituality,” Ray Silverman continued.
“Whatever, you have to say in your book is not going to bother me. I contend with Bishops over doctrine. As a matter of fact, I have graduated from Bishops and now I contend with the Patriarch of the oldest religion on the face of the planet. The Lord has called upon me to introduce the Heavenly Doctrines to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which has 30 million Christians. So really don’t sweat it, what have you got,” or words to that effect. And that is how I came to document the following critique of the religion of Ray hereinafter referred to as RR:
The stick story begins on page 59 with the idea developed there concluding on page 62 with an example given of a father having difficulty with the concept of life and the focus of his work being a ‘false god’. This father decided to try and pray instead of letting his mind be consumed by work issues after making the initial discovery that his will alone was not capable of stopping the mind from turning over this subject. This father discovered that in prayer the Lord Jesus would come to him in His Word and comfort the mind. Instead of work issues, a scripture from the Word was given him and he felt refreshed.
So began for this troubled father a simple prayer practice. This principle is broadened to be included as a working example for RR, which does not look to the Lord. The teachings of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” are just as valid as the Word of the Lord, which oddly is established in RR by this Christians’ spiritual experience.
The whole stick story this writer found to be a fascinating example of correspondences. When first deciding how to begin this project, the correspondence struck that the Asplundh should be contacted but it did not really register why. Odd threads of thought had been brewing and Roger pointing out the Asplundh work truck after leaving Morning Star Chapel. Compensation for the expense incurred in service to the New Church was a consideration.
Until Ray Silverman imposed upon me, my intention then and even afterwards was to edit New Church sources in the same manner as the Doctrine of Divine Truth. So as an experiment the first call that morning was made to Kurt H. Asplundh who informed me that he was the editor for New Church Life and that his son, Kurt Hy. Asplundh is the secretary for the Council of Clergy. To me, that was a signal that this project should go forward as a comparison of genuine truth and spurious falsity but it just did not register about the stick story.
And then later after contacting most of the individuals named in RR and talking it over with my brother Howard the thought came to both of us. Why of course, they are still picking up sticks on the Sabbath and nobody will say boo to the biggest contributor to the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Things haven’t really changed at all from the days of Moses. We wash the priests robes. We are exempt. We are not working on the Sabbath but serving the Church.
In RR at the top of page 24, “Because he trusted in marijuana as his ‘link’ to the Divine presence, he had lost faith in the myriad ways that God was actually present and leading him in every moment of his life.” RR is founded upon the teaching of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” but with this doctrine there is no identification of any religion or any documentation named in support of this novel idea except a term called ‘link’.
In RR when the individual is using marijuana the conclusion is that the Divine presence is not actually present but departs. I point this out because this doctrine; that the Divine presence leaves the individual when they are high on marijuana, is expounded upon in RR and critiqued in the pages that follow.
In RR the explanation of the Commandment Do Not Steal, the following is quoted from the second paragraph on page 163. “Taking what is not our own has a long history. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve took what was not their own. God had just told Adam and Eve that they could freely eat of all the trees in that garden-all of the trees, that is, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent, however, urged Eve to take and eat the forbidden fruit, saying, ‘In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be as God, knowing good and evil.’ (Genesis 3: 5).
When the serpent showed her that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and would make her wise, Eve succumbed to this first temptation. She took the forbidden fruit, ate it, and offered some to her husband who also chose to eat. This is the first theft recorded in the Bible. As a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were banished from Paradise.”
After a two-paragraph diatribe decrying the evils of creating a religion based upon self-intelligence RR continues at the top of page 164. “The serpent told Eve that if she ate of the fruit she would be like God, that it would make her wise, and that she would know good and evil. The simple truth is that we can never derive a knowledge of spiritual things, or attain “special enlightenment,” through physical objects. No fruit, no leaf, no drug, no temple, no ritual, no sacred relic or holy oil, not even our own human reason or imagination, can give us a knowledge of good and evil.
Only God can reveal this knowledge to us. And this comes to us through the Sacred Scriptures, according to our willingness to receive, our ability to understand, and our efforts to keep the commandments. To try to attain the knowledge of good and evil by some other way is to try to enter “like a thief in the night.” As it is written in the New Testament, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10: 3).
What follows next is the story of an African who describes his experiences smoking “Dagga” (marijuana) and is used as an illustration of what the Lord was speaking about as one that is “climbing up by some other way.” Again the doctrine of one becoming separated from the Lord when stoned on marijuana in RR continues on page 165. “We, too, seriously delude ourselves whenever we believe that ‘we know’ – especially when it comes to spiritual things. Ultimately, we must come to the realization that only God has the power to discern between good and evil. And even though this knowledge is indeed revealed to us through the Sacred Scriptures of all religions, we can never have total perception, total charity, or total understanding any more that we can stare directly at the sun.
We may, of course, ‘enter in’ to the Divine mysteries, and understand them more deeply to eternity. This is according to order. But to presume that we have anything more than a limited amount of understanding is to believe that a tiny candle, flickering in the darkness, is really the Sun of heaven. As Emanuel Swedenborg writes, ‘The wisest of angels know that they have nothing of wisdom from themselves, and that acknowledging this is being wise. They know also that what they know is as nothing compared to what they do not know’ Heaven and Hell 280.”
Now, the doctrine of separation from God of those who are stoned on Marijuana or Dagga is established in RR and seemly confirmed by Heavenly Doctrine and the Word. This doctrine is developed further to the point that one who smokes marijuana is guilty of being deluded by the serpent (satan) into believing that they are gods. “As we enter more deeply into this commandment, we come to realize that the real ‘fall of man’ occurs whenever we ‘fall victim’ to the seductive illusion offered by the serpent – the illusion that ‘we think we know,’ and that, like God, we have a perfect knowledge of good and evil.
"As we fall victim to this illusion, we come into the delusive belief that the way we see things is the highest reality, and that we understand with the greatest clarity. In other words, we believe that we know what is right, and we know it better than others. We begin to believe the prophecy of the serpent: ‘Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ As we have seen in the journal entry about the young Africans who smoked Dagga, this delusive state begins with it an inflated sense of our own abilities and powers of perception. We begin to believe that the origin of goodness, wisdom, and even Life Itself, is within ourselves, or at least in the leaves of a plant. Having eaten of this forbidden fruit, we begin to believe that we are gods.”
The proper way to begin this critical review of this novel doctrine in RR is to examine the use of the Word. In John chapter 9, Jesus the Anointed sets the stage for this concluding address to the Pharisees in chapter 9 & 10 after the blind man is healed and examined by the priests. The Lord found the former blind man who then prostrated at His feet worshipping Him.
In John; And Jesus said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” 9: 39-10: 5
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
When my eyes were opened to the concept of writing the Doctrine of Genuine Truth after filing the Doctrine of Divine Truth the struggle began on how this could be put into a format that identifies these genuine truths of the Word and puts them to use. Right after receiving the blessing from Patriarch Abune Merkorios I told Solomon Egegu as I floated by when he asked, “Greg, how are you doing?” that, “What an incredible blessing Solomon! The Patriarch has just blessed me. There is a paper that I must write.” Solomon Egegu was standing beside Aba Tsinge Dengle when he replied, “The finishing work in this basement was done by me.” The thought that the Doctrine of the Genuine Truth can now be put on record appealed to me and that the Divine help needed for this project would now be forthcoming. The rest of the week was spent moving to my new place.
The disappointment with the meeting at Saint Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Decatur, Georgia with monk Alemu, Patrick Rose and myself still bore heavily upon me. When Patrick Rose drove me to my brothers’ house where I lived then our final words just depressed me. Over the course of time I had related to him that the Lord is revealing to me the hidden mysteries in the Word, which centers on the literal interpretation of KHN as hemp.
The way I had come to cope with his piercing English wit was to question his reality. “We only receive from the proprium which is conjoined to the hells or we receive the Divine Truth from the heavens. Maybe there is a third option made especially for me. I am given the divine bullshit,” I would chide in response.
“That must be what is happening to me,” I would say continuing along these lines. “I am not being taught by the Lord alone. I am being bullshitted by the Lord alone,” as I laughed.
But on the ride home that day the disappointing thought that a breakthrough did not occur gave me pause to fish for another wry response.
“Do you want to know what I told the Ethiopian priest when I handed him the Doctrine of Divine Truth when he opened the door and looked out before locking it on the dedication day of the new church, at Saint Gabriel,” I asked Patrick Rose. “Yes,” he bit.
“I told him that, ‘it is white like coriander seed,” telling him the mystery to see if it registered and what the response would be. “Oh, you are full of bullshit,” he admitted. “So that is what he really thinks,” I could not help but be persuaded when we arrived at my place, at that time in my brothers basement.
I hoped Bill Burke would officiate at Holy Supper this past New Years Day. Previous, I had sent to his wife Elanore a request that an invitation be extended to me to stay with them so that they both could review my work and agree that the hand of the Lord is upon me. They both had gifted to me Bill’s old binders of the Heavenly Doctrines from his seminary days and my proficiency in the Writings and my knowledge of the deeper mysteries left me with no doubt that recognition of my achievement should be granted.
Back in the old days before the Theological School at Bryn Athyns a clergy member would ordain an adept student. I could see no reason why Bill Burke could refuse me. Bill Burke and I had had many conversations regarding clergy recognition.
An affidavit from a recognized cleric is required in Georgia to visit the imprisoned which is known by him and heaven that I seek. Clergy recognition was in mind along with the Patriarch’s blessing that brought me that day to Morning Star Chapel, Georgia.
Before the morning service Bill Burke and Elanore were readying the Church and as there were a few moments available the opportunity presented itself for me to give him a small Christmas card with the three wise men following the star on the front. Inside, I had written; “Anointed Jesus revealed” with the verse number in reference as Revelation 14: 6, 7. A thumbprint made with the Holy oil of Moses was the only other statement made. Bill Burke examined the card and inscription without comment.
I then explained to him that it is the doctrine of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church that the three wise men were Ethiopian priests from the days when the Israelite Church was a practicing faith there. It seems that I also told him that the Ark of the Covenant with Ten Commandments is in Ethiopia.
Further, that the past Sunday when I was blessed the celebration was in honor of the deliverance of the three princes, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fire because it is an institutional memory of that Church.
“Can’t you see the genuine truth of this Bill,” I asked. “The chief priest and all of Jerusalem were in an uproar because the wise men were of the religion the Israelite Church established by King Solomon. The Lord Himself affirmed the existence of this Church when he decried the Pharisees and said that the Queen of the South would rise up in condemnation of this generation.
Do you think a priest is going to be upset over someone who has a different religion,” I asked. “The correspondence is that they were from the Ancient Church,” was his only reply. It was too difficult for him to conceive this genuine truth. The revealing of the Divine Man who comes from out of the Holy of holies and the procession that winds its way through the Churchyard were all part of the service that previous week. The mystery of the symbolism of the Writings manifested there is not known within the General Church of the New Jerusalem or even a subject of curiosity, I could not help but identify.
At that I went to the library and looked up what has been published in New Church Life. A directory there was present and listed a publication entitled ‘The Doctrine of Genuine Truth’ in the 1920’s. Bill Burke came by to check on me and told me that New Church Life was his donation and that some had gone missing but that there is a CD that is available that would have that sermon and all papers published.
We then engaged in the following conversation:
“Bill,” I stated, “I have been working on this concept of the Doctrine of Genuine Truth for a long time and in the Writings there is a statement in Heaven where the angels say, ‘good, now see if you make it all cohere in series'.”
I went on to explain that I would like to make a statement on the Doctrine of Genuine Truth. To which Bill Burke replied, “OK, go ahead.”
“It is because of the priests that cannot say and the priests that cannot know that the prophets are yet to understand the Doctrine of Genuine Truth,” I read from the statement that I have been working on for the previous month.
“That is what I have been saying for years,” he exclaimed and then, “I have to get ready for my sermon,” as he excused himself. Later, I considered my reasoned statement in series describing the current state of the New Church to be my passing grade in answer to a heavenly exam.
The sermon that day before the Holy Supper centered upon the manifestations of the Lord as an angel in the Old Testament Word and the command that accompanies to make His presence known. The example that comes to mind was the reply of Samuel, “Here I am Lord.”
After the service a Linda Carr complimented my voice and ability to read music when singing to the organ playing of Elanore Burke. I told her that I did miss coming there but that my attendance at Saint Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Decatur, Georgia takes precedent. She asked how I came to attend there and I related the story that I relate to you here now.
My purchase and perusal of the book just received by special order Rykwerts’ The Dancing Column on Order in Architecture had just been completed at Borders Bookstore. The frustration of knowing the mystery of KNH and the lack of identification in history was glaringly apparent.
The work of the cherubim succeeded in creating what I have termed ‘a hole in the head of mankind’. The dismissal of my request from Bishop Yousef on Coptic Information Day for the identification of KNH BSM for the edification of the New Church left me with at a loss of where to turn. It was the old daylight/train scenario that I sardonically had come to appreciate in the Lord’s teaching program.
Suddenly I brightened, “If this was so easy to figure out somebody would have figured it out already,” I pondered. “Now where do I turn?” It was this thought in mind that I related, “Now is the time to drive by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church just up the road, they know what is in Moses Holy anointing oil.” And as I drove there I knew that just simply asking the priest a question would not be possible because of course he does not speak English. An interpreter must be present as well.
There were other odd threads of correspondences involving this Church but too numerous to relate. Right before arriving there I cut off the ignition and coasted up to the Church on the left hand side of the road. Looking out into the street that day on the sidewalk in front of the Church was obviously a priest and another man. I snuck up on both of them looking out into the street just standing side by side. It was extremely odd and a true Kodak moment.
I looked over both and determined one to be the priest and turned to the other, “Is he your priest?” “Yes”, Solomon Liku replied. “I would like to ask your priest a question,” I said to him. Solomon Liku told me, “He does not speak English well but I can interpret for you.” “That would be great,” I replied. “Go and park your vehicle,” I was told.
After parking and approaching the priest I asked, “What is calamus?” and the quizzical expression on their faces and lack of understanding led me to amplify the question. “It is a plant in the Old Testament Word I want to know what it is in English.” And again the lack of understanding was related. “It is a term used in the Septuagint when the Old Testament was translated into Greek from the Hebrew,” I explained.
But still no enlightenment registered with either Ethiopian. That is when I knew that the places where Emanuel Swedenborg had translated KNH into calamus were all bogus and that the Lord was leading me deep into this mystery. The falsified term in the Word we share just would not register in their minds. It was the same initial reaction that the Coptic priests had given me on Coptic Information Day.
Bishop Yousef that day would only rejoin, “Why do you want to know this thing.” And again, I asked the Ethiopian priest the same question I had asked the Coptic priest and Bishop. “It is the third term in the Holy oil of Moses in Exodus 30: 23. The Hebrew is KNH BSM what is the term in English,” I pointedly asked. And then the discussion began in earnest between the priest and translator.
After some discussion then the translator turned to me and said, “It cannot be said in English.” At that response I rejoined, “If I write the question can a written answer be given?” And another heated discussion ensued between the translator and the priest who then turned to me and said, “It cannot be written.” Well now I had them. They knew but they weren’t going to say.
Obviously left out of the explanation was the fact that the term is considered holy and this confirms the theory that it is the secret knowledge of the priests. Well if that is the way they want to play then obviously one mystery deserves another I thought, as there is now nothing more to find out. “Truly a reed like unto a rod,” I grinned saying and bowed to them both thanking them for allowing me to share the experience. A gleam of recognition to this mystery rejoinder registered in Aba Tsinge Dengles eyes as he smiled.
After relating the above story to the woman at Morning Star Chapel that New Year’s Day in 2006 she rejoined, “Well it worked. You are still going there trying to get an answer out of them.” I grin even now in admiration of her astute wisdom.
Bill Burke then called everyone to order and asked if the lesson had been learned from his sermon that day. As I stood to his left he said, “If the Lord calls you then you go,” Later, Corinne Echols came into the library and arranged a sale to me of the first two volumes of Apocalypse Explained. The oddity of how I came to read this work in reverse order and my desire to be able to finish soon gave me a great sense of accomplishment. Now I have the final two volumes. Because I do not drive, Corrinne Echols and her husband Roger Echols had agreed to ride me home on their way. We had talked earlier about my imprisonment for KNH KNH BSM and how the Lord had turned it for good.
Immediately as we left the Church the first vehicle we saw upon the way was an Asplundh truck with a crew working on that New Years Sunday. Roger Echols remarked, “That truck and the company it represents is owned by the largest contributor to the General Church of the New Jerusalem.” “But I thought it was the Pitcairns who were the largest supporters of this religion,” I replied. “No, when you have large families and split up millions it tends to shrink after time. The big Picairn money was back in the day,” he explained. The subject of my imprisonment came up again and the mention of Ray Silverman and his ministry when he was a pastor in Atlanta.
I knew the name, Don Rogers a.k.a. Dakota Daniels had told me about his work with prisoners in Georgia. There were some in the Atlanta society who considered that this work was misplaced. Their thinking was typified with the idea that his obligation was to the society and not to Georgia prisoners. It seemed to me a rather cold idea and I knew that Roger was one of those who held that view of Ray Silverman’s work. Don Rogers a.k.a. Dakota Daniels had shown me Ray Silverman’s resignation letter from when he quit the General Church of the New Jerusalem. I decided that the next day I would try and locate him and say hello. And this is what led me to the following conversation and how I came to form the Doctrine of Genuine Truth in critical form opposing ‘Rise Above It’.
It was a surprise to learn that Monday, Ray Silverman is the Chaplain at Bryn Athyns. From what I understood of the man he had left the General Church of the New Jerusalem and joined the Lord’s New Church.
When I told him about having read his resignation letter back a few years ago he explained that this occurred in 1992. The Lord’s New Church believes that there is a hidden meaning within the Writings and so the curiosity on Ray Silverman’s theological vision. I questioned him about whether they are still in business. The last I had heard they had lost in court the money they had founded their religion with after one of the clergy members squirreled it away from the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Ray Silverman said that their religion is still operational but is quirky like all religions. When I told him that I am prophetic he became intrigued and shut the door to his office so that we would not be disturbed. Then, we engaged in a deep discussion on the mysteries. While spending the next two hours on the telephone I told him as much as I could to what I considered to be a receptive audience. Later, I even commented to my brother Howard because he knows it is rare for me to engage the clergy; the mysteries are too difficult a subject for them.
And during those two hours I laid it out. “All of the references in the Hebrew Word to KNH are hemp and the return of the Lord in the literal sense is that understanding and more. Jesus the Anointed will be seen as just that literally because He is the Anointed physically. The upright Gentiles are the Hittites, medical marijuana activists know the genuine truths of the Word. Their attitude is that the Christians aren’t Christian because they don’t believe the Word.
The medical marijuana movement is not Christian but now they use the Holy oil of Moses to heal the sick. They are in good and antipathy for the religionist who supports the State in its oppression and the ongoing death and destruction visited upon them by the Drug War are real.
This is not a concept that I came up with,” I explained during our long conversation. “It is not like the argument is over whether or not the General Church of the New Jerusalem is in error over the use of calamus in the anointing oil. There is no place in the Word, Orthodox practice, the doctrines of the early Church or the Writings for the use of strictly olive oil for the anointing of priests.
This is a profane practice. All of this is documented in my paper the Doctrine of Divine Truth that I filed with Thomas Kline. The literal meaning of the term KNH is known within the Oriental Orthodox Churches but is the secret knowledge of the priests. This is incredibly difficult for me to deal with and the only response is silence from the General Church of the New Jerusalem.
"Don Rogers anointed me when he officiated during the Office of Holy Oil.” And I went on in my complaint, “It is like I am so far into the Word I just fell out the other side. The revealing of Joseph to his brothers and so many of the mysteries just cannot be understood without this literal meaning being understood.
Don’t you all realize that the mystery of the woman clothed in the sun speaks of the New Church starting out small because they are not in good? Don’t you all realize that the Writings go on to say that because this beginning Church is without good it will also be without truth?” I asked Ray Silverman.
“There is a book my wife and I authored that I would like to let you have. I planned to send it someone else but learned they have a copy. There is a note written to them on it, so it cannot be sold. Can I send it to you without cost,” he enquired. “Sure,” I told him. And that is how I came to receive; ‘Rise Above It’. “What an intriguing story,” Ray Silverman closed in our conversation that day as he seemingly related. “You are a very interesting man and I have enjoyed speaking with you today,” he said.
When I received ‘Rise Above It’ I could only just glance through it. The symbolism seemed odd, incongruent and the teaching weak. Breaking down the Ten Commandments for the simple minded did not appeal to me. Revelation 6 in Apocalypse Explained was opening up before me. Having the ability to understand this work on the level for which it was intended is unique.
Ray Silverman called and wanted to know if I had received the book he sent me. “Yes,” I told him. “OK I just wanted to make sure you got it,” he stated. Then he continued, “The International Fellowship of Chaplains is the vehicle I used to obtain credentials when visiting prisoners in Georgia.
"They do have a place in their application where it asks if you have ever been convicted of a felony so I am not sure that you will be accepted.”
I had told him in our first conversation my spending 14 months imprisoned for KNH KNH BSM and intention to visit the imprisoned. I asked him, “Did you relay our conversation to Thomas Kline and inquire about the Doctrine of Divine Truth, sent to him?” To which Ray Silverman replied, “No, I did not.”
The return of the Lord is to be in the understanding of the literal and spiritual meaning of the Word according to the prophetic Word revealed in the Heavenly Doctrines. The religion of the General Church of the New Jerusalem is founded upon these Heavenly Doctrines.
Ray Silverman engaged this writer, who identified himself as holding the office of prophet and called upon to reveal this literal Word, in a two-hour telephone conversation. Yet, this doesn’t warrant a simple telephone inquiry?
At the time I was into paragraph 375 and swimming around in the deepest of all mystery. “The depth in which the Writings are opening to me are just incredible,” I tried to relate. “Don’t you all even read your own material?” And with that statement the confrontation began.
“I want you to read Numbers 15: 32-36 but you don’t have to right now,” Ray Silverman told me. “What is it about,” I wanted to know. “It is a story about a man who was caught picking up sticks on the Sabbath and the Lord spoke to Moses and ordered that this man be stoned to death. I do not believe that the Lord, the same Jesus that I know to be a loving God, ever ordered this. It did not happen.
The Lord did not speak to Moses,” Ray Silverman told me. And then he asked, “What do you think about that?” As I pondered the new development of a cleric on the payroll of this religion denying the Word, “The naked truth is that this man was simply executed for violating the Sabbath and that is the apparent truth,” I replied.
“There is symbolism involved a dead branch separated from the tree,” I grasped. “This is not a trick question,” Ray continued and reaffirmed, “The Lord did not order this mans death. I do not believe that the Lord spoke to Moses, what do you think about that,” was again the pointed in my face denial of the Word.
“Maybe it was just as well for this man,” I pondered. “He did not want to work on the Sabbath and then he got translated straight to heaven and got out of working,” I joked with Ray as we both grinned over the silliness of the mental exercise. “Ok,” I continued in that vein. “How about just because he was condemned to die doesn’t mean he went to hell. He paid his dues was made an example now the Lord greeted him in heaven,” but this really didn’t answer the question. “I’ll want to read the passages and think about this. Let me get back to you later,” I told Ray Silverman and we agreed to end our conversation on that note.
It was all so odd. Interrupted by a ‘virtual priest’ who denied the Word while reading paragraph 375 in Apocalypse Explained. This passage was not new to me. Just lately prophet Roger Christie with the THC-MINISTRY in Hilo, Hawaii had sent two new big bottles of the Holy oil of Moses. When I was blessed that Christmas Day by Patriarch Abune Merkorios after the celebration of the deliverance of the three princes they were hidden in my pocket. In a letter sent to prophet Roger Christie just previous to receiving this gift, paragraph 375 was printed out at the public library and mailed to him. I relate to him well. I had really been looking forward to reading this section again from my own book along with the leading and closing mysteries. And now my concentration was broken.
At Saint Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church, before the Divine Liturgy, a deacon passes around the Holy Bible. The priest in prayer had just given the Word. All the congregants worship Him as the Word by touching their head and kisses to it. As I walked this out, the Spirit compelled me to preach to the startled Canadian Geese gathered along the riverbank. “The Lord did not speak to Moses, what do you think about that?” I shouted to them as they just honked in reply.
But what is the genuine truth of what happened that day so long ago? Is this really just a story of a simple man that was just simply picking up sticks on the Sabbath and the Creator of the Universe came down on a specific individual in the Wilderness for simply this? No, I could not believe that because I knew the goodness of the Lord better than that and the evil of men to be far worse. I understand the evil of men and their depraved conspiracies only too well. I could see the genuine truth of what occurred that day.
The next morning I called Ray Silverman and left a message on his machine to call me and get educated. The insight of what genuinely happened that day is much closer to reality than the apparent truth anyone with depth in the Word will agree. Ray Silverman returned my telephone call and wanted to hear my insight into what really happened in that time long ago. The genuine truth that I relate now applies only too well to the reality of today. I could not see that then. But now, let me tell you what I told him, about the man who was picking up sticks on the Sabbath, that later went to meet his maker when the Israelites rose up.
“Your message said you had an insight to share with me about the man picking up sticks if this is a good time for you I would like to hear it,” Ray Silverman told me. “Sure is,” and then I told him that, “This is not a simple story about a simple man who was simply picking up sticks to make his simple little meal and the Creator of the Universe took it personal and ordered him executed. That is an apparent truth but that is not the genuine truth of what happened.
This was a major Supreme Court decision that was decided on the simple facts but the drama was much larger. This was an incredibly complex issue that involved the whole camp upon which Moses was called to judge and he refused. You should recall that it was his father-in-law Jethro, who taught Moses. Only the great controversies were to be decided by Moses in the future. This was one of those controversies,” I warmed to the story as Ray Silverman agreed.
“You're right, this is very interesting you should be a preacher I am on the edge of my chair,” Then continuing, “The fact is that some of the men in the camp grabbed this man and put him in the hold and if he left they would kill him. This man had angered men to such a degree that if he walked about in the camp they would murder him. But according to the law if they did, they would be guilty of shedding innocent blood. So they demanded that Moses decide.
Now, what could possibly make men so angry that they wanted to take life of this man for picking up sticks? Well, every time the Israelites moved camp this man would go out and pick up sticks. But, it was not just him doing the picking, it was his whole extended family and even servants were involved,” I conjectured. “How did you arrive at that,” Ray Silverman wanted to know.
“This is a patriarchal society and the head of the clan decides for everyone. Everyone in that extended family is bound by his decision. And if that decision put life in forfeit it would only be him to pay the penalty not the whole clan. ‘The sons are not to be put to death for the sins of the father.’ He was engaged in commerce,” I concluded because, “What is the big business on the Sabbath? It is sacrifice day. And on sacrifice day things get bloody, smoky, the priests are well fed, incensed and had the ‘anointing oil of the Lord’ upon them.
Also, let us not forget it is their big payday. Nobody else is working and the priests get all the cash. Now what does a man do after working, feasting and sated while sitting on a big fat wallet? Why, he lays around the house with the woman and doesn’t do a lick. Now do you think for a minute he is going to worry about cleaning his clothes or having his woman do that? Of course not, he has the laundryman come by to pick up the soiled linen. And that is what the sticks were all about, firewood for heating the water to wash the priests clothes.
When anyone in the camp complained because the laundryman was getting first dibs on the easy firewood, they were shot down; after all, the laundryman wasn’t really working he was serving God. He was part of the priest work force, get it?” I asked. “This really is interesting, I have never heard this story put like this” Ray Silverman commented. “Now what does a man do when he is exempt from the law, why he takes advantage of it of course and being a Jew he pushed it to the limit.
Can you picture this? Before you know it, what started out as a simple exemption blossomed into a full-scale commercial business. So that now, the only one that had firewood was the laundryman. When the camp moved it marched till it came to rest, on the Sabbath. Then, out went the laundryman and now his hired help gathered everything that could be gotten. Finally too many people got upset and grabbed him. And what did he say in defense?
“Moses, you’re talking about your laundryman here. You can’t kill me. If it weren’t for me your priest garments would be dirty. I clean up your mess. I clean up after all the priests. The priests did not say no before now. If it was such a problem why didn’t you do something about it before? It is not like you didn’t know. You knew what I was doing. Everybody knew what I was doing. It wasn’t a big secret. Now you want to kill me for it?”
No wonder Moses hated the job and he refused to rule on the issue. Moses recuses himself from the issue for conflict of interest and refused to rule. The Lord stepped in and decided on basic law.”
“That is a very interesting way of looking at this story. I hadn’t thought of it like that but still, I don’t believe the Lord ordered this man’s execution,” Ray Silverman confessed. “The interesting thing about this story is what happened next,” I continued with the tale. “This issue of the divine right of the priests to decide did not go over big, a revolution ensued. There were people on the laundryman’s side who did not care for the decision and like you, did not believe that the Lord spoke to Moses.”
“Korah decided that the Lord did not speak to Moses either. So he led a rebellion of 250 men against Moses. Korah said that they could be priests. We have the ephod (error), we have the censure, we burn the incense therefore we are priests. We don’t have to obey the Law of Moses because the Lord did not speak to Moses. Just like the priests of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. We don’t have to obey the Lord and be anointed according to the Law of Moses because the Lord did not speak to Moses.
We can use olive oil alone. It does not matter what it says in the law that established the priesthood. It does not matter what the Orthodox practices are of the churches established by the apostles who were taught by the Lord. It does not matter what the Heavenly Doctrines say because according to our self-intelligence, the Lord did not speak to Moses. Well the General Church of the New Jerusalem is in error for disobeying the Word of the Lord and Ray Silverman you are in error for disobeying the Word of the Lord.
Your whole crew, the lot of you needs to repent for your rebellion and conform to the gracious Word of our Lord and obey Him and be anointed according to the Law of Moses. And don’t forget what happened to Korah and his gang next. The Lord opened up the earth and swallowed them,” and as these words were flowing forth the influx of the Divine tickled my spine.
“If the Jesus I know is the Jehovah who condemns because of this then I will just go to hell,” Ray Silverman confessed. “Tell me I am wrong Ray,” I demanded. “I want to have just one of you educated in the Word and the Writings show me where I am wrong.” “It sounds like you have a lot of frustration dealing with all of this,” Ray Silverman identified. “You sound like you are having a difficult time,” he empathized.
“Really, I am used to it by now,” I said calming down. “This is really just par for the course, this is all too much for you,” I realized recognizing the blindness of Ray Silverman and the spiritual block when encountering Christian mysticism. “There is a section in my book I want you to read and give your opinion on but I am afraid to ask because I don’t want to take away from you your spirituality,” Ray Silverman continued.
“Whatever, you have to say in your book is not going to bother me. I contend with Bishops over doctrine. As a matter of fact, I have graduated from Bishops and now I contend with the Patriarch of the oldest religion on the face of the planet. The Lord has called upon me to introduce the Heavenly Doctrines to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which has 30 million Christians. So really don’t sweat it, what have you got,” or words to that effect. And that is how I came to document the following critique of the religion of Ray hereinafter referred to as RR:
The stick story begins on page 59 with the idea developed there concluding on page 62 with an example given of a father having difficulty with the concept of life and the focus of his work being a ‘false god’. This father decided to try and pray instead of letting his mind be consumed by work issues after making the initial discovery that his will alone was not capable of stopping the mind from turning over this subject. This father discovered that in prayer the Lord Jesus would come to him in His Word and comfort the mind. Instead of work issues, a scripture from the Word was given him and he felt refreshed.
So began for this troubled father a simple prayer practice. This principle is broadened to be included as a working example for RR, which does not look to the Lord. The teachings of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” are just as valid as the Word of the Lord, which oddly is established in RR by this Christians’ spiritual experience.
The whole stick story this writer found to be a fascinating example of correspondences. When first deciding how to begin this project, the correspondence struck that the Asplundh should be contacted but it did not really register why. Odd threads of thought had been brewing and Roger pointing out the Asplundh work truck after leaving Morning Star Chapel. Compensation for the expense incurred in service to the New Church was a consideration.
Until Ray Silverman imposed upon me, my intention then and even afterwards was to edit New Church sources in the same manner as the Doctrine of Divine Truth. So as an experiment the first call that morning was made to Kurt H. Asplundh who informed me that he was the editor for New Church Life and that his son, Kurt Hy. Asplundh is the secretary for the Council of Clergy. To me, that was a signal that this project should go forward as a comparison of genuine truth and spurious falsity but it just did not register about the stick story.
And then later after contacting most of the individuals named in RR and talking it over with my brother Howard the thought came to both of us. Why of course, they are still picking up sticks on the Sabbath and nobody will say boo to the biggest contributor to the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Things haven’t really changed at all from the days of Moses. We wash the priests robes. We are exempt. We are not working on the Sabbath but serving the Church.
In RR at the top of page 24, “Because he trusted in marijuana as his ‘link’ to the Divine presence, he had lost faith in the myriad ways that God was actually present and leading him in every moment of his life.” RR is founded upon the teaching of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” but with this doctrine there is no identification of any religion or any documentation named in support of this novel idea except a term called ‘link’.
In RR when the individual is using marijuana the conclusion is that the Divine presence is not actually present but departs. I point this out because this doctrine; that the Divine presence leaves the individual when they are high on marijuana, is expounded upon in RR and critiqued in the pages that follow.
In RR the explanation of the Commandment Do Not Steal, the following is quoted from the second paragraph on page 163. “Taking what is not our own has a long history. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve took what was not their own. God had just told Adam and Eve that they could freely eat of all the trees in that garden-all of the trees, that is, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent, however, urged Eve to take and eat the forbidden fruit, saying, ‘In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be as God, knowing good and evil.’ (Genesis 3: 5).
When the serpent showed her that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and would make her wise, Eve succumbed to this first temptation. She took the forbidden fruit, ate it, and offered some to her husband who also chose to eat. This is the first theft recorded in the Bible. As a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were banished from Paradise.”
After a two-paragraph diatribe decrying the evils of creating a religion based upon self-intelligence RR continues at the top of page 164. “The serpent told Eve that if she ate of the fruit she would be like God, that it would make her wise, and that she would know good and evil. The simple truth is that we can never derive a knowledge of spiritual things, or attain “special enlightenment,” through physical objects. No fruit, no leaf, no drug, no temple, no ritual, no sacred relic or holy oil, not even our own human reason or imagination, can give us a knowledge of good and evil.
Only God can reveal this knowledge to us. And this comes to us through the Sacred Scriptures, according to our willingness to receive, our ability to understand, and our efforts to keep the commandments. To try to attain the knowledge of good and evil by some other way is to try to enter “like a thief in the night.” As it is written in the New Testament, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10: 3).
What follows next is the story of an African who describes his experiences smoking “Dagga” (marijuana) and is used as an illustration of what the Lord was speaking about as one that is “climbing up by some other way.” Again the doctrine of one becoming separated from the Lord when stoned on marijuana in RR continues on page 165. “We, too, seriously delude ourselves whenever we believe that ‘we know’ – especially when it comes to spiritual things. Ultimately, we must come to the realization that only God has the power to discern between good and evil. And even though this knowledge is indeed revealed to us through the Sacred Scriptures of all religions, we can never have total perception, total charity, or total understanding any more that we can stare directly at the sun.
We may, of course, ‘enter in’ to the Divine mysteries, and understand them more deeply to eternity. This is according to order. But to presume that we have anything more than a limited amount of understanding is to believe that a tiny candle, flickering in the darkness, is really the Sun of heaven. As Emanuel Swedenborg writes, ‘The wisest of angels know that they have nothing of wisdom from themselves, and that acknowledging this is being wise. They know also that what they know is as nothing compared to what they do not know’ Heaven and Hell 280.”
Now, the doctrine of separation from God of those who are stoned on Marijuana or Dagga is established in RR and seemly confirmed by Heavenly Doctrine and the Word. This doctrine is developed further to the point that one who smokes marijuana is guilty of being deluded by the serpent (satan) into believing that they are gods. “As we enter more deeply into this commandment, we come to realize that the real ‘fall of man’ occurs whenever we ‘fall victim’ to the seductive illusion offered by the serpent – the illusion that ‘we think we know,’ and that, like God, we have a perfect knowledge of good and evil.
"As we fall victim to this illusion, we come into the delusive belief that the way we see things is the highest reality, and that we understand with the greatest clarity. In other words, we believe that we know what is right, and we know it better than others. We begin to believe the prophecy of the serpent: ‘Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ As we have seen in the journal entry about the young Africans who smoked Dagga, this delusive state begins with it an inflated sense of our own abilities and powers of perception. We begin to believe that the origin of goodness, wisdom, and even Life Itself, is within ourselves, or at least in the leaves of a plant. Having eaten of this forbidden fruit, we begin to believe that we are gods.”
The proper way to begin this critical review of this novel doctrine in RR is to examine the use of the Word. In John chapter 9, Jesus the Anointed sets the stage for this concluding address to the Pharisees in chapter 9 & 10 after the blind man is healed and examined by the priests. The Lord found the former blind man who then prostrated at His feet worshipping Him.
In John; And Jesus said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” 9: 39-10: 5
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
The stick story begins on page 59 with the idea developed there concluding on page 62 with an example given of a father having difficulty with the concept of life and the focus of his work being a ‘false god’. This father decided to try and pray instead of letting his mind be consumed by work issues after making the initial discovery that his will alone was not capable of stopping the mind from turning over this subject. This father discovered that in prayer the Lord Jesus would come to him in His Word and comfort the mind. Instead of work issues, a scripture from the Word was given him and he felt refreshed.
So began for this troubled father a simple prayer practice. This principle is broadened to be included as a working example for RR, which does not look to the Lord. The teachings of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” are just as valid as the Word of the Lord, which oddly is established in RR by this Christians’ spiritual experience.
The whole stick story this writer found to be a fascinating example of correspondences. When first deciding how to begin this project, the correspondence struck that the Asplundh should be contacted but it did not really register why. Odd threads of thought had been brewing and Roger pointing out the Asplundh work truck after leaving Morning Star Chapel. Compensation for the expense incurred in service to the New Church was a consideration.
Until Ray Silverman imposed upon me, my intention then and even afterwards was to edit New Church sources in the same manner as the Doctrine of Divine Truth. So as an experiment the first call that morning was made to Kurt H. Asplundh who informed me that he was the editor for New Church Life and that his son, Kurt Hy. Asplundh is the secretary for the Council of Clergy. To me, that was a signal that this project should go forward as a comparison of genuine truth and spurious falsity but it just did not register about the stick story.
And then later after contacting most of the individuals named in RR and talking it over with my brother Howard the thought came to both of us. Why of course, they are still picking up sticks on the Sabbath and nobody will say boo to the biggest contributor to the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Things haven’t really changed at all from the days of Moses. We wash the priests robes. We are exempt. We are not working on the Sabbath but serving the Church.
In RR at the top of page 24, “Because he trusted in marijuana as his ‘link’ to the Divine presence, he had lost faith in the myriad ways that God was actually present and leading him in every moment of his life.” RR is founded upon the teaching of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” but with this doctrine there is no identification of any religion or any documentation named in support of this novel idea except a term called ‘link’.
In RR when the individual is using marijuana the conclusion is that the Divine presence is not actually present but departs. I point this out because this doctrine; that the Divine presence leaves the individual when they are high on marijuana, is expounded upon in RR and critiqued in the pages that follow.
In RR the explanation of the Commandment Do Not Steal, the following is quoted from the second paragraph on page 163. “Taking what is not our own has a long history. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve took what was not their own. God had just told Adam and Eve that they could freely eat of all the trees in that garden-all of the trees, that is, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent, however, urged Eve to take and eat the forbidden fruit, saying, ‘In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be as God, knowing good and evil.’ (Genesis 3: 5).
When the serpent showed her that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and would make her wise, Eve succumbed to this first temptation. She took the forbidden fruit, ate it, and offered some to her husband who also chose to eat. This is the first theft recorded in the Bible. As a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were banished from Paradise.”
After a two-paragraph diatribe decrying the evils of creating a religion based upon self-intelligence RR continues at the top of page 164. “The serpent told Eve that if she ate of the fruit she would be like God, that it would make her wise, and that she would know good and evil. The simple truth is that we can never derive a knowledge of spiritual things, or attain “special enlightenment,” through physical objects. No fruit, no leaf, no drug, no temple, no ritual, no sacred relic or holy oil, not even our own human reason or imagination, can give us a knowledge of good and evil.
Only God can reveal this knowledge to us. And this comes to us through the Sacred Scriptures, according to our willingness to receive, our ability to understand, and our efforts to keep the commandments. To try to attain the knowledge of good and evil by some other way is to try to enter “like a thief in the night.” As it is written in the New Testament, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10: 3).
What follows next is the story of an African who describes his experiences smoking “Dagga” (marijuana) and is used as an illustration of what the Lord was speaking about as one that is “climbing up by some other way.” Again the doctrine of one becoming separated from the Lord when stoned on marijuana in RR continues on page 165. “We, too, seriously delude ourselves whenever we believe that ‘we know’ – especially when it comes to spiritual things. Ultimately, we must come to the realization that only God has the power to discern between good and evil. And even though this knowledge is indeed revealed to us through the Sacred Scriptures of all religions, we can never have total perception, total charity, or total understanding any more that we can stare directly at the sun.
We may, of course, ‘enter in’ to the Divine mysteries, and understand them more deeply to eternity. This is according to order. But to presume that we have anything more than a limited amount of understanding is to believe that a tiny candle, flickering in the darkness, is really the Sun of heaven. As Emanuel Swedenborg writes, ‘The wisest of angels know that they have nothing of wisdom from themselves, and that acknowledging this is being wise. They know also that what they know is as nothing compared to what they do not know’ Heaven and Hell 280.”
Now, the doctrine of separation from God of those who are stoned on Marijuana or Dagga is established in RR and seemly confirmed by Heavenly Doctrine and the Word. This doctrine is developed further to the point that one who smokes marijuana is guilty of being deluded by the serpent (satan) into believing that they are gods. “As we enter more deeply into this commandment, we come to realize that the real ‘fall of man’ occurs whenever we ‘fall victim’ to the seductive illusion offered by the serpent – the illusion that ‘we think we know,’ and that, like God, we have a perfect knowledge of good and evil.
"As we fall victim to this illusion, we come into the delusive belief that the way we see things is the highest reality, and that we understand with the greatest clarity. In other words, we believe that we know what is right, and we know it better than others. We begin to believe the prophecy of the serpent: ‘Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ As we have seen in the journal entry about the young Africans who smoked Dagga, this delusive state begins with it an inflated sense of our own abilities and powers of perception. We begin to believe that the origin of goodness, wisdom, and even Life Itself, is within ourselves, or at least in the leaves of a plant. Having eaten of this forbidden fruit, we begin to believe that we are gods.”
The proper way to begin this critical review of this novel doctrine in RR is to examine the use of the Word. In John chapter 9, Jesus the Anointed sets the stage for this concluding address to the Pharisees in chapter 9 & 10 after the blind man is healed and examined by the priests. The Lord found the former blind man who then prostrated at His feet worshipping Him.
In John; And Jesus said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” 9: 39-10: 5
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
The whole stick story this writer found to be a fascinating example of correspondences. When first deciding how to begin this project, the correspondence struck that the Asplundh should be contacted but it did not really register why. Odd threads of thought had been brewing and Roger pointing out the Asplundh work truck after leaving Morning Star Chapel. Compensation for the expense incurred in service to the New Church was a consideration.
Until Ray Silverman imposed upon me, my intention then and even afterwards was to edit New Church sources in the same manner as the Doctrine of Divine Truth. So as an experiment the first call that morning was made to Kurt H. Asplundh who informed me that he was the editor for New Church Life and that his son, Kurt Hy. Asplundh is the secretary for the Council of Clergy. To me, that was a signal that this project should go forward as a comparison of genuine truth and spurious falsity but it just did not register about the stick story.
And then later after contacting most of the individuals named in RR and talking it over with my brother Howard the thought came to both of us. Why of course, they are still picking up sticks on the Sabbath and nobody will say boo to the biggest contributor to the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Things haven’t really changed at all from the days of Moses. We wash the priests robes. We are exempt. We are not working on the Sabbath but serving the Church.
In RR at the top of page 24, “Because he trusted in marijuana as his ‘link’ to the Divine presence, he had lost faith in the myriad ways that God was actually present and leading him in every moment of his life.” RR is founded upon the teaching of “the Scriptures of all the great religions” but with this doctrine there is no identification of any religion or any documentation named in support of this novel idea except a term called ‘link’.
In RR when the individual is using marijuana the conclusion is that the Divine presence is not actually present but departs. I point this out because this doctrine; that the Divine presence leaves the individual when they are high on marijuana, is expounded upon in RR and critiqued in the pages that follow.
In RR the explanation of the Commandment Do Not Steal, the following is quoted from the second paragraph on page 163. “Taking what is not our own has a long history. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve took what was not their own. God had just told Adam and Eve that they could freely eat of all the trees in that garden-all of the trees, that is, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent, however, urged Eve to take and eat the forbidden fruit, saying, ‘In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be as God, knowing good and evil.’ (Genesis 3: 5).
When the serpent showed her that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and would make her wise, Eve succumbed to this first temptation. She took the forbidden fruit, ate it, and offered some to her husband who also chose to eat. This is the first theft recorded in the Bible. As a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were banished from Paradise.”
After a two-paragraph diatribe decrying the evils of creating a religion based upon self-intelligence RR continues at the top of page 164. “The serpent told Eve that if she ate of the fruit she would be like God, that it would make her wise, and that she would know good and evil. The simple truth is that we can never derive a knowledge of spiritual things, or attain “special enlightenment,” through physical objects. No fruit, no leaf, no drug, no temple, no ritual, no sacred relic or holy oil, not even our own human reason or imagination, can give us a knowledge of good and evil.
Only God can reveal this knowledge to us. And this comes to us through the Sacred Scriptures, according to our willingness to receive, our ability to understand, and our efforts to keep the commandments. To try to attain the knowledge of good and evil by some other way is to try to enter “like a thief in the night.” As it is written in the New Testament, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10: 3).
What follows next is the story of an African who describes his experiences smoking “Dagga” (marijuana) and is used as an illustration of what the Lord was speaking about as one that is “climbing up by some other way.” Again the doctrine of one becoming separated from the Lord when stoned on marijuana in RR continues on page 165. “We, too, seriously delude ourselves whenever we believe that ‘we know’ – especially when it comes to spiritual things. Ultimately, we must come to the realization that only God has the power to discern between good and evil. And even though this knowledge is indeed revealed to us through the Sacred Scriptures of all religions, we can never have total perception, total charity, or total understanding any more that we can stare directly at the sun.
We may, of course, ‘enter in’ to the Divine mysteries, and understand them more deeply to eternity. This is according to order. But to presume that we have anything more than a limited amount of understanding is to believe that a tiny candle, flickering in the darkness, is really the Sun of heaven. As Emanuel Swedenborg writes, ‘The wisest of angels know that they have nothing of wisdom from themselves, and that acknowledging this is being wise. They know also that what they know is as nothing compared to what they do not know’ Heaven and Hell 280.”
Now, the doctrine of separation from God of those who are stoned on Marijuana or Dagga is established in RR and seemly confirmed by Heavenly Doctrine and the Word. This doctrine is developed further to the point that one who smokes marijuana is guilty of being deluded by the serpent (satan) into believing that they are gods. “As we enter more deeply into this commandment, we come to realize that the real ‘fall of man’ occurs whenever we ‘fall victim’ to the seductive illusion offered by the serpent – the illusion that ‘we think we know,’ and that, like God, we have a perfect knowledge of good and evil.
"As we fall victim to this illusion, we come into the delusive belief that the way we see things is the highest reality, and that we understand with the greatest clarity. In other words, we believe that we know what is right, and we know it better than others. We begin to believe the prophecy of the serpent: ‘Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ As we have seen in the journal entry about the young Africans who smoked Dagga, this delusive state begins with it an inflated sense of our own abilities and powers of perception. We begin to believe that the origin of goodness, wisdom, and even Life Itself, is within ourselves, or at least in the leaves of a plant. Having eaten of this forbidden fruit, we begin to believe that we are gods.”
The proper way to begin this critical review of this novel doctrine in RR is to examine the use of the Word. In John chapter 9, Jesus the Anointed sets the stage for this concluding address to the Pharisees in chapter 9 & 10 after the blind man is healed and examined by the priests. The Lord found the former blind man who then prostrated at His feet worshipping Him.
In John; And Jesus said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” 9: 39-10: 5
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
This concluding address of our Lord is directed to the priests who claimed to know God. This descriptive of ‘climbing up some other way’ is a denunciation by the Lord of their failure to use the Holy anointing oil of Moses to inaugurate into the priesthood. All who enter and take on the office of priest are required to be anointed with the Holy oil of Moses the Lord reaffirms here. (Abridged Theological Discussion, pg. 7, the Anointed)
From the Heavenly Doctrines in Arcana Coelestia
638. Verse 4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, signifies the good of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor, and the truth of doctrine and of faith from which are heaven and the church. This is evident from the signification of an "olive yard," "olive tree," and "olive," as being, in a broad sense, the Lord's celestial kingdom and thus the celestial church; which is distinguished from other churches in this, that those from whom that church exists are in love to the Lord and in love towards the neighbor. This is why "olive tree" and "olive" signify each of these loves, that is, the good of each love. (That "olive tree" and "olive" signify that church, or those goods of the church, will be seen in what follows.)
This is evident also from the signification of a "lampstand," as being in a broad sense the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and thus the spiritual church, and as the chief thing of that church is truth of doctrine and truth of faith, so these also are signified by the "lampstands."
[9] Because "the olive yard" and "the olive tree" signified a church that is in love to the Lord: The oil of holiness with which all the holy things of the church were anointed was made of olive oil and spices mixed with it (Exodus 30: 23, 24). For all things of the church are holy Divine things just so far as they are derived from love to the Lord; therefore by means of that oil a representation of the Lord and of heaven and the church was established.
This concluding lecture to the Pharisees explains the lack of spiritual authority of those not properly inaugurated into the priesthood. They are termed as ‘strangers’ and ‘thieves and robbers’. It is from these ‘strangers’ that the sheep will flee. This sums up succinctly the spiritual failure of the General Church of the New Jerusalem and RR to gain adherents.
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Exactly! If there were any traffic fatalities directly linked to…
That's what I'm asking too. Show me the bodies!
