Will The Christian Church Take A Government Czar?, 4-30-62

By Dr. Wesley A. Swift -  4-30-62

We are turning in our subject to a discussion that in our society would not have been considered years ago. And if suggested twenty years ago, would have made those listening, so say, ‘surely this must be madness.’ But now here in 1962, one week after Easter, we are discussing with you this fact. Will the Christian church here in these United States accept a government Czar over religion? You will say to me, ‘surely this is not possible. This could not have happened in these United States? There is no department of government with any authority over the church.? Does not the Constitution of the United States say that the Congress of the United States not make any laws concerning the establishment of religion?’ There is nothing they can do concerning the freedom of the processes of religions activities to carry out their own design. All of these things may be true. And the freedom guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and by the Constitution that no authority is given to the Congress, in this area, to make laws concerning religion. But the Congress has not made any new laws concerning the establishment of Religion. Nor have they sought to stop the right of religions bodies to carry out their vision and to worship God after their own heart. No attempt has been made by Congress to do these things.

But I want you to know that there is a new department in the U.S. Government which has been created by the power behind the scenes which cooperate under the license which even now grows stronger under this present administration. We now have a Government office now known as an OFFICE OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS. This is now a part of the U.S. Government. And there has been appointed over it, a director, called the Director of Religious Affairs. Strangely in carrying out its enforcement abilities, it is made a part of the Military establishment of the U.S. Government. And also adds to its power as being under ‘Civil Defense.’ Thus, this is a department of religion and it is augmented by Military power. And it can carry out all of its activities as always preparing for emergencies. And is operating far beyond any power given to any other branch of Government and during any such emergency at the same time. It has the power even now, what will qualify, and who will have the right to carry out the functions of the religious responsibility before their churches, and what churches will be qualified as churches, to carry out their activities in these United States.

This may seem a strange thing, for as we go back over the history of our race, there are a few things which must become quite evident. One is that the spiritual center of God’s Kingdom is HIS Celestial or Ecclesiastical purpose. In other words, since the beginning of time, God has established that spiritual guidance is the most important part of HIS society. HE has established in earth a race of people and you happen to be the inheritance, and were begotten in the heavens before the world was framed. Then moved into earth thru the process of birth, into the Adamic race. And you as the children of Adam, are the children of Adam after the flesh and the children of God after the spirit. As such, the establishment of your race to build HIS Kingdom was a part of HIS program. And as that Kingdom grew and expanded, it would bring about righteousness in the earth and correct the conditions that started with the ancient rebellion of Lucifer--the wars in space and the taking over by the powers of darkness. And thus, effected the ancient and antediluvian civilizations. As far as God is concerned, HE is not going to change HIS purpose. Nor, is anyone going to stop what HE has ordained. And today, you are the children of the Kingdom, the great nation which has emerged out of posterity after being established in the earth. ‘Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done,’ is your prayer in the earth. And HIS revelation of you as HIS children is also a part of HIS plan. And HIS Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Significantly, there has been a purpose outlined thru out the blue print of the scriptures, one of them is administration and the necessary procedures which relate to the most primitive to the most advanced, and expanded plan of government---that there is an essentialness for government among the nations. There is an essentialness that men have government and that they have law. And this was assured from the beginning. If you will go back to the patriarchal procedures of tribal law, I want you also to remember about the responsibility at the head of the family, then to be Patriarchial and one who worshiped and served God and introduced people into this service. This would be sort of a spiritual priesthood which he had to assume. On the other hand, from the days when men formed government under the processes of Divine Law, there was one thing which was to remain mute. There was to be no power on the part of government that could effect the ones which God called out to operate and function as spiritual leaders, whether prophets or whether they were ordained to the process of the higher priesthood that developed. You will remember that from the days of the calling out of the Household of the MOST HIGH GOD, to carry out their responsibilities, there was established two great pillars of responsibility--wisdom and destiny. One was the revelation of spiritual law and the development of moral and ethical principals essentially responsible to any society. And it must be spiritually engendered and spiritually empowered. And thus, it is. The other branch and the other factor of technological appliance of knowledge and of wisdom, to the problems of earth and the principals of government, were also essential and vital. But these two processes were delegated to two different hands at the same time. Only as the head of the house was the spiritual leader and also had the authority over his own household, were these two things combined.

In the instance of the Melchizedek Priesthood, we see again, the combination of Priest and King. But this was God, Himself, meeting and visiting those whom HE had called to carry out HIS purpose. And God alone, preserved to Himself, the right to be both Priest and King at the same time. And altho you as a race are the children of the MOST HIGH, still, you are referred to by Peter, as Kings and Priests, and a Holy people before the MOST HIGH GOD. It is still essential that God established HIS Kingdom and gave the mighty fiats to Moses upon Mount Sinai, that he separated very clearly the responsibilities of administration from those of spiritual service. Remember, that Aaron and the sons of Aaron, who were to be Levites and ministers before God forever among the people of your race. It was by their service, and by their responsibilities and by the oracles of God that the great spiritual forces of God’s purpose could be delivered to the people. In the functions and ceremonies of the Old Testament church, they were responsible directly. And this was not, my friends, to be endangered either by the consent or the anger, or any of the kings or political leaders of the State. You will remember, that when Moses was recognized in that day as a political leader, it was the house of Aaron that was responsible for the Priesthood. God used Moses as a prophet. And in a great way, had met him and endowed him with the majesty and glory of God until he radiated somewhat. And because of this, radiance, he had to cover himself because people could not stand the Divine Light which emanated from his presence.

When we go back into the history of our race, we find that this is something which God has made very clear at all times. Those who were delivering the Oracles of God-- ‘Thus saith the LORD,’ and giving the spiritual application of requirement to the people, must at no time be under any area of punitive response from kings or leaders, or those who were responsible for the conduct of State---were not to hinder in any way this area of human service and worship. Thus, it is that thru out all of these periods this was maintained. Remember that even in the days of Solomon who built the mighty Temple to the MOST HIGH GOD, Solomon had entered into many arrangements with people who were outside of the organization and society of the race and the program of God’s Kingdom. And in many of these instances, he had violated Divine Law, such as he had been warned against. Such as, marrying the daughters of Egypt as was true when he married Pharaoh’s daughter, and he brought in many wives for his household which came from the outlander nations as they were referred to in that time. And these did what the scriptures had warned. They turned him to the worship of other gods. And he even set up temples to these other gods after having built the majestic, the most beautiful Temple to the MOST HIGH GOD. In these instances, the priests of the Temple could tell the king of his violations. And Solomon, with all of his power and his glory, could not bring one of these pagan women inside of the Temple of the MOST HIGH GOD. Solomon, with all of his power and all of his glory could not levy a revenge upon the Priesthood, because this was a spiritual area of God’s Kingdom and it must remain absolutely free to proclaim ‘thus saith the LORD.’ This is a very vital factor in the history of our race. And the significance of this, is that throughout the course of time, there have been those who have sought to abuse this. We know that King Ahab had violated principals of Divine Law. He had married one of these pagans whose people run hock shops in our day. And he brought her into the Kingdom of Israel. The result is that she brought in the Baal priests whom these people serve and worship. And it was not long before conditions of tyranny started to emerge among the children of Israel. And the prophets of the MOST HIGH GOD watched the closing of the Temple which had been erected for worship in the land of Israel. They saw the pressures brought by Ahab against the Ecclesiastical order, and the traditions and the rights of Israel, until the prophet, himself, went from one part of the kingdom to the other saying ‘Thus saith the LORD.’

We recognize that Ahab was filled with some kind of great anger because nothing stirred the people like the prophet going from place to place pointing out the evil of the strangers and the conspiracy that was being wrought upon the people of Israel and the silencing of the truth. And it was not long before they had a price on this prophet, Elijah. Because of his ministry and because of the evil which he pointed out. And Jezebel said, ‘we must have his life.’ Thus, they sought out Elijah. But that did not mean that there were not many, many homes and many places in which Elijah could remain. One day, Elijah met the king in his own garden. He stepped out from behind the rose bush and said, ‘Ahab, I am going to challenge you right now.’ And he challenged the intent of Jezebel to destroy the whole religion and fate of the kingdom of Israel. He also pointed out the fact that he was a sportsman and he believed in fair play. And he believed in the power and the philosophy and the history of his people and their worship. That they would meet the challenge and meet him upon Mount Carmel. With all of the priests of Baal and all of their so-called gods---and thus see who would answer this demonstration WITH POWER.

You will remember that Ahab met that challenge even tho here was the man he was looking for. This was man to man standing in the garden. When Elijah slipped away, he was still hard to find. We well remember that this is history. But a test took place upon the mountain in that day. And there was the evidence after Baal priests could not produce the function of the altar and that was still a part of this story. For Elijah did his part--a part of the technological utilization of wisdom and Divine intervention which was taking place. We discover that Elijah’s victory finished this contract he had with Ahab, for the challenge was--- ‘If I lose, you can cut off my head. But if I win, we will eliminate these prophets of Baal.’ And as you well know, Elijah was a man after God’s own heart. And he never died. For after he had cut off the heads of these rascals, then God sent a chariot for him so as to see that the had a special entrance into the areas above. I think that today, we need a few people who will challenge the prophets of Baal in our own land. But the significant thing is that after that, no attempt was ever made as far as Elijah was concerned---having eventually accomplished his victory. And tho the powers of evil sought after him, the people returned to the worship of the MOST HIGH GOD. And the state was unable to unseat the influence of the Temple until a new revolution of an invasion of unassimilatibles was made known as dangerous to Israel.

Now, we come down in the history of our people and the Temple always had this immunity. And the church of the Old Testament had this immunity, altho sometimes, usurpation would take place by powers that were out of line until they created great dangers. But this is the principal that the church and those who were responsible for the Oracles of God must not be in a position to have the pressure of government placed upon them. From the early days of the ministry of Jesus Christ, we can well see that the enemies of Christ wanted HIS complete destruction. And they planned for that. Having in part accomplished this in part with HIS crucifixion, they were charged with even a greater fear because of the power of HIS Resurrection. Because of the spiritual force and this sweeping influence upon the people of your race, they saw that they would loose their grip and their control. So they started the process of persecution and harassment. This not only took place in Palestine, but wherever the power of their gold could reach, of Emperors and kings whom they could influence. Because of the sad condition of some of the emperors,--inbred---and some of them almost degenerate, who had risen to power because of the powerful lines of their families wealth and because of these evil priesthoods. In this instance then, Rome was a danger to the Christian Church for some time. Even tho Rome had a constitution which guaranteed freedom of religion among its colonies, under some of its Emperors were now persecuting Christians now, because of the power of Jewish gold. It was not long before the Christian Church had to worship underground. It had developed in its earliest hours, in its missionary activities, that TRUTH was greater than even the sustaining of life, or the securing for themselves, a temporary ease. Thus, this was one of the great mysteries that the pagan world could not understand. This persecution then thrived in Rome. But the church expanded and the church reached White men everywhere. And this was true for Rome’s highest area of civilization had an impact from within from Christians who made up a large part of its prominent family.

There came the day when Constantine overthrew the government of Rome. Constantine had one of the most triumphant battles in his history after he became a professing Christian. And his political power grew after his surrender and acceptance of the Christian faith. It was then that this great vision of his seem to have taken place as he marched toward the conquest of Rome and the great light of the moon breaking thru the clouds formed a perfect Cross. And he said, ‘By this sign we conquer.’ Then true to his word, after he had established himself as Emperor of Rome, one thing that Constantine did, he emancipated the Christian Church from fear of persecution and fear of martyrdom. In fact, he became so much a protector of the church, that the enemy decided they better join the church. And after the enemy joined the church, having not been able to destroy it, now started to destroy it from the inside. One of Rome’s great problems from then on, was to control those who sought to destroy it after joining it to destroy from within. However, a principal was established and that was rather a primitive principal that existed thru out that time to this, and that was from the time of Constantine--now the Emperor--having stretched his Empire from the east to the west, which reached all the way from the borders of Asia, established in Greece, and the eastern city of Rome was Constantinople, and the bridge of this Western Empire---and you remember that one of the issues was that no church properties from now on, shall be taxed to support the king. From this time on, under the decree of Constantine, any church, anywhere, as long as he was the Emperor, was not to have a tax placed upon it or have its personal intimidated by any civil or governmental power. This principal then became a widely accepted principal as it related to governments inside of Europe. From time to time, tyrants would arise and they would seek to oppress the church, but in these instances, there would be an arising of the people to somewhat change things. I think that you can well see this principal. If the properties in the areas of the church and the areas in which it conducts its activities, were to become subject to taxation, then it would become a punitive taxation. And the government, by requiring the clergy to proclaim what it wants them to proclaim, would then remove the tax exemption, if they did not follow thru. The church, to carry out the Oracles of God with vision and understanding, must be free from the power of any man to persecute its clergy, or seek to subordinate its message by moving upon them grievous burdens. This we discover is unique thru out the whole pattern of your race.

There have been those who have sought to interpose the authority of the State. It is true that among a great majority of the countries of Europe, their leaders, and their princes, became the clergy of the church. This is true of what happened in Germany as the princes became clergy in the Lutheran church. But at the same time, they were not permitted to use their authority in the doctrine and the teachings within that church or to design what that church could teach. And we note, that in England, the king was made titular head of the church. But at the same time when pressures were intent on the part of the kings of England in carrying out the freedom of the church thru its branches to proclaim the things which were pressing upon their hearts, there was always trouble. In fact, if you were to go back into the long history of the freedom and the attaining of this vision of life and liberty you will remember that it was Prince John of England who sought to take away more rights of the people with a divinity contract and sought to assume absolute authority over the church, and to tell that church what it could proclaim and what it could preach. That was the reason for the great uprising at Runnymead, when King John of England had to sign the Magna Carta--the Lords of England gathered around with the leaders of the people and one of the heaviest patterns of principal found in the Magna Carta was this separation of the authority of the king to interfere with the functions of the church and the message which it delivered. And in this instance, the king was forced to sign the Magna Carta. And one of the chief principals that came out of the Magna Carta was the freedom of the people, and the freedom of the church to carry out God’s Oracles.

There was another time you remember when Henry VIII also proclaimed himself head of the church and declare arbitrarily what the church must do. And again, came the march of Grace of the Noblemen of Scotland and out of England. And they moved against Henry VIII and established that no individual by his own authority was going to be the voice of the church, and this never happened.

In these United States, from our great heritage of Anglo-Saxon, Nordic, Basque, Lombard, and Germanic people, all of us a part of this same race, with a great spiritual force of our God and the revelation of our Messiahship, to build this great Western world for Christianity, we are to remember that our fathers came here with the same determination that in this great country, there was going to be Liberty and Freedom. And in that concept, we know that in the first thirteen colonies there existed the great desire that the church be free. Altho some colonies specifically surrounding areas had a single church such as in Maryland and the areas around Vermont. The fact was that when they came together and mad their compact, they were a Christian society. And the government was not to interfere with the functions of ‘the church’--and afterward the churches. Thus, it was that our forbearers carried forward this concept of the freedom of the church. And they made it clear in every area that not one piece of church property could ever be taxed, or any edict be made by that could be made by that colony that could have pressure upon or direct influence upon the Gospel and the vision which God gave the clergy of those denominations. When our forbearers finally signed the Declaration of Independence and they gathered together and formed the Articles of Confederation. In my mind, I think that the Articles of Confederation be re-published and in the mind of their greatness put them with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Too many people do not know what is in the Article of Confederation, but some can tell you what is in the Constitution, but there is one thing which you could not amend. The ‘Articles of Confederation’ when they were drawn up were to abide forever. They were to last forever and they could not be amended and the could not be abridged. The Declaration of Independence could not be abridged. And when the ‘Articles of Confederation’ were prepared the thing which they did--they predicated--the formation afterwards of a Constitution or amendment which would act retrograde to the position which originally were the decisions of those ‘Articles of Confederation’ denote to that which had great magnitude.

More than this the ‘Bill of Rights’ was given to secure the intent of people to the purposes our founding fathers intended to provide forever in our society. This is why within the Bill of Rights that it says that Congress could make no law concerning the establishment of religion, or concerning the free exercise their of. It was thought that this would be sufficient and throughout the course of time, those zealous in our society defending their liberties, that they would implement with their lives and their faithfulness the works of that document. I want you to recognize this afternoon, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights,---these do not guarantee you anything unless you have the spirit, and the vision to see that these things are carried out. You are the government, you are the people that comprises that government. These are the documents of the affirmation of your forefathers, and these are the documents to which we give our affirmation. And we are determined that we shall see that these rights shall survive, and guarantee them to ourselves and to our children, unless we do this--they are only a piece of paper.

I can assure you that today we are faced with powers that have moved into our society and the unassimilatable forces which surround various areas of government, and are seeking to usurp the authority of Congress, to break down the rights of people, and set aside the validity of the Constitution by interpretation. And part from such invasion, the Executive power is not usurping the power of the Congress of the United States, or bypassing it and a bi-partisan group of intellectuals, a group of pseudo-intellectuals has taken over high positions of government. Agents and brainwashed men now surrender to the concepts of Socialism and world Communism without giving it the name and seeking now to take over the direction of our destiny, and reduce you to only what they call a Social Welfare State, promising its great blessings. But they have also determined that they should control the attitude of our minds, and direct the thinking of the people even to the point where they now are ready to tell the nation that they now know more about the reality and purpose of God, than did the areas from whence these things did emerge.

Yes, my friends, I do not think that they would want Jesus to preach today. And I can show you the decisions which make this thing quite apparent. Thus, this is most significant when in these United States the government created this Department of Religion, that was the utter violation of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Are those now by any stretch of the imagination, in positions of the functioning of government to determine the criteria of religion, that would have the authority to qualify and who would have the authority to carry out the responsibilities of the ministry of God or to whom the people would turn under their influence and guidance, for how they shall conduct their processes of service.

We are well aware that it is vital and important that people be prepared for any task, and we believe in a prepared ministry. We do not believe that they can study and learn too much about the creation of God, nor the works of God, nor can there be a time in which there is not more to learn, and academic preparation is good, but spiritual inspiration if essential. I tell you that God established that the Levites were to be ministers in Israel forever. He scattered them among the tribes and he passed them down thru the family lines of destiny. But as far as God is concerned, a clergyman is to be called of God. And it is not merely a profession that men are supposed to chose.

Thus, I am aware that the areas of the church has been effected by this. Many have chosen this without a spiritual stirring because they decided that this is the profession which men choose, just as they choose other walks of life. And then if these men have never been stirred or spiritually guided and never have known spiritual illumination, have never watched spiritual vision pass across the field of their thinking. And as such, have only assumed the theories of theology to which they have attached themselves. Many of them have been loyal and sought to do good, and many of them would like to help men. And many of them have proclaimed truth, but still have never been moved by the call of the spirit to accomplish the purposes of God. God has a ‘Called ministry.’ HE has in this great nation, a professional ministry as well, which does not move and does not teach from the areas of inspiration. Upon these upon whom the spirit of God does not move with a direct call, and who is not inspired to this task, it is much easier for those who brainwash the human mind to move against such clergy, to bring them into acquiescence of their desire. They talk about the welfare and all of the benefits to you society with their programs until some ministers are actually advocating the policies of Communism and the process of Socialism and the policies of Karl Marx in their pulpits. But the strange thing is that these find more approval from those in position of governmental society, than those who are moved of God and denounce the whole conspiracy that leads to world government and the surrender of our country and the mongrelization of our society.

So in this instance, as we talk about the church, we realize that this church is a great institution made up of every denomination--Methodist, Baptist, Christian, Pentecostal and Catholic. And there is not today a person of these denominations of the Christian church of the people who make up their congregations, who in their origin as Adamic, who do not belong to the church of the MOST HIGH GOD. We do not recognize all of the hierarchies as being spiritually influenced or guided. But I do not think today that there is a church that proclaims Jesus is the Christ, that they do not have ministries of men called, men dedicated, and who would desire to see the will of God carried out. However, in this instance, again let me point out to you, that God has not ceased to unveil spiritual truth---that there is not a climax of any one book of the revelation of the MOST HIGH GOD. If religion becomes inanimate and spiritual power wanes, it is because this great expanding vision that God continues to send down upon HIS ministers, is not being proclaimed because these ministers are not in sufficient numbers and do not have the communication to reach the people. But God is changing that. HE is stirring HIS Household. HE is incorporating new truths. HE is challenging the people of your nation, from one end of the earth to the other and vision does go forth.

Now, in connection with what we have been discussing, we mentioned to you that an authority like this had been set up. In fact, the setting up of this government authority--the creating of a Director over Religious Affairs, a violation of the Constitution, but one of those static situations where the authority is given by a President and one is appointed by the President’s staff, and authority is given--this situation is then rather unique. I would point out to you this. I have here the testimony of Dr. Robert Ingram who is a pastor of St. Thomas Episcopal church in Texas, as he attended the conference of Bishops, one of the major conferences of his church. Here at this conference, Fred Thompson addressed that conference. And in his address, he talked about the plan. And the fact is that the Bishops of the Episcopal Church voted to support the plan of a Governmental Czar. Thus, this question then comes. Will the Christian Church accept a Government Czar? A lot of these Bishops did, but the Chamber of Deputies inside of that Episcopal Church refused to accept the function of that agency as a great evil. But the bishops were angry against those in their church who would not accept this program in their church. And they wonder why anyone would accept such an authority. This is a little demonstration of the influence of the higher hierarchies inside some of the Protestant organizations, that then accords the authority of the State until they would acquiesce and kowtow to their decisions. The fact that this is also true among a great number of the Methodist hierarchy who are accepting as a working principle, the workings of a Governmental Czar.

I think it rather interesting and we point out to you the areas in which this will work. I have in my hands also another intelligence report which was released just ten days ago. And it tells about this release of this report about this department of religion by the Executive branch of government. It tells us now about this Federal Director of Religious Affair. And now, a Lutheran minister quotes scripture and tells us something silly, saying that it is best if some sort of power and authority be bested in some central organization to determine who is qualified to carry on religion in these United States. He says this is essential here in America because of things which might transpire.

So in this instance, let me show you just how far this goes. In this declaration, it says that we must have this department so that all of the people who attend churches will have the proper attitude approved by Government.

Now, I wonder why government would think that they should have this authority over the people who attend church in these United States? But the church should have enough power over the people that the kind of people who run America should be elected out of the churches who are the great majority of the people in these United States. It has been determined that by Divine process, that the spiritual power was to infiltrate and create proper government,---not that the government was powerful enough to suppress any spiritual influence and to produce any results that was desired. This is the Kingdom of God which is being built, not the Kingdom of the Kennedys, or the Roosevelts, or any other dynasties which have thought to determine the destiny of our race.

Now, more than this, it is pointed out here very clearly, that in the programs before us, this new organization thru Civil Defense, will offer the church a way of expressing its commitment to the love of God and the love of one’s fellow man. Can you imagine the government willing to offer the church the way to fulfill its commitment to brotherly love and service? My friends, it is the church that challenges government in fulfilling its responsibility in carrying out the objectives to our Faith.

Now, how do you go about this process? Well, the first thing that you do is:---the government requires that you register with this Department of Religious Affairs, every clergyman. And if he does not register with them, then he cannot preach and he cannot carry out the functions of service. And if there should be a condition of emergency, he would be forbidden to--in any way--participate in any religious activity. He could not provide communion or bury the dead. In fact, from the report of what Mr. Kerns had said, then Dr. Ingram the Rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church was present when he heard Mr. Kerns say, that ‘any clergy without ‘our permission’ will find a SHOTGUN in his belly’ (quote and unquote). Another investigator who covered the occasion, prints the same thing.

More than this, in warning us, in order to stop Communism, we must coordinate every field of activity in the church. And the church must ‘become completely subordinate to the government in an hour of emergency. That the church is the largest holder of property in the United States, thus, the church holds more property than any individual. And this is right. And you can understand because the church is made up of many individuals. But that property is a property of service. It helps to build the ethical and moral fiber of a society. And also has been utilized in religious education, first in secular education under proper guidance which is being incorporated with the religious development of the child, this inoculation of spiritual truth is valuable.

Now, listen. It is here stated that in any emergency, the government can confiscate church property and turn it into hospitals for refugees, or anything it so desires.

Now, Mr. Kerns said, ‘I do believe that we should permit church services here altho we are using it for a hospital.’ But he does not say that they shall,---just that they ought to do this. Thus, they have a right to make a hospital out of this church property or do anything else they want to use it for. But functionally, the government does not have a right to even bivouac soldiers in the church or your home under the rights guaranteed you. To move in and take over a church in this program is a way that they can consume and take over the church any time the President declares an emergency. They go so far to say that they have a right to do this because the churches are partly subsided by the government, because they are tax exempt. But this support for tax exemption of churches does not come from Government. It comes from the people who support the government from which the government draws its light. The church is supported by the people who have made a double contribution. But these people for their society of which they are a part. That principal which has been set up from Constantine’s time unto ours has been supported by most intelligent Christian governments from the days of our founding fathers unto now. Thus, B’nai B’rith and atheist organizations are trying to deny tax exemption status in most states. And they have appealed to the courts to force the States to comply. So far, every court has upheld this belief that there would be no taxation of religious bodies and that no religious body would be made subject to the pressure of the State.

Now, there are many, many provisions which are discussed in this matter. When I spoke a week ago, in the dangers of a coming religious Czar, saying this special department had been set up, I did not know that in a few hours, I was going to have in my hands, a letter form an Evangelist who travels across the country with his tent, holding Religious services. And there are fifteen or twenty such evangelists that I know who set their tents up in one city, then travel to the next city, and their evangelistic program and their plan which is definitely a religious program and they are carrying out from their standpoint of Faith, their responsibility. We do not say that by this, we support all of their positions theologically, but we support their right to proclaim fundamentally in these United States, since they are all Christian, and the LORDSHIP of CHRIST as the work of GOD for these people. I think that this is a most pertinent factor.

This particular evangelist sent out his Easter letter. And he sends out a letter every month. And these letters we receive from religious leaders, and we do not pay too much attention to them because they are telling us something simple, which we learned as children. There is nothing added to it. So there is not much to read. But when I picked up this one, I saw that something had happened thru the month of February, March and April. This is the letter that he sent out. This just happens to be the AAL and Revivals, but I want to point out some points from this letter, and then you will see the significance of what I am talking about. He says, ‘Easter Greetings, my friends, but never have you received an Easter greeting like this. Probably not from any congregation in which he had preached, for this man believed that the Jews were the ‘chosen people’ and he thought that everything was going along according to time and measure. And he did have one particular depth in what he was preaching. And whether you agree or not, he was preaching from a certain depth and certain numbers of the people were healed. And this is a testimony that it does work. And he was praying for the sick with this special ministry which this man did possess.

Now, here comes his Easter letter, and never before, have you heard anything like this. He said, ‘I am going to take you behind the scenes of the first Easter, and let you see what is happening here in America in 1962. In the days of the first Easter, a group of religious leaders called Jews, met in the council and said, ‘How can we stop Jesus?’ And they planned on how they could put HIM to death. And they conspired to accomplish this. ‘But we will let the Romans do it.’ And having brought this to pass, they had the Roman leaders do the job for them.’

And now he said, ‘here we are in 1962, and their modern counterpart who have entered into our government, with greed and malice, are trying to use our government to destroy the religious liberty of Christians in America. --And--they are still planning to let the Romans do ti. The smart play behind this power is the conspiratorial design of agnostic anti-Christian Jewry achieving thru its advice and guidance, their own ends. But of course, if you start to tell America that a Religious Czar has been created along with the powers which are utilized by anti-Christ to silence the church to enforce, if the church did not obey, or spoke out against things which were not right, then about 50% of the Christians will say, ‘that is what we are afraid of--Rome has gotten in power---and Rome is doing this.’ Well, the Jews will sit back and laugh, because the Protestants will be fighting the Catholics and Christians will be fighting Christians--and it will not help at all. They can say that this President is a Roman, but he is a mighty sad one. Because the Irish have declared themselves in this instance Roman. He is not serving the interest of his church of any church, when he permits this Director of Religion to operate under his administration. In fact, what will transpire, if there is not an awakening in America concerning what is behind it, and who is behind it, is that a mighty upsurge of a militant Protestantism will hurt his own church. And since there are more Protestants, they would win.

The seriousness of this situation, is that all Christendom needs to rise up and find the source behind this situation and make sure that America’s administration and appointees as well, are Christians and that this thing shall be snuffed out and it will never happen again.

Now, let me point out to you what has transpired. He (this evangelist) said, ‘recently, we received directives from government agencies that were conductive investigations which were going on of independent religious organizations----and I tell you that the government in the first place, has no business investigating these activities of religious activities when they are carrying out their religious activities, because, my friends, this is one area that the Congress had no authority to make legislation or to interfere with. But this is what they have stated:-- ‘They are going to put a stop to tax exemption for many Evangelistic and church Associations.’

Now, the principal tax exemptions should not just apply to the Catholic or the Methodist Churches. Now should it apply to a successful area of communications of the smallest Pentecostal Church to the most powerful Cathedral.

It is significant here that we point out to you that they can make no standard or decision concerning the impact of a ministry. I have known of a few cases of God calling a man out of the field as a farmer and anointing him with spiritual vision, turning him into an Evangelist, and having more impact in this man’s ministry for doing good than a lot of clergymen who have gone thru several universities when they made agnostics out of them. But here in America, we are not going to limit the field of Christianity unless we want to watch all of our freedoms disappear.

Let us point out to you again, that this position of stopping tax exemption for many independent churches and Christian associations is a Satanic design. This would stop all tent Evangelists,--not permit them to use public auditoriums, bringing pressure upon some auditoriums which have rented them for this purpose and have them condemned for public assembly. You say, ‘why is this?’ Well, it is because they are determined that they will use their fresh power to see how far they can go. They want all revivals classified not as Divine Healing, but would require them to pay taxes on religious literature in every vicinity in which they would travel. And they want to require them to set up a business residence in such areas. And this is government interference in local affairs.

Now, let me point out to you that if you did not know that there was power of God in this healing of the sick, if you did not know that prayer is an effective thing, if you did not know that some people have this gift for God set it up in the days of HIS own ministry among HIS own Disciples--the fact remains, that no one could say in praying for the sick, that this was a violation of the Christian religion for it was not religious. But this was a large part of the ministry of Jesus Christ which was taken up of healing the sick. And HE said, ‘Follow Me.’ Under this then, by what stretch of the imagination could any governmental authority raise its voice in the application of the principal of praying for the sick? It is a fear of spiritual demonstration.

Now, let’s take a look at this. Pressure is being brought on radio and T.V. stations. This is true as we know it. And it stretches thru the FCC, of action if they permit these Evangelists and many of these preachers to use the radio waves to reach the people. And the government thru this ‘Department of Religion,’ wants all of these stations to make a certain release of time for religion. BUT ONLY THOSE APPROVED OF PROGRAMS AND CHURCHES WHICH THEY HAVE APPROVED FOR USE OF THE AIR.

Now, the Federal Department of Religion is bringing pressure on the Postal Department and is seeking to deny the use of the mail to any of these ministries that advocate healing. And more than that, those who denounce the UNITED NATIONS, OR POINT OUT THE ERRORS OF WORLD GOVERNMENT.

I turn to the directory of the Internal Revenue as to their activities. And the Allen Revivals were considered not Religious. So--I would like to have you tell me what all that big tent of praying and singing people of that Evangelistic service is, if it is not religious? If not, then what is it? I think we should deny all of the Hollywood show business to operate on the principal that it is not ART. If we are going to silence the churches, then let’s get to the root of our troubles.

Listen. I point this out. This is not expression of support for this Evangelist. But I think it is time for all of Christendom to wake up and support all Evangelism and all of Christendom and all of Freedom. It was not too long ago when they attempted to deny Dr. Shipner in Washington, as to the status of his church because he had spoken out against the United Nations. And they said that made him political, even tho in the publication of his material, he had used scripture as we have used them here, to point out that the United Nations was the thing which the prophets warned about that we were not to be yoked unequally together with pagan governments and we were not to say ‘Peace, Peace when there was no peace.’ That we were not to join evil where there is no Peace.

Now, we at this time, called upon several attorneys and we were much concerned about this, and made known that we had in our files, that all of the major religions of Christianity that all of their major clergymen had denounced the same things that Dr. Shipner had denounced. And they would be compelled to take action against then all or appeals of discrimination would be made. Well, I will say this. Dr. Shipner had his round with them and they had to restore his tax exempt status. But if they could move out against a lot of these little fellows who do not know what this is all about, if they could move out against an Evangelist who has never had any trouble at all, other than just the application of their own spiritual teachings who don’t know the law or don’t know their rights, then, my friends, let me tell you what they can do. They can start things and create precedents and move later on those who they think will create a harder problem. You say the Supreme Court will not allow this? My friends, I would not trust the Supreme Court to determine the right or wrong in a dog fight. I have every confidence in the American system, but I have no confidence in some of the institution at this moment, because of the personalities in charge.

It has happened in your time. The anti-Christ reaches for the church. We have no individual complaint. The Christian churches of which this church is a part is recognized by the government---has its tax exemption and operates as all the other churches in the United States. And we are not being persecuted at this point by the Federal Government or the State Government. And no one is trying, at this point, to stop the action of the functions of our church. They would probably like to stop the tapes that reach across the country, but they do not know as of now, how to turn it off. And there is no way for them to stop it for we would keep this going if we had to find a dozen different ways to keep it going. But I am well aware that they will be very careful as to the areas of influence. And the areas of dissent that they will create while this thing is young.

But I tell you that it becomes the responsibility of every Christian and every Patriot to make this flame so bright and to cause it to burn so completely across the hearts of America that their dedication to religious freedom and preservation of the principal of letting the Church declare its vision as the Oracle of God without any hand of government having the authority to interfere, either with its congregations or its property. Or in any way becoming punitive against its people. This is true. And if this freedom goes, then there will be no freedom in these United States. THIS IS ABSOLUTE. WE MUST BE FREE. I am telling you that you can get the biggest fire going in America than you ever dreamed of in defense of your religious liberty and of your Christian heritage. Do not accept that the bigger Ecclesiastical organizations that feel that they will be given immunity in it will use their bishops and their leadership to carry out the objectives. This will have to come from the people and the clergy. It will have to come from those who will not permit this thing to happen knowing that it will dictate to them in the hours which are ahead.

There is a tremendous evil octopus moving out and it works to take over and to distort all patterns of spiritual revelation and of Divine responsibility. But the blueprint of God’s Kingdom concerning its racial stock, preserving its spiritual vision, preserving its own destiny, and the Kingdom of God to carry this on, remains unchanged in the direction of HIS Word. I am going to tell you that some of the greatest experiences in history are just ahead for you, for you are going to see again, the re-liberation of our America. You are going to see the great spiritual force of the Light of God so illuminate this nation, as the sons of God march forward in the greatest wave of spiritual power that has ever been demonstrated. You are going to see the greatest wave of political housecleaning in America as America wakes up. Maybe that is a revival. And maybe that is what they are trying to stop. But God will deliver America thru spiritually guided leaders and spiritually challenged Statesmen. That is a fact. We will have more to say about this situation as Congress sits in strange strangulation---do nothing to remove this evil. If they were to impeach a President, they would be the accusers and prosecutors. And the Senate would be the jury. And the Congress is not sure that the Senate would act in accordance with the material presented. This Senate has been degenerating. The House of Representatives has been building resistance. The machinery of government is breaking down before this usurpation of authority by Executive decree. And it was their duty to pack the courts for support for their position.

We know that it will take a spiritual flame of light to sweep this nation and to drive out the darkness, to put this country back in order. But I am going to tell you that there is already a rumble starting deep in millions of Americans. And it will reach a mighty roar. And one of these days, it will reach a triumphant shout. And there will not be any Cainanites left in the House of God when that is over.

(End of Sermon)