My first trip to the ranch, continued:

Still driving south we drove across the county line into Jefferson County.  There was another large field and a set of buildings about a half-mile down the road.  He explained that this field was used for recreation, soccer, softball and other field games. 

We drove around the field, still on the county road, to the buildings.  I noticed two ambulances and was informed this was their medical clinic.  He told me that it had examining rooms and an emergency room.  I thought that was strange.  Every other building was in Wasco County, why would they have their medical clinic in Jefferson County so far away from the rest of the buildings?  The answer was to come to me in July; during the festival.

As we turned around he pointed to a paved road coming from the north, crossing the county road and leading away from the county road towards the south part of the ranch.  He mentioned that the paving equipment was down that road to the south, but did not drive down it.

I knew that this was the road that Rajneesh is driving on when you see him going down the row of his followers as they lay flowers on the hood of his car. 

The road was built after he got a couple of citations for driving without a license – of course hitting a concrete truck head on didn’t help matters.  He was not a very good driver.

So, since he liked to drive, the commune built this road for him.  It was about 20 miles long and except for crossing the county road, it was all on their private property.  

He drove me back to the police building.  As I got out, he asked me if I would approve the festival permit, now.  I told him I still had some concerns and they had not met all the conditions I had put down for it to be approved. 

When he did that I would review them and then I would get back to him.  He drove off in disgust.

I headed back to the office.

Almost four hours after radioing my office that I would be going into the valley, I was back on top and radioing that I was back in service.  I did remember to thank God for his guidance and calming hand. 

I was pleased by my exchange at the commune, but I knew they would be analyzing their tapes and every minute I was on the property; who knew what they might think they found. 

On the way back, I stopped in at the ghost town of Shaniko, population 20, about 40 miles from the ranch.  I had lunch at the Shaniko Hotel and met the new owners. 

They were great people.  He was a retired plumber from Salem, Ore. and had already done a lot of work on the Hotel, which had been built in the late 19^th century and had been allowed to deteriorate to the point it had been uninhabitable; they were changing that fact. 

He took me for a tour.  The rooms were on the second floor.  Rather than numbers he used names of local families.

Before he came there was just one bathroom to be used by the tenants.  He had placed a bath in each room.  They had created a honeymoon suite with a Jacuzzi bath and upscale fixtures.

They had cleaned up the foyer area and the outside of the building.  They wanted to make it a destination type hotel for those people that wanted to get away from the hub bub of life and relax a bit. 

They had a restaurant and had brought in a very good chef.  They managed to last a few years, but their age and health worked against them.  Also when you live in what is basically a ghost town, your choices for employees is limited.

While they had the hotel they went through several chefs and had to depend on employees from either Madras about 40 miles away or Maupin about 30 miles away.  Both of these communities were small and that also limited his abilities to get good help.

Even though people are quite used to driving several dozen miles in that country, it is expensive – and they could get jobs closer to home.  He had good clientele from around the area – but, again it was limited to people close by and it is not a very populated region.  It wasn’t enough to sustain the business and eventually he had to close the restaurant.

After a satisfying meal I headed back up to the office. 

This trip was to be the first of many trips to the ranch.  At that time I had no idea that it was to be one of the busiest times in Wasco County Sheriff’s Office history, and indeed there would be one of the largest interagency investigations that up to the time had ever been held in the State of Oregon. 

My first year was only two and a half months old, I had many things on my priority list; I had not expected the activities on the ranch would become priority one, but, in the fall of 1985, it did.

1 Kings 6:11-14 And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,

¹² Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father:

¹³ And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

¹⁴ So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

These verses are God’s discussion with Solomon.  God in effect was anointing the efforts of Solomon to build a house of worship as He promised David.

God’s promise to Solomon was that as long as he, Solomon, obeys God then He will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake His people.

The next verse is telling; Solomon finished the house.  He accepted that covenant with God.

We know that Solomon’s position as King was ordained of God.  We read how brother’s, Abaslom and later Adonijah, tried to usurp the throne, but those attempts were stopped.

The successor to David was to be Solomon.  As long as Solomon obeyed God then the COUNTRY of Israel, combined with Judah, would be blessed by God.

In America we elect our leaders, we need to be sure that when we cast our vote it is for the best candidate to hold up God.  It is getting very hard to do that.

Satan has entered into our electoral system and has made it difficult for a Christian to be heard, let alone elected.  In order to accomplish anything the official has to be willing to compromise and all too frequently he has to compromise his integrity to get anything close to what he wants to accomplish.

We need a revival from the God, and renewing of the faith by His Holy Spirit so people understand how far this country has gone from God. 

As a country we need to ask God’s forgiveness and return to His commands – it starts with the people – we need to elect leaders that will understand that must be done.

And then we need to pray even harder for them, than we do (or should be doing) now.

That revival may very well start with some serious consequences for our current sins where God will discipline our country to make us understand He is unhappy with our disobedience.

In the case of Israel, His discipline was, many times, devastating in as much as hundreds of thousands of the Jews were killed either by an overt action by Him or allowing other countries to attack and kill or imprison the people.

May we not have to come to that level of discipline and open our eyes before it is too late.

As I read the above verses, some more, written by Paul, immediately came to my mind.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

⁸ Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

We sometimes forget that the early Christians faced incredible persecution, not only by the Jewish leaders, but by the governments – particularly Rome.  Yet, they preached the Gospel and the results of their faithfulness has allowed us to be Saved, through Christ, today, almost two thousand years later.

While our governments may try to interfere with our ability to profess our faith, it doesn’t let us off the hook of proclaiming Christ.

We, as Christians, have a responsibility to serve Him, even in the most serious of persecutions.  Millions of Christians in this world are suffering from their government’s attacks or their allowing attacks by others, on them.

It is on the upswing.  We are seeing radical Muslims, torturing and killing anyone – ANYONE, not just Christians although they are key targets - that disagrees with their interpretation of the Koran.  And their influence is spreading.

Muslims are gaining a strong holds in many nations, and the governments are condoning behaviors that they would never have allowed before, and in the process persecuting Christians that disagree with them.

Here in America we are seeing rioters destroying property, stealing from law abiding citizens and all but being portrayed as heroes by the media and certain leaders. 

The attacks on Christians because of their Biblical beliefs are becoming more violent.

The attitude against the Holiness of God and His commands is spreading – and America is suffering because of it.  We are becoming unglued.

But God’s Holy Spirit will not be so easy dissuaded.  In this time of great persecution across the globe, many countries are finding an upsurge in the number of people who accept Christ as their Savior.

The reason for that is the Christians, in those countries, although hampered in how they can preach, are managing to get God’s Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people.  Because of their courage and prayers the Holy Spirit is entering the hearts of the people and they are accepting Christ’s Salvation.

There have been times in my life, especially as Sheriff, that I have felt like I am in a great bowl, as large as any football stadium.  Surrounding me, shoulder to shoulder on the hills above are people who are shooting arrows down at me.

Sometimes that feeling would last for several days.

It was not a pleasant position.  I knew I had supporters, but they seemed far, far away.  The one thing that helped me live in and come out of that bowl was my faith in God and His Son.  The Holy Spirit lifted me up and gave me comfort as He did so. 

Our leaders have a responsibility to God, whether they understand or accept that or not. 

Their actions and decisions affect their people, just as the Kings of Israel affected their people.  While God is patient, there will come a time that His patience is worn out and He will have no choice to chastise them.

Like our leaders, we are responsible to God for our personal relationship with Him.  He expects obedience from us and when we don’t give it to Him He will have no choice but to chastise us.

We may think that we are not important, certainly not as important as the leaders of this country – but we are.  As a united group we can change this country, and even if we could not, we can help impact individuals and show them Christ.

Let’s strive to make Him pleased in all we do, giving Him the Honor and the Glory.  May we say with Paul, when it comes to the end of our life here on earth:  “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again