The Rajneesh were most upset with the Planning Office.  They viewed the planner as their arch-enemy and started treating him as such.

They harassed him whenever possible.  Things were done to him that couldn’t be directly attributed to the Rajneesh, but they were the only ones that had it out for him. 

They felt they were not being given respect for who they were and felt the land use laws were being used against them.  Notwithstanding the law was being upheld and prior ruling by the Land Use Board had upheld them – as well as the court system when others had tried to do something that was not permitted.

In January 1985 there was a fire in the Planning Office.  It was clearly arson.  Someone(s) had placed candles in boxes soak with an accelerant and then they took off.

It was right around midnight – a bit later, as I recall – that someone driving by saw smoke coming out of the office and called 9-1-1.

Part of the office was burned, computers were damaged.  You know how I enjoy puns, when the Planning Director arrived at the office the first thing he asked of one of the investigators, was:  ‘Are my computers okay?”  The answer:  ‘Your computers are terminal.’

Damage was done, but not irreparable.  We ‘knew’ it was the Rajneesh, but there was absolutely no proof.  There were others that were not happy with the Planning Office, but none so vehemently as the Rajneesh. 

Later in the year Bhagwan admitted it was done by Sheila and her gang.

They had set up the ‘timers’ – not all of which went off – and left the building.  None of the windows were left open, so oxygen was burned out early and not as much damage was done as if they had let air into the building.

The Commissioners put out a request for bids on the cleanup and rebuilding of the office.  Several, including a bit from the Rajneesh, came in.  A local contractor was the low bid.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, we all believed they would have set up some kind of surveillance system in the office if they had the contract – couldn’t prove it, but ‘knew’ it would be done.  Later, our suspicions were confirmed when we found they had bugged almost everything that could be bugged at the ranch.  Hidden microphones were everywhere, and hundreds of tapes were made.

Obviously there were several criminals on the ranch; however, most were very inept, to our good fortune! 

It shows some inexperience, but many times it showed the arrogance of thinking they were so much smarter than the locals they could get away with anything.

I do have to say that the Planning Director is one of the bravest men I know.  With all the threats made against him, with all the harassment he continued to do his job.

When he went to the ranch to do his inspections he was accompanied by a deputy.  The first time he came up to me and said that my predecessor had always let him use a bullet proof vest to use when he went down there.

I had the UnderSheriff pull one out for him.  After a few times of this, I told him he was more than welcome to use it anytime, but some of what the Rajneesh had as weapons would go right through it.

The poor guy just hung his head – but he put it on and went anyway.

He never wavered and never let them intimidate him.  He was afraid, but he did his job and did it very well.      

Luke 16:13-15 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

¹⁴ And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.

¹⁵ And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

This is so clear, yet, so difficult for me.

I spent a lot of extra time in my career, not so much as to earn more money, as to get the job done.  But, it impacted my family and I know there were times we had to change our plans for those emergencies.

We make the best choices with the information at hand, and where the heart is.  I love you all, but as you know, there were times I let you down.  I am glad to see that you guys have learned from me and doing just the opposite.

My desire to serve God has rarely waivered, it has at times, but I have brought it back.  My work as a law enforcement officer was an extension of my desire to serve Him – I really do feel that was my calling.

Placing God first in our lives is the most important, no matter what else comes, He MUST be first.  When we divide our attention it always seems He gets the short shrift. 

We cannot separate ourselves from God.  Too often I have heard and been told that our ‘religion’ must not be brought into the work place.  Decisions there have to be made that may be against our ‘religion’ but must be done.

For the most part, that is just an excuse to ‘get ahead’ not a viable reason for doing something.  The person that says his ‘religion’ is for Sunday and he will do what he wants the rest of the way does neither.  He cannot genuinely worship God on Sunday and commit actions against His Word the rest of the week.

Nor, can he commit those actions against God’s Word as a means of life and worship Him on his day of ‘religion.’

There are laws that we are required to follow that we may feel goes against our Christian stands, we must make a decision whether to follow God, or obey the laws. 

We can quit our job, we can protest and/or we can refuse to do it and accept any consequences from the government that may come about.

Like all relationships with God, there are things that are clear and we all agree on them.  There are commands that God did not change when Christ came that are clear and unrevocable.  To disobey them is clearly a sin.

However, there are those things that for one Christian would be okay to do but, for another Christian it would be a sin.  What God has placed in our heart and through the following of the Holy Spirit we will be guided in what our responsibility is to Him.

The question we must ask of ourselves is, am I doing this for God, or for me?

I have been surprised, at times, when I realized that I was doing it for me and hadn’t even considered God.

Later, Art :-)

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