I am tired.  I went into the doctor’s office for a brief visit and activation of the device to help me.  We expected to be home within half and hour

Six hours later – after an hour in the doctor’s office and several tries by the Urologist to activate my mechanical device; an hour and a half in the prep room for same day surgery in the hospital; going into the operating room so I could be sedated allowing the doctor to work, perhaps inflicting pain to get it to work; then spending the next couple hours in recovery – Carla and I came home with an appointment to see the Urologist next week to see what needs to be done next – the device isn’t working correctly.

The adventures go on :-)

I will get back to my stories of that first year in office where the Rajneesh were a major part of my work, shortly.

For those of you wondering why I have started writing about them at this time – thirty years later:

It was time.  I had been intending to write for quite some time and had written a few lines, but hadn’t put them together and hadn’t covered all the things that happened on my watch.

Many have asked me to give a written account of what Wasco County endured during the Rajneesh’s time in the county and how if impacted the citizens.

Which brings me to the final reason: Sharia law.

One of the things that allowed the Rajneesh to get by with so much was the fear of insulting their religion.  Many people backed away from holding them accountable to the laws of the land in dread of being labeled ‘racists.’

We were fortunate in our County.  Though we did not have a large population, we did have enough voters to keep the Rajneesh from coming into power and ruling the county as they did Antelope - illegally.

We have several counties in Oregon that are large in square miles, but small in population.  Three of those counties adjoin Wasco County and none of them have over 2000 people.

If the Rajneesh had settled into one of them, they could have overcome county government and made mayhem of our laws.

The Rajneesh insisted that they be given special treatment and used their religion against anyone that opposed them.  They were not interested in obeying laws to get their way; and they committed many crimes in the process.

We need to realize that our laws are the laws of the land.  People cannot come into our communities and demand that their laws become the laws of the land.  It should not be allowed; period.

A large group, bent on getting their way no matter what, can wreak havoc in a small community.  To enforce the laws, which were being broken by the Rajneesh, cost Wasco County, directly, hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have been used in better ways.

Indirectly there was the additional cost of hundreds – if not thousands of hours of employees’ time spent trying to defend the county and the citizens. 

And that doesn’t even cover the emotional costs of all involved.

We are seeing the demands of Muslims starting to impact the ability of communities to enforce the laws.  They have a right to be in our country.

They have a right to live and work in our country.  They have a right to worship as they see fit.

They do not have the right to intimidate the local population to get their way and have their laws supplant those that have been in existence in our country for over 200 years. 

When people from a different country come to America they are expected to obey the laws of the land.  No group, of any kind, should be allowed to undermine the judicial system of America.

The Rajneesh tried, it was an expensive lesson, we should learn from that historical fact.

Luke 23:18-19 And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:

¹⁹ (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)

And so it is that the world still prefers to allow sinners freedom while persecuting God’s children.

We can bemoan the fact and become paralyzed with fear; quietly hiding the fact we follow Christ.

We don’t have to stand on a soap box to profess our beliefs, but we do need to profess them.  We need to let others know that God does love them. 

We need to let them know that only in Christ is there salvation.

We must also expect that there will be ridicule and persecution.

The world does not want the righteous person to succeed.  When he does it condemns them in their heart and reminds them that there is a God that they will have to face.

The world would rather banish those that live a life in Christ so they are not reminded of their sins before God and can go about their life ‘guilt free.’

One of the things that a soldier in the middle of war must do is understand they may not make it out alive.  If they are resigned to that fact they can go about their duties to overcome the enemy.

When a warrior fears death he gives up a part of him that will overcome the enemy.  It can overpower him and paralyze him.  It can actually bring about his death.

That doesn’t mean an army should not evaluate the risks of the battle.  It doesn’t mean it should plunge head long into the fray without considering what is needed to win.

But it does mean that if a warrior isn’t ready to die, he is going to fail. 

In the course of a war some must give up their life that others may live and the victory won.

We are in a war.  We can try and protect ourselves and hide our faith, or we can stand in the gap and let others know that Christ is alive and worthy of our giving our all to Him.

That all could mean ridicule, persecution, prosecution, our liberty and even death; there are Christians all over the world that are in the frontlines of this battle with satan and giving their lives that others might find Him.

Mark 8:34-35 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

³⁵ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

Christ gave His life for us.  His disciples gave their lives for us.  Millions of Christians through the ages have given their lives for us.

They stood tall in the face of the enemy and because they did others came to know Christ.  Because they went on to preach and teach others in the face of losing their lives we have Christ in our life.

May we not be the generation that fails to promote Salvation and victory in Him.

Later, Art :-)

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