Investigations, cont:

The next morning I arrived at the office and advised my detective sergeant as to what had happened the evening before.

This would be a monumental investigation, it was a lot to take in – but we were ready to formulate a plan.

As I was doing this, I received a phone call from the DA asking me to come to his office.  We sat down with the FBI agent assigned to our area and talked over what had happened the night before.

It then occurred to us that we had not taken notes.  However, the agent reached over to get the Oregonian Newspaper, published that morning, and read off the charges – THEY had taken pretty good notes.

However, it still left us with a void as to how we were going to begin.

It was decided we needed to have the Chief come up to The Dalles and see what she knew about the crimes.

I called down to talk to her and ask her to come up.  Initially I was met with resistance.  The dispatcher said she was in the daily meeting with Rajneesh and would not be available for a couple of hours. 

I asked her to have someone get her; the dispatcher said she wasn’t available.  I then asked her if she was refusing to contact the Chief and if she was ready to suffer the consequences for not doing so – a few minutes later the Chief called me.

She would come up immediately.  I asked her to meet us in the DA’s office.  When she arrived a few hours later, she brought with her the ‘city attorney’ for Rajneeshpuram.

We then began to ask questions.  Basically she had been kept out of the loop of any of the allegations.  While I can’t recall what the City Attorney said, I remember that she wanted to be involved in the investigation – at least informed as to what was going on.

This was going to have to be a massive investigation.  Wasco County did not have the resources to conduct it.  Obviously we could not allow the Rajneesh “Peace Force” to conduct it; we didn’t know who was involved, there was also a question as to the legality of the city and therefore the status of the Agency.

Later that afternoon, the Governor told us that he was invoking the statutes that allowed him to do investigations in lieu of local law enforcement.  Neither the DA nor I was happy with his mandate.

As Sheriff I was the chief law enforcement officer of the county and to be told I could not instigate the investigations was like a slap in the face.  I knew the DA felt the same about the usurping of his prosecution’s role.

While I was not happy about relinquishing the primary investigative role to the Oregon State Police and the Attorney General’s Office we really had no choice and didn’t try to argue. 

My Office’s resources were limited.  I had just a few deputies and the rest of the county had to be served.  We still had activities going on, just like any other law enforcement office; we had accidents, crimes, calls to answer, papers to serve and the rest of the citizenry to protect.

The county did not have the financial resources to fund the investigation; it would require a great deal of overtime and bringing in other Sheriff’s Deputies to augment my staff. 

I had some very good people, not enough, though, and we didn’t have the experience that would be required to undergo this investigation, it was obviously going to be a massive undertaking.

This was to be an immense amount of work, requiring hours of on scene investigation by a large contingency of investigators.

While I didn’t particularly care about how this would be viewed nationally, I knew that having the State involved would help keep the finger pointers at bay; it wouldn’t be just the “local, red-necked biased County Sheriff” doing the investigation.

At the time the investigation, considering the task force, agencies and all the investigators involved, was the largest joint effort in Oregon’s history.  Dozens of people were involved, every day, in the investigation for several weeks and then for months afterwards. 

We also brought in outside county and city agencies to augment our investigators on the ranch and perform some of the peripheral duties.

I do have to admit that the State Police and Attorney General’s investigators did a good job; and they included the deputies I assigned to the investigation at every step of the way.

The Task Force consisted of:

The FBI, which took on the wiretapping investigations.

The INS, continued their investigations on Immigration fraud.

The other crimes were left to The State Police, Attorney General Investigators and we came along for the ride doing whatever we could to assist.

The lead agency was the Oregon State Police; with a Lieutenant as the lead investigator.

I will not be going into a lot of detail about the investigation and related charges, at this time.  Only what I was actually a part of when I was on the scene and/or comments by our deputies who were assigned to the investigation.

This writing is not so much a point by point narrative to the investigation, as it is the experience I had as a relatively new Elected Sheriff.

A Sheriff who would have been over his head as the investigation was conducted – work that would have been in addition to many other issues our Office was facing at the time.

My ego aside, the Governor made a wise decision. 

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

There is no ambiguity here, it is clear men and women were created separately.

Through the ages God has used the skills and unique personas of each to further His Work so that His believers can be saved.

Through the centuries we have acknowledged that women can have the same skill sets that men have – and sometimes better, however, they are still men and they are still women.

Is there confusion, in the minds of some people, they feel they are really opposite of the sex they were born as?  – Yes. 

Is that a sin?  No, only when we yield to the temptations of satan do we sin; ANY sin.

Each of us have a proclivity to sin – and it is different for each person.  Some steal, others have intercourse with multiple partners, others assault people, some look at young children and desire to have sex with them and so the list goes on.

There are people that you could place a $1000 on the table and walk away and it will still be there when you come back – yet give them a tidbit about someone and they will gossip all day long.

Place $10 in front of another and it will be gone before you completely turn around – yet tell them a secret and it will go to the grave with them.

Satan knows our weaknesses and does all he can to tempt us into sinning.  He did that with Even and Adam and has been doing it ever since.

We don’t want to believe that drunkenness is a sin?  No, problem identify a gene and say it isn’t a sin, it is a health issue.  So reaching the person, who is an addict, for Christ becomes doubly difficult, not only do we have to reach a ‘foggy mind of an addict through their addiction but now we also have to break through the barrier that tells them it is not their fault.

Sin is a real thing.  I am not trying to make light of those that suffer from addiction or any other temptation to which they have yielded, but we have to realize that to help them, truly help them, they must understand they must turn it all over to God.

HE, not man, is the final Arbiter, and it is becoming more and more difficult each day.

Satan is alive and well in America today.  He is no longer subtle because he doesn’t have to be.  In the 1960’s through the 1990’s he caused us to look at sinful behavior – particularly sexual behavior – as acceptable even preferable to God’s commands.  Anti-social behavior isn’t a crime, or sin, it is a product of either the environment the person grew up in or some kind of disease – so the person isn’t responsible.

If a person is not responsible then they cannot be a sinner.

Movies, television, magazines, internet, media, advertisers, all and more were proclaiming that sin was now acceptable and should no longer be called sin.  It was natural for us to want to be involved in these activities.

So as children grew up with these lifestyles as being natural and the falling away from the Word of God being the norm; because no one wants to be told they are sinning, then they embraced the lies being told them.  There is no sin, so why restrict yourself to one partner, not getting drunk and high on drugs – the stars do it, they are making millions so why can’t we?

In the past satan used subtleness to get his point across.  The turn of the century saw a more direct frontal assault on God and now it is a full-fledged open assault on God and His Word.  And, he is using many of our nations’ leaders on his front lines.

Satan isn’t even trying to hide his intent to destroy God, His Word and those that believe in Him.  The latest according to a news article:

Fairfax County Public Schools is beginning a curriculum that basically says there are no boys or girls, there is no gender as time goes by we can make up our own minds as to what we are, boy or girl or whatever..........

To declare otherwise will not be tolerated.  Those that believe that men are men and women are women are wrong and they will no longer be allowed to voice their opinion – their children will be required to take these courses.

Parents will be allowed to have their children opt out by law – or at least the way it reads now, but the intent to confuse children, destroy parental authority, and deny God is clear.

Our leaders are telling Christians they have to change their beliefs because it doesn’t match up with the leaders’ beliefs. 

The courts are already telling those that believe God’s Word and practice it as closely as they can, that they can no longer do this, they must comply with laws that violate the very tenants of their faith – and attacking denominations that ascribe to Biblical standards telling them, in effect, they can no longer do that.

Freedom of Religion, freedom of speech that embraces God, His Word and Christ is being attacked and determined to be unlawful ‘hate speech’ and men and women are being prosecuted for their stands.  IN AMERICA!!

It is interesting that the only point of view that the leaders want to authorize is theirs!  We but have to look around at the oppressive governments, especially those that we ourselves can see, not to mention those that have risen and fallen over the centuries, to see where America is heading – and is on an extremely fast track.

Now, the question could be, why should we even fight this, why even let it bother us?

First, it isn’t right; it is against everything this country was founded on.

Second, it doesn’t stop with one idea, it carries through to others, once the steam roller is out there it rolls over everyone, ask the Jewish people, ask the Germans from the Second World War or the Russians; ask the Christians from Iran, Iraq, China, North Korea and the list goes on.

Third, to allow this to go unchallenged is to deny God. It denies His Deity and His Authority over us.

Satan is turning America into his prize.  America that was founded on Biblical principles are now denying those very principles, what more could he ask for – except to exterminate the Christian, and he is well on his way to accomplishing that.

There are so many people out there that are getting more and more confused.  They don’t understand that just because a government says something is okay, doesn’t mean that it is; and that makes it more difficult for them to accept God’s Word even though inside what they feeling tells them they are wrong and what they are doing is a sin and will lead them to damnation.

They feel the tug at their heart, their conscience tells them they are in trouble, but the government says they are not – and besides they don’t want to believe that they are sinning, so it is easier, for a time, to believe the governmental rhetoric that doesn’t condemn them.

Christians, around the world have been suffering for Christ for centuries. 

It appears, unless things change, that American Christians will soon be joining them in more that harassing comments or actions, or by government sanctions which are already in bloom – but hard time in an American prison cell for their professing God's Word as true.

We too will be suffering, mentally, financially and physically for our Christian stands.

The following is Part of an article written by Matt Barber, I found it rather profound:

“There are different kinds of suffering.

Suffering through cancer, for instance, can, and often does, lead to death. Without Christ, who is mankind’s only hope, such suffering is hopeless indeed.

Yet when a young mother suffers through child birth, and while she may experience the same level of pain as the cancer sufferer, her crying out elicits an entirely different response, and her pain serves an entirely different purpose. While one type of suffering leads to death, the other leads to life. While one attends sorrow, the other attends joy.

Similarly, there is a kind of suffering, suffering in sin, which leads to spiritual death, and a kind suffering, suffering in grace, which leads to spiritual life. Anti-Christian persecution, be it efforts to force Christians into disobedience to God, attempts to silence them outright or, worse, the torture, enslavement and even execution of Christ followers – now widespread in both Muslim and Marxist nations across the globe – signifies “the beginning of birth pains” (see Matthew 24:8).

And birth pains lead to new life.”

He refers to Matthew 24:8, it behooves us to read the entire chapter, Jesus told us 2000 years ago what to expect when we take on Him mantle.

May we never compromise our faith in Christ and our witness to Him to save ourselves from the sufferings the world would bring. 

In Christ we have strength and purpose; and in us God proves His Word.

Later, Art :-)

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