While there were many lessons we should have learned in the saga of the Rajneesh era in Wasco County, we didn’t seem to learn them.  When the Rajneesh could not legally change laws they resorted to crime, Arson, wire tapping, illegal immigration, voter fraud, poisoning, attempted murder are just some of those crimes.

America is repeating history.

The Rajneesh violated Immigration laws.  While there were legal ways to bring people onto the ranch, it was a long process and tedious, so they had sham marriages.  Many of these marriages were never consummated and were done solely to bring more people onto the ranch.  They spent hours coaching them as to what to say if Immigration investigators questioned them.

Today I don’t think it would even be looked at, as people are coming into the country and living here illegally.  Despite being able to follow the laws and be here legally, it is more expedient to ignore them and our government is not only allowing this, but encouraging it.

The Rajneesh brought in people to vote on important elections so the result would benefit them. 

In the City of Antelope, Oregon they brought in several followers, lodged them in a few houses and declared they were citizens of the city and therefore had a right to vote.

The voting laws of Oregon at the time was that people could register and vote on the same day.  They took over the town of Antelope and made the other citizens miserable with their antics.

The law was changed and people had to be registered for a longer period of time – however, that has been rendered useless by new laws that register voters when they apply for driver’s licenses.

The Rajneesh brought in street people from other areas to get them registered to vote in the county elections.  Their intent was clear – they would rule the ballot box and get people elected that were favorable to them.  The next election would be in two years and by then they would have enough people to not only control the election, but elect their own people.

They thought they could influence the street people to vote their way – or more likely – they would vote for them since they controlled the precinct.

Their plan was stymied by the requirement that all new registrants would be challenged and had to prove residency.

Now, anyone can register and we have vote by mail.  That plays right into the hands of people who wish to control elections, bring in people, register them and then vote for them. 

We didn’t learn.

There were actually some people that advocated allowing the Rajneesh to form their own county.  The proof that these people governed by the whims of the leadership of the religious sect in the way they convene their city council minutes (not meetings since they were non-existent,) should be a warning that we need to protect that from happening by religious sects.

Yet, we see that politicians are willing to give up control of some of their responsibilities due to the pressure from organizations that will control the area, not by the Constitution, but by their own laws that do not adhere to those principals, thus removing the right of the government to regulate and control them.  -- and what happens when those that do not share that religion are forced to follow it anyway or face imprisonment?  It is interesting that those that are advocating these people be allowed to change those laws on the sect’s behalf are opposing any influence that Christianity has on the laws.....

History, in America, is repeating itself, and very few care.

Muslims are being placed in small communities around the country and we are seeing demands that Sharia law be the laws followed by those communities, and they are not alone, large cities like Dearborn, Michigan are facing these forces to change their laws; and many have made concessions.

I have no problem with helping those in need of assistance.  I have no problem with allowing whatever religious sect to come to America.  However, this changing of our laws from the Constitution base to the whims of religion must be stopped.

It has become more politically correct (and expedient) to kow tow to these pressures than stand by the principles of the Constitution.

Americans have no focus, we have lost sight of who we are, and we are becoming a country ruled by the tyranny of political correctness and not the Constitution.  By trying to be tolerant of all but those who remind them of what the Constitution says, and destroying the base upon which America was formed and became a powerful force for the good of the world we have weakened our nation.

We are ineffectual and no longer true leaders of the free world.  We cannot be depended upon to stand on our word and defend the defenseless, we are becoming a minor player in the world and those that need to be defended are looking elsewhere – to the enemies of this nation – for help.

May our children forgive us.

If you want to read my comments on the Rajneesh era in Wasco County, while I was Sheriff, you can go to:

https://www.wattpad.com     

Then to non-fiction and look my draft book up:  Small Town Terrorism: Experiences of a newly elected Sheriff.

Got up late this morning, can’t do that tomorrow, we will be heading to Prineville for Mary’s Memorial.

I was raised in that community, but can never go home.  It was destroyed by Les Schwab tires when they purchased it and other pieces of property to build their corporate offices and warehouse – not sure if they produce their retreads there.

It has been a few years since I have been back in town, even for reunions, but it really hasn’t changed all that much – except for the east side where new businesses and homes have been built.

There was a bar that was just outside the city limits when I was growing up.  It was a rowdy and rough and tough place, fights broke out frequently.

I got to know the owners as I was working at Erickson’s Supermarket.  They did all their shopping there.  I was talking with the wife one day and told her I was going to be going to college in a few days.

Knowing my enjoyment at cooking, she said, “You need to come to work for us, we can make you a great chef.”

I thanked her but told her I needed to further my education.

She replied, “Oh, you will get an education.”  Nope, went to college.

Isaiah 48:9-13  For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

¹⁰ Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

¹¹ For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

¹² Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

¹³ Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

As I read these verses this morning, I couldn’t help but think how God hasn’t changed. 

1 Peter 1:6-8  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

⁸ Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

The trials we go through here on earth, sickness, loss of friends and relatives, mocking by those who would deny God, being humiliated by those of the world, loving and trusting someone only to find out they worked against you behind your back – the list can go on.  We get upset, angry, maybe even despondent, but they are all things that purify us.  IF

If, we learn to focus on Jesus, focus on His teaching, His promises; learn to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit as He show us the way through all of it.

The trials we go through here on earth, prosperity, good health, our careers, our family all those things that give us pleasure – how do we handle those?  They too are trials that God places upon us to allow us to put those into perspective when it comes to placing God first. 

Every day, every situation can either draw us closer to God or pull us away from God.  When we learn to use those things to praise and give God the Glory in speech as well as actions we have been that much more tempered by God, strengthened and ready to further serve Him in a more efficient manner.

God loves us.  He wants to give us His blessings in so many ways, yet we often get bogged down in the business of life and forget that the real business of life is to serve Him.

Later, Art :-)

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