In the late 70's, I was working at a magazine called "Off Duty".
It was, more or less, a Stereo Review magazine for military people around the world,
telling them the specs on audio, video and photographic equipment available through the
PX's where they were based. I was the Assistant Technical Editor, meaning I gathered the
info from around the world and prepared them for print. A little later in my stay in Los
Angeles, I worked with the News Director of KIQQ.
I also wrote record reviews and interviewed current popular artists, like
Billy Preston, Ronnie Montrose, Jermaine Jackson, McGuinn Clark & Hillman (The Byrds)
and others.
I had a policy to always write about music I'd recommend, instead of
wasting space telling people about music they shouldn't buy. But, one time, my editor told
me to write an article or two "panning" an album, aka calling it bad.
So, I got this album by a new artist named Christopher Cross. I was
listening to 100-200 albums per month, a few seconds at a time, so it was easy to overlook
something good or to get a bad impression of good music. And here I was, trying to satisfy
my boss by panning an album, and here was this new artist, with some great musicians like
Mike McDonald on it, as well as being produced by Michael O'Martian, a premier producer,
and I thought, this is a perfect album to pan, and besides, I heard a few production
errors I could use as an excuse to criticize it.
Turns out, I panned what became album of the year. So, I bought a new copy
and really listened to it, and really loved it, and it had this one song in particular I
could relate. I'll get to that.
First, I truly apologize to Christopher Cross, because Ride Like the Wind
is an incredible album. And, even more, I felt bad when I had an interview scheduled with
you about your second album, and you cancelled just 10 minutes or so before I would have
walked in the door, cause I was just down the street.
I always use that story to tell how easy it is to get the wrong
impressions, come to the wrong conclusions and can always find reason to criticize or
judge something, making assumptions, which are often wrong... particularly when you're
looking for the worst.
The reason this relates to my visit with Rev. Culwell recently, is because
of this song
Christopher
Cross - Ride Like the Wind - Sailing
Back in the days, when I was a young child, I attended the Scotts Valley
Baptist Church in Scotts Valley, California, where Rev. Culwell was the minister.
And, my Sunday School teacher made sailboats. Hand made wooden sailboats.
Every time he finished a new boat, we kids in his Sunday School Class got to go out on the
new boats' maiden voyage. It was beautiful. His boats were beautiful. The feeling of
sailing was like peaceful freedom, and I'd always do my best to place myself at the front
of the boat and push my head out so I could catch the wind and the spray of the boat
crashing over the small waves on my face.
I loved every minute of it. And if you're listening to the lyrics of the
song, you'll now begin to understand why this song is one of my favorites, and how it
relates to this story.
Scotts Valley is just a few minutes from Santa Cruz, California, on the
Monterey Bay, where we used to launch into the bay from the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor, just
off Twin Lakes Beach, across the street from what became the Koinonia Coffee Shop, and was
formerly the Twin Lakes Baptist Church.
The last verse goes "It's not back from Santa Cruz, at least it's not
for me"... that song makes me relive a special part of my childhood - both the
sailing, and the lessons I learned in church. It was around that time that I first heard
and read the story of the Good Samaritan, with which I was so impressed.
I make some jokes in other places about how I would rebel at the idea of
being forced to go to Church on Sundays when I was really little. And it's true, I didn't
want to be forced. But, when I went, I really enjoyed it.
And I really loved Rev. Culwell's sermons. He could deliver some of the
best fire and brimstone sermons... and I thought it was like poetry. He was good. We had a
great choir, some of the kids there were my friends... I always remembered this one time
when he talked about how one day your Bible would be taken away from you, and you'd have
to remember it. And here I am, because of psyops, no longer having the Bible my mother
gave me, knowing it had passages in it with different translations that actually give key
information as to my identity, having to remember what it said. I'm sure one day I'll find
a copy of that specific Lutheran Minsiter's Bible from 1957, but for now, I just have to
remember.
Nonetheless.. it was in his church, while he was talking to us kids to
close out the week of Vacation Bible School, that I had my "vision" of my life,
seeing parts of the church and Rev. Culwell and most everything else appear to me with
this golden amber color or aura, while I saw the pictures of what I thought were His
purposes and my choices for my life. Like I've said, I was just a kind, maybe 9 or so, and
I just thought I was daydreaming or something, so I didn't worry about it, but fom time to
time, I'd think about what it meant, and keep my eyes open for how that vision could apply
to my life at any given moment.
And I always tried to live my life like a good Samaritan, and believe I've
been successful in doing that.
Meanwhile, back in those days, when my sisters were in their teens, they
were sort of an exemplar pair of church going evangelistic people. Always going to church,
dressing appropriately, obeying their parents, in the choir and singing duets. And
they particpated in "witnessing to people" in ways can't honestly say I
approved of, as well as doing things to shame people out of bad habits. Frankly, I thought
they were sort of fanatics who didn't realize they were offending people in God's name,
despite their quite honorable intentions. And I did respect them for their intentions and
efforts. I loved and love my sisters very much. We were a tight knit, sort of
old-fashioned 50's country family, and there was little that came between us.
I went to a couple of other churches from time to time, but never
regularly as I progressed through Soquel High High. There was one church I particularly
enjoyed, and considered becoming a member. I was even booked to begin giving sermons to
the youth group. I would have enjoyed that. But they gave me their rule book, and I simply
couldn't fathom the way they told you how to live your life, like, not playing cards and
simple things that I always classified under the heading "do all things in
moderation"... Even if I hadn't broken up with a girl who went to church there,
I still would have gone there as a member otherwise. It probably would have been the
beginning of me being a minister for the Assembly of God Churches. I really liked it a
lot, other than the rule book.
And even my sister who's 1 year older than me told me that, as a
Christian, it was her belief that it was appropriate to not associate with non-Christians.
And I kept thinking, if we're to be fishers of men, then it doesn't make sense to
not associate with non-Christians, because who else would God have us minister to, as
examples of what it is to live life in the example of Christ Jesus?
Those are a couple fof simple examples of a number of incidents, many
others of which were not pleasant or even safe, that occurred that influenced me to not
seek the fellowship of churches over the years. That, despite my knowledge that God
had a special purpose for my life that included the ministry, somehow, someway. And it was
what caused me to make my deal with God to instruct me on what I would need to know when
it was time to fulfill His purpose, and what caused me to take on my personal mantra as a
guide and means of reconciling myself, time and time again, to God's rule and will and
plan for my life and the world, which knew He would have me influence as a leader in
some way.
Dan
Fogelberg - Nexus
My mantra goes something like this:
I am not perfect, and I will never be. But, with every breath, and every
step, I try to be. (That's not all of it, but I'm a little tired and can't quite
remember it right now:})
The point of all of this is, if you were to look at my life, without
knowing me and discussing what I really believe in, as opposed to what people believe is
appropriate to speak about, you couldn't possibly know about me, who I am as a person,
being and spirit, not just because I am not particularly typical, but because outward
appearances might suggest that I was a "kind of person" other than what I
actually am. I might tell someone I've always been a devout Christian, and they might
conclude it couldn't be true.
On the other hand, my sisters, in their teens and into their adult lives
have lived lives that would suggest to people that they were good Christians. That
includes going to church regularly, studying Hebrew and Latin, marrying a minister, thing
sof that nature that at least give the appearance of propriety and "living a
Christian way of life".
I'm not at all attempting to depose or diminish my sisters in any way,
particularly in the area of their relationship with God, because if there's one thing I do
know about them is that they actually are good Christian people, who like anyon eelse,
does things from time to time. You know, family stuff :} But they're good people, and they
love God and Jesus.
I bring all this up because it actually is incredibly relevant to the
discussion I had with Rev. Culwell last Wednesday. It was a meeting I'd wanted to have
with him for quite some time.
Back in the old days, my dad used to talk about having meetings with
people in a little, sort of political group he called "Little Orange County". I
assumed it must have had something to do with conservative Republican politics, among
other things, as ell as maybe having at least a little something to do with the John Birch
Society, though I could be wrtong about that. And my fmaily has a long history of being
Masons, which is not at all the same as Free-Masons in reality.
Bob Dylan used to say never trust anyone over 30. I always thought he was
talking about age. Now, I have to believe it meant don't trust a Mason with a degree of 30
or above, which includes people like Bob Dole, Bill Clinton, Al Gore... those people use
the Masons to disguise their activities, which are, in effect, Satanic, and have ended up
giving Masons in the local lodges a bad name that they don't deserve.
Nonetheless..
I wanted to speak to Rev. Culwell mostly about his knowledge of my father,
who died when I was young, but who I knew had access to and worked on some highly
classified projects at the Naval Shipyard at Hunter's Point in San Francisco.
In the last few years, I've come to realize that he passed some
information on to me that may have been very classified at the time, and now, holds the
keys to some horrendous crimes the United States Government is committing and has been
committing against the citizens of the world and the planet itself for a very long time.
Crimes that can only be classified as treasonous, murderous civil and human rights
violations that in a world of justice would have them all arrested and imprisoned for
life. And would have you want to take arms against your despotic government.
You just have to believe me. I wish it wasn't true, but it is.
Michael
McDonald - Through Eyes of a Child
Still, I wanted to speak to Rev. Culwell because I wanted to ask him
questions about my father and his political activities that might answer a number of
questions relevant to the world today. I'm sure he probably believed that he thought I
wanted him to affirm who I am, and in a way, I hoped maybe he could, having been
associated with my father, wondering if maybe my father had told him.
You see, until Robert Novak gave me those scriptures to read, no one had
ever given me any clue, except God. The truth is, I never told anyone about that vision or
my deal with God until I emailed Lou Dobbs at CNN in 2002. I don't even know why I did
that... except for the psyops I later realized were going on.
Even after that, after understanding why it was true, that I was the Son
of Man, Christ, based on the evidence of what I did as a citizen and many more facts,
mostly in the Bible itself, the only clue I ever got other than that was when I called one
of my sisters in late 2002 and told her "I think I'm the son of man", thinking
my family must have known and trying elicit some kind of response from her to get a clue
about the truth of what I'd come to realize in my "becoming".
All she said in reply was "If anyone's the Son of Man, it would be
you."
Since then, I recognize that I was given a lot of clues by people who must
have thought I knew, and who were probably wondering why I wasn't doing anything about
what was going wrong in the world. And there was this one night with this same sister Sue,
who was at a cetain time in the early 70's married to a fundamentlaist minister in
Fortuna, California.
I was living in Eureka, California, and he came to where I lived one night
to listen to music with me and my roommate Paul and a couple of other people. Lester put
on Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" album. One particular song came on, and Sue
got up and left in a hurry in tears. She never would explain why, and I could never figure
out a reason why that happened until I heard that song last week, when I put it on in my
car while driving north through Monterey, California.
Marvin
Gaye - What's Going On - 04 - Save The Children
All in all, I believed there would be a great del to learn and discover by
speaking with him. I believe he's in his early 80's, maybe 90. Still, he's incredibly
present and healthy, and still displays the grace of God in everything he did while I was
with him.
Because I hadn't really ever had a chance to discuss any of these things
with anyone for more than 6 years, I looked forward to a chance to see what he'd think of
what I had to say, as well as to investigate a couple of things I'd been wondering for a
long time.
First, what were people expecting the Son of Man, and the embodiment of
the second coming of Christ, to be like, what did they think He would do, and how would
they know it was Him? What was the proof they would seek? I knew what I'd read in
the Bible, and the description of me is quite clear in an abundance of ways. I have no
doubts for another abundance of reasons. And if so many people, ministers, knew I was
here, why have they not stood up and assisted me in aking my presence known? And even, do
people read the Bible, as I did, and come to the same realizations, the understanding of
the scriptures as I do, or am I interpreting it totally differently and in opposition to
all standard beliefs? And then, do what I write and speak of offer value to people, to
their lives and understanding of God's Word and Plan, and isn't what I speak of what the
world has been crying out for for decades if not centuries?
Lots of questions - things I still want to know - and I knew I wouldn't
have the time to discuss it all with him in one short sitting.
So I decided what I'd do is tell you the story of my visit, and at the
same time, extend the conversation to include my private thoughts as we spoke.
I think you'll find this as interesting as I did.
