Sermon Notes by Pastor Mark Downey
Continued from: The Christian Military: The Church Militant
Audio Version also available: RealAudio | Windows Media
In the past two lessons we've been looking at Christianity, as a whole, as a military, and this is the third and final part of the "Christian Military: The Church Militant". Now, not too many people in the church world, let alone Christian Identity, see what they would probably call 'the arm of the flesh', but which is, in fact, our calling. We've gone over innumerable references in the Bible that make our Israel people a warrior race. We are conquerors. Today, we're going to be looking at heroes and martyrs.
In this generation we have witnessed good intentions of men of Israel who tried to militate against the enemy. Some succeeded, and some didn't. What we're going to look at today are two different means and motives of this concept of a Christian military. One is "The Order" and the other is the story of Gordon Kahl.
I recently subscribed to a publication called Far Above Rubies. They've published several articles by members of The Order, primarily Gary Yarbrough, whom I've admired over the years. However, what Gary has written most recently, I found a little bit disturbing. In a recent issue of Far Above Rubies, there was an interview with him, as well as an article by David Tate. David Tate has produced some very scholastic works; one on the difference between the Septuagint and Massoretic texts. My message today will focus on a letter to the editor that I've written in response to comments made by both Gary Yarbrough and David Tate in the Far Above Rubies magazine.
I'll have to preface some of my comments here so that you know what I'm referring to. Primarily, members of The Order still look upon themselves as performing something heroic for our Movement. However, I think as we contrast that with Gordon Kahl, you'll see the difference between martyrdom and heroism, in a Christian sense. So this is my letter to the editor:
After reading the interview with Gary Yarbrough and the article by David Tate in Issue #3 of "Far Above Rubies", I felt compelled to share a few thoughts about what they said. Since the notorious Order collapsed, much fanfare has been exploited about them in books, movies and other media snippets. The opinionated members themselves offer a divergence of perspectives. Many supporters admire The Order for at least trying to do something, and so do I. However, good intentions do not always dovetail with the responsibility attended to the intent of the word of God.
More than anything, I'm sorry that The Order got caught. But the sorrow is not so much in what they did, than what they believed. I will honor David Tate's last request at the end of his article by not praising him or members of the Bruder Schweigen for what we want them to be. What they are, are prisoners of war, now languishing in their memories of what could have been.
The question arises as to whether the generic Christian Patriot community should elevate the surviving members of The Order to the status of hero. Tate admits no shame in serving future generations of 'my blind and deceived race'. And then, in capital letters, he says 'TO SERVE IS HEROIC', and then adds, 'Praise us for what we are'.
Well I ask, why are they serving a negative view of our people in a time frame that has not yet come to pass? Haven't they got the cart before the horse here? Why doesn't he say,"I find no shame in serving my God"?
I will remind David of Isaiah 42:19. "Who is blind, but my servant? " And I say that in conjunction with something Gary Yarbrough said; his retrospective about some 'confusion in The Order's command structure, objectives and function'. Everybody knows God is not the author of confusion. If The Order had had the discipline to rectify their confusion, there's nothing to say that they wouldn't be in operation today.
Yarbrough tempers the concept of victory and overcoming with an understandable defense of personal experience. He speculates that given another month, their enemies would have been very hard pressed. But I wonder, would that time have been for target practice, or practicing the faith of their fathers?
Gary said, "I think some of us lost touch with reality and what we could actually accomplish". Well could it be that they lost touch with God? From their own admissions, The Order compromised and collaborated with a sort of non-Christian racialist Pagan element, therefore forfeiting the unity of I Corinthians 1:10. There seems to be some residual fallout from the religious mix of The Order, to this day.
Gary mentions a major tactical error. However, in my humble opinion, their real faux pas was not in their rapid growth of membership, that got up to some 30 members or so, but rather their failure of maturing in Christ; to separate themselves from anything that would jeopardize their divine mission on the battlefield. For example, the idea of equating God with nature is an alien concept to Christianity, which can easily lead to the convolution of secular humanism; that is, and I quote Gary Yarbrough when he said, "We are God". That's one of the things that prompted me to write this letter to the editor.
Romans 1:25 frames this idea thusly, "Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator? " This is the problem with self-proclaimed heroes and contemporary martyrs. As far as Christians are concerned, no man can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
So I ask, did Robert Matthews' love and respect for all things Aryan (that was another quote from his article) include those things that are antithetical to scriptural teachings? Apparently, the admonitions of II Chronicles 19:2, "Shouldest thou help the ungodly (in other words, the loose cannons of The Order), and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from the Lord. These admonitions were completely ignored. The Bible is replete with the mechanism of cause and effect such as this, which The Order unfortunately was not familiar enough with.
God will reciprocate every thought and action. Our people cannot appease, compromise or give lip service to other religions. "Learn not the way of the heathen" is pretty simple (Jeremiah 10:2). The word hero is not in the Bible, but in Pagan mythology a hero was an illustrious person; mortal indeed. But supposed by the populous to partake of immortality and after his death to be placed among the gods.
The archaic meaning of martyr was one, who by his death bears witness to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, such as Stephen in Acts 22:20. Well, there's a difference between the secular and Christian world when it comes to the realm of courage and sacrifice. Did Robert Matthews die for Christ . . . or 'all things Aryan'? It is delusional to think Christians can work side by side with Church of the Creators or Metzgerites or Odinists or agnostics or atheists, etc. , and receive the blessings of the one true God. If our struggle is not a Holy War, we will self inflict the automatic failure of unholy alliances.
White Power can only be achieved through the strict, straight and narrow spirit of an exclusive unity. The redeeming features of The Order are educational . . . in what not to do for future victors. The mixed signals of The Order were out of order with God, and therefore does not qualify for the status it wishes to enjoy. Since their demise, many have gone back to the drawing board, and have not followed in the footsteps of The Order as a model to emulate. To praise the men of The Order, in fact, is not really the point. I can only thank them for the error of their ways and how it has affected what they believe in now so that others in our movement can decide if they want to be God also. It's not just a good suggestion when the Word tells us"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers" (II Corinthians 6:14).
I believe Isaiah 45:5 which says, "I am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God besides me." . . . "And as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).
I must say to Gary and David, I think you guys are good guys, but have done things in the wrong way. That's, of course, easy for an armchair quarterback to say, isn't it? I hope Gary and David don't think I've been unfairly critical or hostile, which is entirely the wrong perspective. If I were president of the United States, I would grant an immediate pardon with the caveat that beckons our attention to what Jesus would do. That focus can be the only unity of substance and final solution to our problems.
So that's my letter to the editor to the magazine, Far Above Rubies, and I think you can see the problems associated with attributing past and present members of The Order as heroes or martyrs by their own words and actions.
On the other hand, let's take a look at Gordon Kahl. We're going back to about the same time frame that The Order was operating, the early '80's, and Gordon Kahl was Christian Identity. He did not associate with Odinist or Pagan elements, and he was righting a wrong. He was a good man. He was a war hero.
Gordon was an early member of the Posse Comitatus (the power of the county). In the early 80's, a lot of farmers were losing their farms left and right because lawyers were persuading them to put their acreage in a trust which was later used for the bank takeovers and foreclosures; a manipulation of laws on the books in order to set up and prey upon good Christian farmers, primarily in the Midwest.After he had gotten in trouble with the IRS and had spent some time in jail, Gordon had discovered this criminal activity going on by the government and bankers, and he was informing the farmers about these laws, and teaching them how to avoid the illegal government manipulation of these laws. And, of course, these were laws that the government really would have preferred that no one knew anything about.
In February of 1983, there was a shoot-out in Medina, SD, and the Posse Comitatus called a series of news conferences, reporting that 4 North Dakota farmers supported the argument that Gordon Kahl was ambushed while trying to expose these land fraud schemes.
When this ambush happened, within hours, Gordon knew he had to write down an account of what transpired, and that is what I am going to relate to you today. In his own words, this is what Gordon Kahl wrote:
I, Gordon Kahl, a Christian Patriot, and in consideration of the events which have taken place within the last few hours, and knowing to what lengths the enemies of Christ (who I consider my enemies), will go to separate my spirit from its body, wish to put down on paper a record of events which have just taken place, so that the world will know what happened.
I feel that the awesome power which will be unleashed to forever silence my testimony, if not checked by the power of my God, who is the God of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, will cut short my time to leave to the world these happenings. Therefore, I'm going to make this record and leave it in the hands of those who I know will bring it to light, even though I may in the meantime be extinguished.
While urgency or human weakness tells me to run, my spirit says write. So this I am going to do and if my God continues to protect me, I shall write first and flee from the hands of my enemies later.
We had just finished our meeting in Medina concerning how we could best implement the proceedings of the 3rd Continental Congress, which was to restore the power and prestige of the U.S. Constitution up to and including the 10 articles of the Bill of Rights, and put our nation back under a Christian Common Law, which is another way of saying, God's Law, as laid down by the inspiration of God, through his prophets and preserved for us in the Scriptures, when word was received from someone, whose identity I am not able to give, that we were to be ambushed on our return to our homes.
I realize now that we did not take this warning as seriously as we should have. The reason for this was because it has happened so many times before when nothing happened. I see now that the many false alarms were to cause us to lower our guard.
As we pondered what to do, someone suggested that we take two cars instead of one. Consequently, I went with Dave Brower, and my son Yorie, Scotty Faul and my wife Joan, and Vernon Wagner went in our station wagon. At this time, none of us really expected any trouble, but just to be on the safe side, my son Yorie, myself and Scotty, prepared to defend ourselves in the event that an attack upon us should take place.
As we came over one of the hills just north of Medina, I saw on the top of the next hill what looked like two cars parked on it. About this time, they turned on their red lights, and I knew that the attack was under way.
We were just coming to an approach when I told Dave to pull in on it and stop. Our other car pulled in just beyond us and stopped also. I looked back in time to see another vehicle coming from behind with its red light on.
I picked up my mini-14, and got out and got myself and my weapon ready as the vehicle coming from behind skidded to a stop about 20 feet away. The doors flew open on it and the two men who were in the front seat aimed their guns at us. My son Yorie had jumped out of the other car and had run over to a high-line pole. The two cars which we had seen ahead of us, pulled up and stopped behind us.
A man got out of the vehicle which had come from behind us and ran out into the ditch on the east side of the road. During this time there was a lot of screaming and hollering going on but nothing else, so it appeared to be an impasse. About this time a shot rang out, and the driver of the car who I believe at this time must have supposedly been in command turned around and stood up so he was looking at his man in the east ditch and towards the cars which had come from the north and yelled, "Who fired? Who fired? " The other man who was with him echoed his question.
The people who ambushed us intended to do us bodily harm, or they would not have had an ambulance and a fire truck following them from out of town. We did not fire on them, but two of them fired on my son Yorie. One shot was from a shotgun loaded with buckshot and the other was from a rifle or pistol, high powered, the bullet striking the grip on his .45 auto which he had in a shoulder holster. Had he not had the .45 where it was, he would have been killed instantly. When the first shot was fired, Yorie cried out, "I'm hit!" The man who I assume was the chief marshal yelled, "Who fired? Who fired? " He stood up and looked over toward the Medina police chief and where another marshal had ran over into the east ditch, tried to get us from behind. I believe that another car had pulled up behind the police chief but I don't know who it was. Both marshals who were in their vehicles were fully exposed and yelling, "Who fired? " when the second shot rang out, and I heard Yorie yell out again and when I looked around. I saw he had been knocked down and was on the ground.
At this time, the marshal who was on the passenger side of his vehicle aimed at me and I snapped a quick shot at him with my mini-14, as I knew then we were all going to be killed. At this moment, I saw the other marshal, who was the driver, aim his gun at something about halfway between me and Yorie, and I snapped a quick shot at him causing him to duck down and out of sight behind the dash as his partner had done when I fired in his direction. About this time, I glanced quickly around and saw Scotty fall, running over to where Yorie lay, and I realized he was the one that the marshal had aimed at before I fired causing him to duck out of sight. About this time, the marshal who had aimed at me tried again and another shot from my mini-14 made him duck again. The driver again tried to aim at Scotty once more and I fired again.
This went on several times as fast as I'd fired, they'd duck and then pop up to aim again. Finally one of my bullets hit the marshal on the passenger side and he went down. I fired quite a few times then at the driver without any visible effect and I soon realized my clip would be empty, and then Scotty would be dead and so would I. I ran around beside their vehicle firing as I went to keep them down until I got around far enough for him to be exposed to my fire when I put him out of commission.
Since Scotty hadn't been firing, and unless Yorie had fired when he got hit, I knew the marshal who had run around into the ditch, and whoever had shot Yorie were still there somewhere. So I ran around between Dave Brower's station wagon and the marshal's vehicle just in time to see the marshal who had been in the east ditch stand up and aim at Scotty's back. Where he was standing by Yorie, he might have intended to shoot at me as I was nearly in his line of fire when I saw him. I snapped a quick shot at him, and knew he was hit bad from the way he fell. I went another step or two and at this time the Medina Police Chief stood up and began to aim at Scott, but when he saw me, he ducked down behind his car before I could shoot. I saw his feet or legs under his car and fired a shot at them and heard him yell and I knew I hit him.
I didn't see anyone else and ran over to the east ditch to see what happened to the marshal I'd fired at. He saw me coming and lifted his head up off the ground and said, "Don't shoot me again, I'm all done". I took his shotgun out of his hand and his pistol out of his holster and threw them both up onto the edge of the road where he couldn't reach them and shoot me in the back. I then went up and looked amongst the cars to see if there were any more of them hiding there. I didn't see the Medina police chief so I assumed he must have run and hid in some nearby trees. It seems to me that there was another car pulled up behind the Medina police chief's car but I can't remember for sure and I don't remember anyone else.
Scotty and I got Yorie into the police chief's car and took him into the nearby hospital. Scotty drove him and I brought our station wagon, which my wife had been sitting in. I saw a man in the clinic who had blood on his face, and who I recognized as a Medina city employee who was driving a city pickup and who must have been the one who set us up. I believe he drove behind the marshal's vehicle while they were yelling, "Who fired? " This man started begging for mercy when he saw me and I recognized him as having been at our meetings.
I didn't shoot at him and I believed he must have been hit by ricochets or pieces of bullets when I was firing at the two marshals, tried to keep their heads down, as he was almost directly behind the driver from where I was standing. As far as I know, neither Yorie nor Scotty fired unless Yorie fired when he was hit. Vernon Wagner wasn't armed and although Dave Brower had a shotgun in the car, he never touched it. My wife had nothing to do with any of it other than the fact that she went along to visit with some other ladies.
The ambulance was behind the city pickup and took the city employee to the clinic before I knew he had been on the scene. The fire truck turned around and went back to town. I sent the ambulance back out as soon as we got to the hospital, as I thought the marshal who asked me not to shoot him again might still be alive. I should probably add here that almost two years ago, I had informed the U.S. marshal from Fargo, Mr. Bud Warren, that I had done nothing wrong. I was guilty of no crime and that I would stand for no more harassment or persecution; that they came for me again, that I considered myself justified in defending myself. Apparently he agreed because I heard that he was demoted and transferred because he refused to be another link in an unlawful chain of events.
That's the testimony of Gordon Kahl. And I think you can see here that that's a lot different than what The Order was involved in. And so, I can say unequivocally that Gordon Kahl is a true martyr, and his son survives today languishing in federal prison, not lamenting what could have been, but demanding that he be released because he did nothing wrong. He's a hero.
And for a long time when I was in the Populist Party, I was of the opinion that Yorie Kahl should be the cause of unity in our movement today. If we should rally around anybody, it should be Yorie Kahl, because he's a hero and he did nothing wrong. He was a good son to a good, good man. He had a good father.
It is a rare breed these days that probably understands what I'm talking about when it comes to a Christian Military, and what Christianity is all about: for our manhood in standing up against wrong to make things right in this country, in this Beulah Land.
This is a Christian nation, but we continually hear the media pundits ridicule our founding fathers. They mock the fact that this is, or was, a Christian nation. Three Supreme Court decisions verify that fact. But as Colin Powell had breakfast with Ariel Sharon the other morning, the interpreter speaking from Yiddish to English mistakenly said, "The United States of Israel", and indeed, that is what this country has become. It has become so judaized that the calling is now to Christian Identity. Our Movement must get moving to stop this menace; this mischief and mayhem, this government of death.
You recall a couple of months ago sometime after 9-11, I had quoted George Bush as saying, "This is going to be a war year". Remember that? We were talking about prophecy and self-fulfilling prophecy, and lo and behold, for the last two weeks we've been at war in the Middle East. But it's all contrived for the wrong reasons.
All the right reasons for war lie right in this country. And that is why we need the Holy Spirit, the motivations from God; the mentality to separate ourselves from evil, that we once again awaken to our designation as God's battle ax or weapons of war. And Jesus said, "Bring forth mine enemies who will not have me to reign over them and slay them before me." That doesn't mean that we wait till Christ comes a second time, because we read the scripture that says, "When two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in their presence", which tells us our Commander-in-Chief of the Christian Military is already with us. We don't have to wait, and we certainly shouldn't have to listen to namsy pamsy pulpit pimps that continue to emasculate the manhood of Christian Israelites throughout the land.
Next week I'll continue this theme and hopefully it'll be the epilogue with something I received recently from Joan Kahl, the wife of Gordon, of something that Yorie has put together regarding the Second Amendment. In fact this is a theme that is eternal: the right to defend ourselves, our land, our people, from aggression and decadence. And so I'm looking forward to sharing that with you.
Kinsman Redeemer Homepage | Text Messages Index | Audio Messages | Christian Basics | Outreach Materials | Contact us