letter jensen to pepe march 1 1976

Joseph Pepe Remey

Via Malenchini 6

Florence, Italy

Dear Guardian,

With a great deal of joy I heard a few weeks ago that the very dear friends with 'the stone with seven eyes' before them have sent you their invitation to be the key-note speaker at the Open House at the prison on April 25, 1976. This Open House is something that I have wanted to happen for the past five years, and was unable to get. I am sending you this letter to inform you of the great implications of this occasion and the necessity of your acceptance. I base my opinion on my knowledge of what it would mean to the progress of the Baha'i Faith Under the Provisions of the Covenant.

For a long time I knew that the great projection would take place from the 'stone with seven eyes', by the implications of scriptures. For instance, in the 49th chapter of Isaiah, he prophetically tells us that the gatherer of Israel will say "to the prisoners, 'Come forth,' to those in darkness, 'Appear'...and Lo, these shall come from afar, and lo, these from the north and from the west, (northwest)," And behold! Zechariah prophetically tells us the Lord of Hosts--Baha'u'llah--will bring forth the Branch, or scion, or heir from the 'stone with seven eyes' that was placed before Joshua, which is in the mountains of the Northwest. Zechariah also tells us that the four chariots that are to go out to patrol the earth--to bring the message to the four winds of heaven--meaning to the peoples of the world, or to the peoples of the four winds of the great catastrophe, will come out between two mountains of copper (or bronze or brass), 6th chapter. The two largest mountains of copper, or bronze or brass, in the world are also in the mountains of the Northwest--Butte and Lincoln, Montana. Deer Lodge, the site of the 'stone with seven eyes' is just about halfway between these two mountains. Besides, the only real activity in the Baha'i Faith Under the Provisions of the Covenant has thus far come out of the 'stone with seven eyes'.

The administration at the prison is just about to recognize that the prison at Deer Lodge is the prophetically promised 'stone with seven eyes', and the people of Deer lodge want it to be so. So when Jerome went to the administration with his proposal to have this Open House, they readily okayed it. This is the last and only time that the prison administration could grant this affair, for the government has built a new prison and all the inmates at the 'stone with seven eyes' will be moved to it by this October. The citizen's committee of Deer Lodge and the Historical Society, some time ago decided to turn this prison into a museum and for several reasons. First, at one time this prison was a territorial prison and is therefore a historical site, which the historical society wants to preserve as it is, and wants to have the theatre that was just recently burned down rebuilt inside the walls, as the clipping enclosed explains.

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Second, Deer Lodge is a depressed town. Its only industry is the prison. The businesses in the past have been depending on the ranching trade to make a living, but more and more the ranchers are going to Butte or Missoula to do their shopping because of the bargains in the super marts. Therefore they would like to attract the tourist trade. In their way of thinking, if this prison is really the 'stone with seven eyes' prophesied in the Bible then it will eventually get into the communication media and be ballyhooed throughout the world and people will come from all over to visit this phenomenon, and they will become famous and prosper.

There are several very important questions that they must have answered first, however, and that is, especially, what does the new Guardian of the Faith have to say about all of this. So when Jerome presented his program to the administration he told them that you had told us that you would be visiting us this coming spring and then two or three weeks ago you wrote that you now have all the funds to complete your project and would then be free to come, and that he was scheduling you as the main speaker, they readily agreed for us to have the Open House.

Five years ago a great stir took place in the prison right after I made my Proclamation. I had the airplane fly over the prison taking the picture of the prison for the article of 'The Beast' and Harry Evans had the picture of the Prison painted on a canvas four feet by eight feet and the prison administration has had it hanging in the administration building ever since. He then had post cards of his picture made, and I came out with the article of 'The Beast' and Harry Evans had the picture of "The Beast" drawn by Cloyce Littlelight and had him paint it on a canvas 4' x 8' and had post cards made of that, and a lot of other very important activity in teaching the Faith inside the 'stone with seven eyes' and there was a very large increase in the number of believers inside the walls. Some of these had written to the Guardian receiving beautiful replies, but when I sent my Proclamation printed in the material that we had produced in the prison to the Guardian I never received a reply from him, nor did any of the new believers that from that time on expressed their belief in him and the Faith in letters to him. They were never answered. The last letter that he wrote was one that crossed my letter to him. This he wrote to John Paul. In this letter he wrote that both Dr. Opal and Dr. Leland Jensen would always know what is best for the Faith, but he from that time on never even acknowledged receiving my Proclamation or anything else, sent him. This lack of a reply had a very serious deleterious effect upon the fortunes of the Faith inside the Prison.

Of course, Dr. Opal received many warm letters from you and your explanation that Mason was no longer able to write. But the prison administration was not aware of that. All letters going in and out of the prison are read by the prison administration, and when Mason no longer corresponded with me or any other inmate in the prison the administration began to believe that the Guardian didn't accept me as the Promised One, and that he had cut me off. They then got the idea that perhaps I was just a poor deluded old man, and that the only ones, besides my wife, that believed me were those criminals in prison that I had conned into following me.

This is when the persecution of the Baha'is in the prison began. Both the Catholic and Protestant Chaplains in the prison were strongly urging the prison administration to eliminate 'Baha'i' in the prison and they were doing everything they could to oppose us. This was also taken up by the churches of Deer Lodge, from which a number of their ministers came inside the walls to preach. As a number of the guards attended Deer Lodge churches they became antagonistic toward the Baha'is in the prison. In addition to this, the Bahais under the Covenant-breaking 'Hands' developed strong Centers both in Missoula and Deer

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Lodge and these took a very active hand in persuading the prison administration to oppose us. They told them that I and my wife were kicked out of the Baha'i Faith for Covenant-breaking, and that the Guardianship had come to an end and that there was no longer any Guardian, that Mason Remey also was just a deluded old man.

My wife and I were left along in defending the Covenant and the Guardianship of the Faith by the Guardian's failure in not getting word to the Administration of the prison stating that he backed my claim. When my wife and I came to Montana there were no other Baha'is Under the Provisions of the Covenant in this state. Therefore, there were no other Baha'is in Montana to back us up. Therefore it became a free-for-all to stop the Baha'i Faith in the prison. They didn't dare to close us up outright because of the freedom of religion clause in the Bill of Rights. We would have been in court immediately on a writ had they tried that, and we would have won as very definite precedents had already been set by the Black Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and others that have taken prison administrations to court on these same grounds.

They tried just about everything they could to stop us. Among the schemes was one that the administration passed a new rule that for any club, organization or religion to hold a meeting in the prison it would have to have an outside sponsor, or have a guard or other prison official present at the meetings. Then they wouldn't provide for a guard. When we wrote the warden threatening to file a writ in court, he assigned the Protestant chaplain to sponsor our meetings. He did everything he could to disrupt and destroy. He would either come too late to the meetings so we could not have one, or he would refuse to come when we were able to get the meeting room or when the inmates were free to attend. I had a writ made up by one of the inmates and just as we were ready to have it filed, my wife brought Tan and Hal Sixta into the Faith on the outside and Hal volunteered to sponsor these meetings, which he did up until last year when he had back surgery and couldn't do it any more.

This is when they started to persecute individual Baha'is that became active in the prison in teaching and administering the Faith. Thus, my 'Open Letter to Governor Judge'. This stemmed that in a hurry. Not by the Governor taking action, but they were cognizant that I had the power of the press and I used it wisely in public relations by sending the 'Open Letter' to the Montana legislature. Prison salaries and funding is provided by the legislature and any adverse public relations affects their pocketbooks.

When I was in the prison, I suffered a barrage of insults and vicissitudes by the guards and administration. They would have liked to have thrown me in the hole or locked me up on segregation, but they were afraid to. One day the deputy warden told me that he was going to have one of the watch towers demolished. I asked him why, and he told me that then we would only have a stone with six eyes. I told him that it didn't matter as I had already had the 'stone with seven eyes' before me making me the Joshua. He then said that we have to have the antichrist. I told him that I have already pointed out the antichrist in 'The Beast'. He then turned to the head of the finger print department and asked him 'how could this old man be the promised Joshua?'. He answered, 'nineteen hundred years ago they didn't think that that carpenter's son could possibly be their promised Messiah either.'

Things have changed quite a bit in the last year. This has come about by the generation of the strong spiritual forces caused by the large influx of new solid believers on the outside into the Cause of God, both in Montana and Wyoming, and their strong support of the meetings in the prison. It is no longer a case of my being a deluded old man pulling a con act, but one of a vibrant teacher establishing God's Kingdom on this earth and bringing forth the Guardianship against his will with the new friends being so much more firm in the teachings and guardianship than the guardian himself.

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They have now made another new rule that in addition to the sponsor a guard also has to be present in the meetings and this time they see that we have a guard. These guards have been reporting back to the administration what they hear. This has been good for us. Now that the inmates have been in correspondence with the Guardian, the administration is starting to see how wrong they have been in opposing us. Now that Jerome has gone to them with your promise that you would visit us this spring they were very happy to grant us an Open House. There will be food to feed 400 people. Missoula and Sheridan Baha'is have volunteered to assist those in the prison to make this project a huge success. Everyone is doing something and they are all contributing. The Baha'is with the 'stone with seven eyes' before them have sent you an invitation to be the main speaker at this event and they have sent you a check to cover some of your expenses in coming here. This was made solely by the inmates and at great sacrifice by them as they are not in possession of much. Some of them sold their living bodies to the prison research programs in order for them to be able to contribute to your--the Guardian's fund--so that you may become independent and attend to your Baha'i responsibilities. Don't you dare send it back to them. Such an act would be extreme cruelty. These men love the Faith, and their Guardian, and they want him here for their Open House.

The Guardianship needs to become a responsible institution. It must lead the world in accuracy of religious belief. This is what the Guardianship is all about. It must flee from conjecture and myth and its out-worn shibboleth of: 'if it doesn't know what to do, do nothing.'

An inactive Guardianship not only resulted in persecution of the Baha'i Faith and the Baha'is supporting the Guardianship, but has very decidely prevented the Great Projection of the Baha'i Faith Under The Provisions of The Covenant throughout the world. This may have been good for the Faith, however, for it allowed the Promised Joshua to raise up a large body of believers and three strong centers in Deer Lodge, Missoula, and Sheridan without stifling rulings from the Guardianship, such as would have happened if Donald was the Guardian. He is in opposition to everything that is now being done by the staunch believers all the way from being against the teaching by using the written word, to condemning the Promised One sent us from God. Had Mason not appointed you to succeed him after he had appointed Donald, Donald would have completely destroyed the Cause of God on earth, and in the Great Catastrophe that is upon us, there would be no life left upon this planet.

Besides these strong centers of the Faith and this strong body of active believers, hundreds more have been taught and had become believers, but became inactive by the lack of an active Guardian supporting the activities of the Faith and the claim of the Promised One sent them by God. They are depressed by this sad state of affairs, and it is now starting to affect those that have remained strong.

The Guardianship needs to become as accurate in its calculations and decisions as the scientists that put men on the moon. The Promised Ones of God today have come with such accurate proofs for their missions as two plus two equals four, or as accurate as any scientific formula for a substance or compound, such as the formula of H2O for water. These can be tested and proved and are not subject to error. Therefore, the guardianship needs to become responsible and acknowledge the Promised One that is alive and with us today that has given proof as accurate as two plus two equals four or that of a scientific formula (see the new edition of 'The Beast' enclosed), and back the teachings efforts of the only Baha'is in the world that back the true Guardian of the Faith. When this happens the fortunes of the Faith will change overnight and the Great Projection will take place.

You can do something very good for the Cause of God and that is for you to come forth from your cloister and take your seat at the head of the Cause. There

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is no way better to accomplish this than to come to the 'stone with seven eyes' at its Open House and make your address supporting the Baha'i activities and the Promised One of God. Although the recognition by the Guardianship of the Promised One would now be latent it would project the Cause of God into the communication media that would resound around the world. The stage is set. The actors are ready. The world awaits you.

The funds are now available to bring you here and we have the means to support and take care of you after you get here.

Some of the Elders of the Faith will be present. All of them, however, must be invited now if they are to attend. These are the ones that came out of the Violation of the Faith with Mason, and are not now staunch supporters of Rex King and/or Joel Marengella. Waiverers such as Jimmy Barrett, however, should be invited. To do this the Open House Chairman, Jerome Hellman, needs their names and addresses, something that I don't have. If you have any of them, would you please send them to Jerome immediately.

My wife and the very dear friends here join me in sending you our love,

Source: Dave Cornell, http://web.archive.org/web/20030525160857/www.lelandjensen.net/html/doc/760301pepe.htm