Letters

Reading this letter, it must be noted that Ralph is my old friend Ralph Daigle, through whom Eli James first received my address and was able to contact me in April of 2006. Ralph was in prison with me at Elkton Ohio, where he had finished a seven-year sentence for income tax evasion. He was a long-time Identity Christian, and a fellow pastor in Michigan with James Wickstrom and Gary Blackwell before Wickstrom’s affair with Kathy Kallstrom caused the group to fracture. I think that was in 2004 or 2005. After that Ralph and Blackwell went off into Paul-bashing, which has caused me to shy away from him. It was also Ralph Daigle who first introduced me to Clifton Emahiser, and also to Frank Smith of the Church of Christ in Israel, who ordained me in December of 2000. So far as I know, Ralph is still alive and I wish him well, but in my recollection, I have not spoken to him since before I split with Eli James in 2011.

It must also be noted, that Eli James is really not telling me anything new about Paul-bashers. Before this time, I had written a series of 20 of Clifton Emahiser’s Watchmen’s Teaching Letters, starting at # 89 in September, 2005, which Clifton published monthly for nearly two years from that point. Most, if not all, of these were already written by the time Eli had written to me, since I was able to write them long before Clifton could publish them according to his regular schedule. In that series, I addressed articles published by Clayton Douglas at great length. The series ended in April of 2007 with WTL # 108, and my essay titled Misconceptions Concerning Paul and the Church.

Some day I will check the papers I have in storage to see if I saved any of the replies I made to Eli James’ letters. I usually photocopied the letters I sent to Clifton and other Identity Christian pastors, but I do not remember if I did that for my responses to Eli. I could not always afford to make photocopies, as they were ten cents per page, and I wrote quite prolifically.

Below, Eli brags that he made a presentation to the congregation of Ralph Daigle and Gary Blackwell, and that his analysis of Genesis 3 and his explanation of the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares was “an eye-opener” for their congregation. I remember feeling that Eli was being disingenuous when I first read that, because having spent several years with Ralph I was confident that he was highly knowledgeable of everything Swift, Comparet and others taught concerning those passages, and reading the material Eli had sent me, he added nothing to the understanding expounded by those previous teachers. That was one of my first impressions of Eli, and I should have held onto it more tightly in the years to come. But we can all be stricken with altruism at one time or another.

Here, another impression I will receive is how he misinterprets the definition of the Greek word for air supplied in Strong’s Concordance. Eli clearly confuses the definition of the noun with the definition of the verb from which it is derived, that Strong supplies in the definition of the noun. Eli’s scholarship has always been quite sloppy, but the degree of his sloth was not fully manifest to me until after we split.

Finally, the final paragraph, as well as some of the notes I scribbled on the front of the envelope from his first letter, which has been published here, indicate how, in part, I answered his first letter, and I can reformulate and stand by those opinions today.

So with that background, here is the second letter I received from Eli James while I was in prison:

CHURCH OF THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

Pastor Eli James, c/o ANP PUB 411373 Chicago II 60641

May 28, 2006

William Finck

Dear Bill:

Sorry for the long delay in responding to your letter (May 10). I have been on a whirlwind speaking tour in the last two weeks during which I visited Knoxville, Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne and Memphis. The demand for my services is increasing due to my vocal positions on 2-Seedline and the Sacred Names. But I am taking the summer off from such activities so as to catch up on home and work responsibilities. I am also praying to Yahweh to give me either a larger income or fewer responsibilities so that I can devote full time to this ministry.

Thank you for your letter. I appreciate your candidness and your opinions. I have just finished a document on Romans, Chapter 1. I would appreciate your feedback. Clifton showed me an advance copy of your forthcoming book. We are looking forward to that with great anticipation. Haven't had a chance to look at your inserts. Will do that ASAP.

I received a lot of negative feedback on my initial defenses of Paul. Since Parts 4 & 5 were issued, the critics appear to have become mute. Even those in CI who criticize Paul because they perceive him to be a universalist have stopped arguing with me. I think that, through other authors, I have exposed the shallow reading that has been done with respect to Paul. The Paul-bashers have made the mistake of uncritically accepting the universalists’ assumptions about the apparently universalist language. It appears as though the pro-Paul CI writers are gaining the upper hand. I haven't heard a peep out of any of them (the Paul-bashers) for about three weeks now.

I was recently on the air twice with Clayton Douglas' radio show. He and I calmly discussed the pros and cons of the Paul issue. He was quite amenable to my suggestions, for he had not previously heard anyone from CI speak positively about Paul. I explained to him how two difficult passages were resolved by proper translation and citing historical circumstances, such as Paul's admonition against genealogies. I explained to him that, since the genealogical records had been destroyed by Herod and since the Israelites of the Dispersion had no such records ever, Paul was simply declaring the foolishness of such vain talk, since they had no records to go by. Clayton was very satisfied with this explanation. He and I hit it off like warriors. We may go into a publishing venture together.

Ralph is a great guy. He and his partner Gary Blackwell are both anti-Paulists, but they value my 2-Seedline perspective enough that they disregard my pro-Paul stance. I spoke to their group at Passover and they have invited me back for Tabernacles. I did a 2-Seedline analysis of Gen. 3 and followed it up with the parable of the Wheat and the Tares. It was an eye-opener for their congregation.

With regard to air, Strong's #109 lists it as aer and the definition is "from aemi (to breathe unconsciously, ie to respire; by anal., to blow; "air" (as naturally circumambient): - air.” Strong's definitely gives a verb form. Liddell & Scott may have overlooked something. In any case, it provides an alternative reading to the literal interpretation that the "Rapture" will be some kind of atmospheric event.

The Masoretic Vs. Septuagint discussion is something that I generally concur with Herrell, although I agree that he overstates the case for the LXX's indisputable authority. I agree that we need both the LXX and the Hebrew Scriptures, but the Masoretic text has been terribly corrupted by Jewish addition and deletion. Most of the non-Jewish commentators I have read agree that the LXX is more reliable than the MT. Nevertheless, I use both and I have come to rely heavily on Lamsa's translation based on the Peshitta and on the Moffatt translation. You may be right about the LXX not being as reliable for prophecy. Also, the Masoretes would have left the prophecies alone (except those referring to Yahshua) because they would not waste time doctoring text which they could not understand themselves.

I am including one document for your perusal and one of mine for your critical analysis and comments. Looking forward to your comments on "Revelation Unfolded.”

Yah bless,

Pastor Eli James

Yours in the Name of Yahweh.

[Signed]

Pastor Eli James

This is the first letter I received from Eli James, while I was in prison. The letter has been scanned and appears with the original envelope below. It was postmarked April 21st, 2006 and sent from Chicago. Eli, whose real name I later found out was Jospeh November, often tells people that I went looking for him after I got out of prison. These letters, which I only had the chance to retrieve from storage recently, prove that he is once again lying.

The text of the letter:

CHURCH OF THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL
Pastor Eli James, c/o ANP POB 411373 Chicago IL 60641

William Finck, #18163-050
FCI, POB 10
Lisbon OH 44432

Dear Mr. Finck:

I have been receiving Clifton's newsletters for many years now, so let me congratulate you on the fine work you are doing for him.

I am a 2-seedline Identity minister. I have a prison ministry as well as a local and travelling ministry. Clifton and I speak frequently and I visited him about a month ago.

The reason I am writing to you is because I am jumping into the Saul/Paul fracas. Many on my email list are Paul haters; and I have not given them anything to chew on because I think they are wrong on numerous interpretations. I agree that the writings of Paul have been used to promote universalism and antinomianism, but I also assert that these doctrines come about only because of poor translations and because of deliberate out of context readings that ignore contrary verses.

Clifton says you are well versed in the Greek language; and he showed me a copy of your upcoming book about Paul's writings. I am looking for an ally, or at least an honest interpreter, to demonstrate to the anti-Paulians that bashing Paul is the wrong approach. Problem verses do need to be addressed, but blaming them on Paul, in my opinion, ignores all of the translation problems with the KJV. I have just started a series on Saul/Paul. I would like send them to you for your comments.

I am enclosing the first two, so you can see where I'm coming from. I have also enclosed a copy of my newsletter for your consideration.

Yours in the NAME of Yahweh,
[Signed]
Pastor Eli James

p.s. I got your address from Ralph Daigle. He sends his regards.

I will post the other prison letters I received from Eli James in the near future.

Click the image for the full-size version:

I scribbled some notes on the face of it, but here is the return envelope:

From an email with the subject line "4 blood moons" received Tuesday, July 28th:

I've have been hearing a lot about these 4 blood moons leading to the beginning of the end time or birth/second advent of the messiah both from Christians and new ager pagans what is your option on the matter and what do the primary sources have to say regarding this theory

Thank you
Tim W

Here is our response:

Tim,

I really cannot talk about New-Age pagans except to say that most of what they typically believe is made-up feel-good horse manure.

As for the "blood moon" thing with Christians, it is mostly engineered by the Fat Jew Pig named John Hagee, who has sold an awful lot of books and made a lot of money getting Christians to think that the wicked Jewish Israeli state is actually the Kingdom of God, when in truth it is the Synagogue of Satan, or at least one of them. Won't they be surprised when it is finally incinerated.

In other words, John Hagee's "blood moon" claims are all lies created for political reasons to benefit the Zionist Jews.

This is what it says in the Bible: 

Joel 2:31: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Acts 2:20: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

Revelation 6:12-13: 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

So if the sun is not black as sackcloth and if the stars do not fall out of the sky then every single person who falls for the "blood moon" lie has been had by con-artists.

From here I can only recommend my book, Christreich, which is an explanation of the Revelation.

But you do not have to buy a copy. The text and podcasts are all free here: http://christogenea.org/podcasts/revelation

I plan to expand on that sometime in mid 2016.

I hope this helps,
William Finck

Dear Mr Finck,

I have read your essay Classical Records of the Dorian & Danaan Israelite-Greeks. I happened to read a book of Greek history on the subject of Greek festivals in Ancient Sparta. One was called Karneia (Karnia) it is said that it came from the word Karno which meant in the Doric dialect ram. I've checked the word carno (karno) and found one city in Wales and one city in the Biblical area that is called Carnaim and which is called Carno by Ptolemy and Strabo. It is probably related to Genesis 14:5 to a city called Ashteroth Karnaim.

I would appreciate your take on this.

Thanks in advance,
Petros S.

Hello, Petros,

Of course I had not heard this before, so far as I can remember, and thank you for your observation. Being certain of the origins of much of Greek culture, it certainly does not surprise me that there would be a connection.

Stater (a type of coin) of
Metapontion with head
of Apollo Karneios.
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.

Karnaim (in the King James Version) is a dual form (plural of two, and some early Greek nouns also had such a form), and it comes from a Hebrew word which means horn. So I can see where that may well be related to the idea of a ram, having two horns. Karnaim appears in the Scriptures only in Genesis 14:5, and it is Strong's Hebrew lexicon # 6255.

The Karneia festival was held in honor of Apollo, and Apollo was seen as the patron/protector of shepherds and herds. According to the 9th edition of Liddell & Scott karnos is ram, and karnon is a horn, so I would be confident to say that the word is definitely a cognate with the aforementioned Hebrew word.

As for the Welsh, connection, Liddell & Scott also cite a Celtic word, karnux, which appeared in certain Greek writings and which they say is equivalent to karnon! That is truly interesting.

You may be interested in two other posts at Christogenea, one of which is a podcast I did several years ago, however there are also some accompanying notes. The podcast is entitled Greek Culture is Hebrew, and the post at the website includes citations in print where I drew mostly from the Tragic Poets to make my point. The other post is a link to a book, with a few comments I had made along with the link to a PDF copy. The title of the book is Scripture Parallels in Ancient Classics, compiled by Craufurd Tait Ramage and published in 1878.

Thank you once again, and I hope this helps,
William Finck

To Miss Mary Shortt, Clarifying My Position on the Phoenicians

Translating James 1:23 - A Response to a Letter From a Reader

WILLIAM FINCK VERSUS
TED R. WEILAND

By: William Finck

The following is a reproduction of a hand written letter I sent to Ted R. Weiland, P.O. Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, 69363, dated 19th August 2005 in support of Tony Gonyer whose address will not be cited here. Tony had taken exception to some of Weiland’s audio recordings, where Weiland insists upon sharing Yahweh’s promises to Israel with Yahweh’s enemies. It is now mid-November, and Weiland has not yet responded to my letter:

Sir (meaning Ted R. Weiland), I have recently had the pleasure of reading an exchange of letters between yourself and one Tony Gonyer, which consisted of letters from you dated July 14th and August 5th of 2005, and one from Tony to you dated July 29th 2005. While I have never met nor corresponded with Tony, we have a common associate in Mr. Clifton Emahiser.

Now Mr. Weiland, I have never before corresponded with you, but having been involved with Israel Identity for eight years now, I am quite familiar with your teachings and take this opportunity to express my feelings to you.

First I must say, that you may wax philosophical, creating hair-splitting differences between the definitions of “racialism” and “racism”, and that may get you by in 87% white, 4% black Nebraska, but it certainly would not where I grew up in northeastern New Jersey, or where I am now in federal prison. The non-whites see no difference between the two, and neither will they. From their perspective, they see both as the same form of hatred: a non-acceptance of them as full equals in a borderless world. Your distinctions between the two words are, in effect, vanity. You are deceiving yourself.

Mr. Weiland, you profess that you would give Bibles to non-whites. Yet Paul says at 1 Corinthians 1:18 that “the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.” There is no promise anywhere of resurrection or eternal life to the other races, Mr. Weiland, and they have not the Spirit of Yahweh which makes that possible (Rom. 8:11) in the first place! The promise of salvation, or preservation, in the Bible is only to Israel, evident in both Old Testament and New. So why should you be foolish, to teach other races the Bible?

Proof of the validity of the position is manifest in many places, but especially at Matthew 25:31-46, where it is explained that Yahshua shall separate all nations (ἒθνος, nation, ethnicity) from each other, as a shepherd divides sheep from goats. Only Israel are identified in the Bible as being “sheep”, in the New Testament as well as Old (Jer. 50, Ezek. 34) and that leaves only one other category in which to place all other nations (races): goats! Now while the parable says that the sheep go on to eternal life, “us which are saved” in 1 Cor. 1:18, the goats go on to eternal punishment, “them that perish” in 1 Cor. 1:18, and so Paul would label you as a fool for preaching to them! Is this not clearly evident in these and other Scriptures, such as Matthew 7:6?

Now you may scoff at me for what I am about to say, but I would challenge you to prove otherwise: Nowhere in the Bible can you point to and establish as fact that Yahweh created the non-white races. Rather, a study of pre-history and their own myths reveals that the non-white races are but a corruption of the original creation, along with the “fallen angels” of Rev. 12:7-9, and all being mixed are themselves by fact of their existence a violation of Yahweh’s laws of kind after kind. All of the ante-diluvian Adamites and all of the Adamic Genesis 10 nations were originally white: a fact which can certainly be established. All of the Genesis 10 nations (except Israel and some other Adamites among us) were destroyed by mixing with the alien races, voluntarily or not, and so their remnants are no longer white today. Jeremiah 31:27-30 forebodes this same thing, a mixing of the races (Adam and beast), which our Israel race suffers everywhere at this very moment. All who accept it shall die, and such is the Word of Yahweh! Yet we are promised that a remnant shall always survive.

Israel was told to make no covenants or agreements with the other races, i.e. Isaiah 8:9-15, Ex. 34:12, Deut. 7:2, Jdgs. 2:2. You would teach them Scripture, something unheard of anywhere in the Bible! Yahweh is not their God, for Christ has no concord with Belial! Only Israel were prophesied to be His people and to obey and serve Him, Old Testament and New. Your teachings, Mr. Weiland, contradict the Word of Yahweh in many places. I strongly urge you to reconsider them.

The parable of the sheep and goats mentioned above, the parables of the marriage feast (Matt. 22:1-14), the net (Matt. 13:47-50), the mustard seed (Matt. 13:31-32), the wheat and tares (i.e. Matt. 13:37-42) and others all have a clear racial message, often more evident among those who examine the Greek. These messages were spoken in parables for good reason: that the Edomites and other non-Israel races would not understand them! So why are you attempting to circumvent the Word?

Not without reason is it written in Ecclesiasticus (Σοφια Σειραχ) 12:5-6: “Do well unto him that is lowly, but give not to the ungodly: hold back thy bread, and give it not unto him, lest he overmaster thee thereby: for else thou shalt receive twice as much evil for all the good thou shalt have done unto him. For the Most High hateth sinners, and will repay vengeance unto the ungodly, and keepeth them against the mighty day of their punishment.”

By sharing the “bread of life”, the Word of Yahweh, with the other races, they overmaster us by it. They force universalist interpretations through phrases such as “whosoever” and “all men”, phrases never meant for other races, deceiving the sheep into unlawful communion and fornication, which is race mixing (Jude 7, 1 Cor. 10). In reality, the word “man” should only be applied to sons of Adam (Romans 5:14, 1 Cor. 15:22-45, Σοφια Σειραχ 40:1), and the other races have no part in the Biblical use of the term “Adam”!

Crumbs, Mr. Weiland, fall to the floor unintentionally. Crumbs are not purposefully distributed upon request. You purposefully throw that which is holy to dogs, and cast pearls before swine, every time you willingly share the Word with a non-Adamite. Pontificate on this if you must, or call it what you will, but remember that Paul calls it foolishness. Did Yahweh tell Joshua’s Israel to preach the law to the Canaanites and send them over the border? No! He told Israel to kill them all! Yet Israel failed and fell from His grace for it. It is hearts like yours, Mr. Weiland, which would placate the other races, which have caused Israel to fail. You seek their peace. Yahweh says that there is no peace for them! (Deut. 23:6; Psa. 28:3; Isa. 33:7-8, 57:21, Jer. 6:14, 8:8-15, 9:8; 1 Thes. 5:3; Matt. 10:34; Luke 12:49-51). Christ Himself would not placate nor seek the peace of the other races. Your teachings, Mr. Weiland, are not Biblical. You should instead follow His example and tell them “Depart from me, ye cursed!” (Matt. 25:41).

I suggest that you heed Tony Gonyer, and study Clifton Emahiser, for his doctrines are far more accurate and true to Scripture than your own. It is not Clifton who is hateful. Rather, those who reject the Word of Yahweh and choose instead to embrace His enemies are those who are hateful! David was a man after Yahweh’s own heart, and hated Yahweh’s enemies with a perfect hatred! Yahshua said not in vain: “Blessed are you when men hate you and when they separate from you and they reproach and they cast out your name as evil because of the Son of Man: Rejoice in that day and leap, for behold your reward is great in heaven!” (From Luke 6:22-23, my reading of the NA27 text), and “Woe when all men speak well to you, for in accordance with these same things did their fathers do to the false prophets!” (Luke 6:26, ibid.) Mr. Weiland I exhort you, study the Scripture again and consider these things. For you teach not the Word of Yahweh, but the words of weak and incompetent men, sharing the Word with all sorts of beasts and ungodly creatures.

Mr. Weiland, if I am wrong, I challenge you and I exhort you to exhibit why I am in error. Do not be as Dave Barley, Dan Gentry, and Stephen Jones – all of whom have left unanswered my letters to them over the past two years. I am not as you intone, a “disgruntled, hateful, mean-spirited, false accusing ... ineffective ... nincompoop.” False accusations surely are a serious matter with Yahweh! And neither does Clifton Emahiser meet the description with which you label him.

I thought to say much more here, but what I have said should be sufficient to illustrate my purpose. I would like your answer concerning Matt. 25:31-46 and 1 Cor. 1:18 especially. Enclosed you will find a copy of a pamphlet I wrote recently, entitled Baptism: In What? Can you find fault in that? I will send copies of this letter to Tony Gonyer, and to Clifton Emahiser. I hope that you choose to continue this discourse.  Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit WRF  ... P.S. From the American Heritage College Dictionary, third edition: “ra-cial-ism ... noun Chiefly British. Variation of racism.” See? No difference! WRF (end)

Thank you William Finck. I (Clifton) will now repeat excerpts from Weiland’s two audio recordings; the first made sometime during the year 2002:

“... but that doesn’t mean that a non-Israelite cannot join himself to Yahweh, and partake – and why wouldn’t we want them to? Why wouldn’t we want the nations around to be serving our God?, and under His Laws? – so we could have commerce with those nations .... not only for my race but for their race as well ... I have come to appreciate the other races and their individuality more since understanding this [Identity] message than before I understood it. God created everything to be good ... have you ever noticed the media always say we call the other races ‘mud people’? I have never in my life ever heard the term except in the media. Not amongst the people I preach to ... so why wouldn’t we want to embrace others into this message? ... If anything, we should be absolutely ashamed of ourselves because of our past reputation and our past history as a people and what we have squandered because of who we are. We should be ashamed of ourselves and our forefathers more than the rest of the races. They are wallowing in their sin because of our sin. Let’s just face it ...”

Then again, Ted R. Weiland on an audio CD labeled “Mission to Israel”; entitled You Might Be A Christian if... Pt. 9, (CD 656), and the address given: P.O. Box. 248. Scottsbluff, NE 69363, made midsummer 2005:

“... And don’t you dare, and I don’t think anyone would here – I’m sure you wouldn’t, but somebody who might hear this on tape – don’t you dare interpret what I just said as racist and supremacist, because I assure you that one can be a separatist without being a racist ... without being racist or supremacist. How do I know that? Because I’m a separatist, and I denounce racists and supremacists. And if you don’t want to believe me on that, then you might want to possibly take the word of hundreds – and who knows how many more – maybe more than that, you might want to take the word of hundreds of black Nigerians and others to whom this ministry has sent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of free Bibles and tapes since its very inception. I’m not a separatist because I hate other races. I’m a separatist because I love Yahweh and His laws which require – which require that His people live separate segregated lives .... Now once again there are going to be all kinds of objections. Someone is surely to counter that this passage is addressing religious, not racial separation, to which I respond – not that there are some exceptions – that people can’t from other races, and have in the past, joined themselves to Yahweh and embraced the Covenant ...”