04/02/2023
Lately, there have been inquiries about the progress of Land Development on Number 7 Hill and the Church Property. Additionally, people have asked if the church building is being sold. Last year in May, I had a meeting with Developer representatives to discuss the possibility of them acquiring the church property. During the meeting, I was privileged to deliver the following speech. Besides a few insultingly low value offers, there has been no significant communication between Grace Baptist and the Developer.
Note: I make no claim to originality in the statements below, many of these are borrowed and adapted from believers' statements throughout the English speaking world.
Pastor Steve
Early May 2022:
Thank you for joining here this morning. I would be remiss if I did not assert the significance and explain magnitude of the proceeding here. Each of you represent your respective companies, corporations, and interests. Your job is to work on behalf of your employers to come to an agreement that serves the objectives you understand to be important heretofore. The mission of the Grace Baptist Church is to advance the interests of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to serve and protect God’s people as well as those seeking a relationship with the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings we have come to trust.
While I do speak for and represent the interests of many, and those interests are a factor in determining the direction of my efforts today; I want this assembly to understand who I am initially and ultimately accountable to:
I represent the Lord of the cosmos who possesses the title deed to the planet Earth. He is by virtue of creatorship the owner of all matter in the universe including known and unknown quantities of the same. God in the person of Jesus exercising the prerogatives of Godhood which He possesses is impervious to death as proved by the historical account of His Resurrection, attested to daily by the lives of His followers and celebrated worldwide yearly in the season we see recently befallen us. As such He sits preliminarily and finally the lone magistrate ensuring the just outcome of these proceedings today.
Almost any single highlight of His Real Estate portfolio alone by far dwarfs the aspirations of any acquirer of property in this room today. His resources to protect the same are incalculable. He is the inaugurator and curator of all Kingdoms, Dynasties, Armies and Governments. A King Nebuchadnezzar in a declaration to much of the known world stated it like this. “His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation . . . And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? . . . whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”
While from an earthbound perspective, at times, His Justice and self-determination may seem slow; He is the Eternal Adjudicator of all land disputes. Time has shown the He is resolute concerning His land holding declarations. The formation of an independent state against all odds in the Land of Israel in 1948 is testament to His ability to allocate lands regardless of respect to popular opinion, or cultural or societal norms.
Today you do not simply convene in a building erected for a small religious community of believers. Each of you sits on land designated and dedicated as an Embassy. The soil this building is situate on is not simply an accommodation to a place to worship. We recognize this property as a physical representation of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Dominion of God Eternal.
Proceed carefully as the ramifications of decisions and agreements shaped by this meeting have eternal outcomes, as well as immediate consequences. I trust that we can come to a tentative agreement which serves the interests of the greater Cle Elum community while honoring the property rights of this Embassy.
Thank You for your reception of these statements this morning.
