June 30, 1998

        Good Afternoon Carl,

                I guess you've created a monster by asking me those few questions, even though you might have meant them rhetorically.  To say that any thing is really evil in and of itself goes against the gospel as well as most any well-established wisdom.  That is why I keep throwing in the expression "does not exist in a vacuum."  Since writing you a few days ago I still ponder these things about the "COMPUTER=666" and the movement to do away with prohibition laws.  I have heard a lot lately from our mutual friend CULLEN STUART as he and I seem to be in agreement about the direction of the present medical marijuana 'movement'.  I believe that you and I, Stuart, Jim and many others actually believe and 'know' that Cannabis is, as the book of Genesis and Martha Stuart would also chime in, "a Good Thing".  That is one of the central themes that so many of us have attempted to communicate in our testimony to this 'mean 'ole world'.  The COMPUTER also is a remarkable tool.
        It is however the context in which both are presently entwined.  I do hope that you have never gotten the impression that the ingenuity of the COMPUTER and the benefits of the herb have in any way escaped my esteem.
        Cullen is equally disturbed by all the I.D. cards and requirements for placing medical marijuana patients onto State Registeries.   I have read that many small grass roots groups are likewise unhappy, especially about the compromise in language written into various initiatives headed for the ballots.   Language that goes against the very foundation of our original intent to bear witness to the world about our 'discovery'.  Language that often links marijuana with every wicked vice that we have worked so hard to free it from.  (This weekend I had a lady ask me if marijuana was not just a type of tobacco).  At first I did feel that 'we' were beginning to 'get our foot in the door'.  But now as I consider little phrases like Dennis Peron's "ALL USE IS MEDICAL USE" with the current direction of medicine, I don't care much for what I'm seeing as the door begins to swing open.
        Hebrews 13:9-16 address the issue of living 'without the camp' and laying aside all these vain attempts to incorporate the precious herbal gift into such a massive legal system, that is as you say, presently being used against us.  "For the bodies of those beast, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.   Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.  For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased".
        I left out verse 9 which I believe does address quite well the more mechanical 'Dana Beal' anti-Christ perspective of all herbs interacting with the body as if they were chemical additives for an automobile.  Dana claimed that the cross depended on faith when used against the vampire whereas the garlic 'worked everytime'.  "Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines.   For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein."
        So I do hope you understand that the COMPUTER does not seem evil to me, in and of itself, but in the framework where it is given the role of SAVIOUR for mankind with claims to eventually grant some bionic form of eternal life etc.  The great 'problem-solver' has already created more problems than it can ever solve.  I often think about our more 'primitive' ancestors who could tune their hearing into sounds they needed to hear while hunting their food and to survive while our generation just turns a knob and increases the volume while not even noticing the gradual loss of his natural faculties.
        And with all herbs (and yes especially marijuana) I continue in awe at the symbiosis that operates in such a beautiful manner when it is allowed.  It is the man-made system and man-made technology which I don't care to see added to the dance.  In fact it is because of what I have witnessed so far that I am totally convinced that a Power is involved which is not dependant on our 'lobbying' or vote.  A power which while manifested, promised that the meek will inherit the earth, that with or without whosoever 'believeth', there shall be both a catharsis and a beautiful new heaven and earth; a Power that can cause the weed to bust up through the concrete and kiss the sky.
        Any one of us who has witnessed such a marvelous transformation within ourselves (an old "wretch like me") and yet cannot grasp that the same magnificent conversion will happen to the whole world, has already returned to a wallow in the mire and become engulfed in a self creation of vanity and vomit.  Or as Corrie Ten Boon put it "Politics is no solution".
        Thanks again for staying in touch and keeping me stimulated with your comments and questions.  Enclosed please find another dollar bill to cover your postage cost and another promise to keep you on our list of where to send it if we ever get our hands on another dollar again.

        with much enthusiasm for the True Hope

        Robert