#sacredsites — Public Fediverse posts

#DeweyBurdock, A Renewed #Uranium Project, Threatens #SacredWaters in the #HeSapa

By NDN Collective • August 17, 2026

"As #Indigenous peoples, we are accustomed to generational battles. The fight to both return and protect the #ȞeSápa ( #BlackHills ) in #SouthDakota is one of those fights. Our #SacredSites and waters are constantly facing threats from new mining efforts.

"The Dewey-Burdock Uranium Project is a proposed mine covering approximately 10,580 acres across private and federal lands within the Ȟe Sápa. Individuals, organizations, and communities have been fighting against this uranium project for 20 years due to the radioactive waste it would generate, posing major threats to the health of people, animals, land, and water in the area.

History of Uranium Mining and Native Communities

"Native communities in South Dakota are no strangers to the risks posed by uranium mines. In 1962, about 200 tons of radioactive material from old #UraniumMines seeped through a broken dam at the #AngosturaReservoir and made its way into the #CheyenneRiver, upstream from #PineRidge. This meant that many living on the #PineRidgeReservation were exposed to #RadioactiveWater. Exposure to #radioactive materials is linked to #cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, #AutoimmuneDisorders, #thyroid disease, and more. We know that even 50 years later, high uranium levels are still present in #AngosturaReservoir in the southern Ȟe Sápa.

"The Angostura Reservoir is not far from where the proposed Dewey-Burdock Uranium project is located. So it makes sense that the surrounding community opposes a project that risks leaking even more radioactive material into the local ecosystem and waters. It is important to note that the threat from radioactive waste does not lessen over human time scales. Waste from uranium mining remains radioactive at harmful levels for hundreds of thousands of years.

"We have seen the impact on Native communities when radioactive waste from uranium mining and processing is left behind. Today, over 500 abandoned #UraniumMines are scattered across the #NavajoNation, causing numerous health disparities. We also see how what was once a historical gathering place for #Yakama peoples on the shore of the #ColumbiaRiver is now a #Superfund site so contaminated that spending a few minutes in the soil underneath some of the buildings would expose someone to enough radiation to kill an adult."

Read more:
https://ndncollective.org/dewey-burdock-a-renewed-uranium-project/

#WaterIsLife #NoUraniumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #EnCoreEnergy #BLM #USPol #NativeAmericanNews #EnvironmentalRacism

#DeweyBurdock, A Renewed #Uranium Project, Threatens #SacredWaters in the #HeSapa

By NDN Collective • August 17, 2026

"As #Indigenous peoples, we are accustomed to generational battles. The fight to both return and protect the #ȞeSápa ( #BlackHills ) in #SouthDakota is one of those fights. Our #SacredSites and waters are constantly facing threats from new mining efforts.

"The Dewey-Burdock Uranium Project is a proposed mine covering approximately 10,580 acres across private and federal lands within the Ȟe Sápa. Individuals, organizations, and communities have been fighting against this uranium project for 20 years due to the radioactive waste it would generate, posing major threats to the health of people, animals, land, and water in the area.

History of Uranium Mining and Native Communities

"Native communities in South Dakota are no strangers to the risks posed by uranium mines. In 1962, about 200 tons of radioactive material from old #UraniumMines seeped through a broken dam at the #AngosturaReservoir and made its way into the #CheyenneRiver, upstream from #PineRidge. This meant that many living on the #PineRidgeReservation were exposed to #RadioactiveWater. Exposure to #radioactive materials is linked to #cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, #AutoimmuneDisorders, #thyroid disease, and more. We know that even 50 years later, high uranium levels are still present in #AngosturaReservoir in the southern Ȟe Sápa.

"The Angostura Reservoir is not far from where the proposed Dewey-Burdock Uranium project is located. So it makes sense that the surrounding community opposes a project that risks leaking even more radioactive material into the local ecosystem and waters. It is important to note that the threat from radioactive waste does not lessen over human time scales. Waste from uranium mining remains radioactive at harmful levels for hundreds of thousands of years.

"We have seen the impact on Native communities when radioactive waste from uranium mining and processing is left behind. Today, over 500 abandoned #UraniumMines are scattered across the #NavajoNation, causing numerous health disparities. We also see how what was once a historical gathering place for #Yakama peoples on the shore of the #ColumbiaRiver is now a #Superfund site so contaminated that spending a few minutes in the soil underneath some of the buildings would expose someone to enough radiation to kill an adult."

Read more:
https://ndncollective.org/dewey-burdock-a-renewed-uranium-project/

#WaterIsLife #NoUraniumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #EnCoreEnergy #BLM #USPol #NativeAmericanNews #EnvironmentalRacism

#DeweyBurdock, A Renewed #Uranium Project, Threatens #SacredWaters in the #HeSapa

By NDN Collective • August 17, 2026

"As #Indigenous peoples, we are accustomed to generational battles. The fight to both return and protect the #ȞeSápa ( #BlackHills ) in #SouthDakota is one of those fights. Our #SacredSites and waters are constantly facing threats from new mining efforts.

"The Dewey-Burdock Uranium Project is a proposed mine covering approximately 10,580 acres across private and federal lands within the Ȟe Sápa. Individuals, organizations, and communities have been fighting against this uranium project for 20 years due to the radioactive waste it would generate, posing major threats to the health of people, animals, land, and water in the area.

History of Uranium Mining and Native Communities

"Native communities in South Dakota are no strangers to the risks posed by uranium mines. In 1962, about 200 tons of radioactive material from old #UraniumMines seeped through a broken dam at the #AngosturaReservoir and made its way into the #CheyenneRiver, upstream from #PineRidge. This meant that many living on the #PineRidgeReservation were exposed to #RadioactiveWater. Exposure to #radioactive materials is linked to #cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, #AutoimmuneDisorders, #thyroid disease, and more. We know that even 50 years later, high uranium levels are still present in #AngosturaReservoir in the southern Ȟe Sápa.

"The Angostura Reservoir is not far from where the proposed Dewey-Burdock Uranium project is located. So it makes sense that the surrounding community opposes a project that risks leaking even more radioactive material into the local ecosystem and waters. It is important to note that the threat from radioactive waste does not lessen over human time scales. Waste from uranium mining remains radioactive at harmful levels for hundreds of thousands of years.

"We have seen the impact on Native communities when radioactive waste from uranium mining and processing is left behind. Today, over 500 abandoned #UraniumMines are scattered across the #NavajoNation, causing numerous health disparities. We also see how what was once a historical gathering place for #Yakama peoples on the shore of the #ColumbiaRiver is now a #Superfund site so contaminated that spending a few minutes in the soil underneath some of the buildings would expose someone to enough radiation to kill an adult."

Read more:
https://ndncollective.org/dewey-burdock-a-renewed-uranium-project/

#WaterIsLife #NoUraniumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #EnCoreEnergy #BLM #USPol #NativeAmericanNews #EnvironmentalRacism

#DeweyBurdock, A Renewed #Uranium Project, Threatens #SacredWaters in the #HeSapa

By NDN Collective • August 17, 2026

"As #Indigenous peoples, we are accustomed to generational battles. The fight to both return and protect the #ȞeSápa ( #BlackHills ) in #SouthDakota is one of those fights. Our #SacredSites and waters are constantly facing threats from new mining efforts.

"The Dewey-Burdock Uranium Project is a proposed mine covering approximately 10,580 acres across private and federal lands within the Ȟe Sápa. Individuals, organizations, and communities have been fighting against this uranium project for 20 years due to the radioactive waste it would generate, posing major threats to the health of people, animals, land, and water in the area.

History of Uranium Mining and Native Communities

"Native communities in South Dakota are no strangers to the risks posed by uranium mines. In 1962, about 200 tons of radioactive material from old #UraniumMines seeped through a broken dam at the #AngosturaReservoir and made its way into the #CheyenneRiver, upstream from #PineRidge. This meant that many living on the #PineRidgeReservation were exposed to #RadioactiveWater. Exposure to #radioactive materials is linked to #cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, #AutoimmuneDisorders, #thyroid disease, and more. We know that even 50 years later, high uranium levels are still present in #AngosturaReservoir in the southern Ȟe Sápa.

"The Angostura Reservoir is not far from where the proposed Dewey-Burdock Uranium project is located. So it makes sense that the surrounding community opposes a project that risks leaking even more radioactive material into the local ecosystem and waters. It is important to note that the threat from radioactive waste does not lessen over human time scales. Waste from uranium mining remains radioactive at harmful levels for hundreds of thousands of years.

"We have seen the impact on Native communities when radioactive waste from uranium mining and processing is left behind. Today, over 500 abandoned #UraniumMines are scattered across the #NavajoNation, causing numerous health disparities. We also see how what was once a historical gathering place for #Yakama peoples on the shore of the #ColumbiaRiver is now a #Superfund site so contaminated that spending a few minutes in the soil underneath some of the buildings would expose someone to enough radiation to kill an adult."

Read more:
https://ndncollective.org/dewey-burdock-a-renewed-uranium-project/

#WaterIsLife #NoUraniumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #EnCoreEnergy #BLM #USPol #NativeAmericanNews #EnvironmentalRacism

#DeweyBurdock, A Renewed #Uranium Project, Threatens #SacredWaters in the #HeSapa

By NDN Collective • August 17, 2026

"As #Indigenous peoples, we are accustomed to generational battles. The fight to both return and protect the #ȞeSápa ( #BlackHills ) in #SouthDakota is one of those fights. Our #SacredSites and waters are constantly facing threats from new mining efforts.

"The Dewey-Burdock Uranium Project is a proposed mine covering approximately 10,580 acres across private and federal lands within the Ȟe Sápa. Individuals, organizations, and communities have been fighting against this uranium project for 20 years due to the radioactive waste it would generate, posing major threats to the health of people, animals, land, and water in the area.

History of Uranium Mining and Native Communities

"Native communities in South Dakota are no strangers to the risks posed by uranium mines. In 1962, about 200 tons of radioactive material from old #UraniumMines seeped through a broken dam at the #AngosturaReservoir and made its way into the #CheyenneRiver, upstream from #PineRidge. This meant that many living on the #PineRidgeReservation were exposed to #RadioactiveWater. Exposure to #radioactive materials is linked to #cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, #AutoimmuneDisorders, #thyroid disease, and more. We know that even 50 years later, high uranium levels are still present in #AngosturaReservoir in the southern Ȟe Sápa.

"The Angostura Reservoir is not far from where the proposed Dewey-Burdock Uranium project is located. So it makes sense that the surrounding community opposes a project that risks leaking even more radioactive material into the local ecosystem and waters. It is important to note that the threat from radioactive waste does not lessen over human time scales. Waste from uranium mining remains radioactive at harmful levels for hundreds of thousands of years.

"We have seen the impact on Native communities when radioactive waste from uranium mining and processing is left behind. Today, over 500 abandoned #UraniumMines are scattered across the #NavajoNation, causing numerous health disparities. We also see how what was once a historical gathering place for #Yakama peoples on the shore of the #ColumbiaRiver is now a #Superfund site so contaminated that spending a few minutes in the soil underneath some of the buildings would expose someone to enough radiation to kill an adult."

Read more:
https://ndncollective.org/dewey-burdock-a-renewed-uranium-project/

#WaterIsLife #NoUraniumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #EnCoreEnergy #BLM #USPol #NativeAmericanNews #EnvironmentalRacism

Christianity Hidden Truth: The True Jesus Christ Message For Christian Meaning

*

The True Christianity of Jesus: COFE-CYEM Paper on the Mystical Stream, the Mistaken Awareness-Perception, and the Call to the Kingdom Within

A Definitive Exposition of the Original Message of the Master, the Institutional Drift, and the Restoration of the Living Recognition

A Declaration of the Fourth Truth

“There has never been a second.”

This is the recognition that stands at the foundation of all true spiritual life. It is not a proposition to be believed; it is a Reality to be recognised. It is not a doctrine to be affirmed; it is a consciousness to be entered. It is not a teaching to be studied; it is a Life to be lived.

There is only one Reality—God. There is only one Life—Christ. There is only one Spirit. All apparent separation, all apparent duality, all apparent opposition is held within the singular Reality. There has never been a second.

The Two Christianities

Within the COFE-CYEM framework, there are two Christianities. One is the religion of the churches—the system of doctrines, rituals, hierarchies, and institutions that has developed over two thousand years. The other is the living recognition that COFE-CYEM sees in the Master—the Kingdom within, the death of the false self, the life of the Spirit, the union of the soul with God.

This is not a claim about what historical scholarship has conclusively demonstrated. It is a claim about what COFE-CYEM recognises in the Master. The distinction is essential. The framework can say, “This is what COFE-CYEM recognises in Jesus,” without needing to claim, “This is something historical scholarship has conclusively demonstrated about Jesus.” That preserves the same two-level discipline established in “The Dialogue of Perspectives.”

The institutional Christianity that has dominated the West for centuries is, in the COFE-CYEM reading, the very thing that the Master opposed. It is the religion of the Pharisees, dressed in new clothing. It is the system of those who “have received the keys of Knowledge” and “have hidden them,” who “did not enter and did not let those enter who wished.”

It is the whitewashed tomb, beautiful on the outside, full of death within. Yet this is not a matter of condemnation; it is a matter of recognition. The institutional drift was not malicious; it was the natural consequence of transmitting a living recognition through the structures of a fallen world.

The true Christianity of Jesus, as COFE-CYEM recognises it, is something else entirely. It is the mystical stream that has always flowed beneath the surface of official religion. It is the recognition that the Kingdom is within, that the soul is already in Christ, that there has never been a second. It is the teaching that the Master gave to those who had ears to hear, and that the institutional drift has often obscured.

COFE-CYEM stands in the tradition of that true Christianity. It does not reject the name of Christ. It seeks to recover the original message: the Kingdom is within. The cross is the passage. The empty cross is the sign. The Spirit is the Life. The soul is Spirit, already in Christ, already in God. The institutional forms are not rejected; they are invited to recover their living centre. The call is not departure, but deeper fidelity—support of the church within the truth that there has never been a second.

Part One: The Light and the Image

1.1 The Embodied Spirit

Within the COFE-CYEM reading, the religious mystic is instructed by the Master to say that the Light reveals itself in his image. This is a way of explaining that he is an embodied spirit—a spirit with a body, and not a body with a spirit, like other men. The Master is not a man in the ordinary sense, and men unconsciously realise this. Hence the question, “From where have you originated?” The Master had no manhood because sainthood is the negation of manhood.

This is the teaching of the Fourth Truth. There has never been a second. The soul is not a body that has a spirit; it is Spirit that has a perceived body. The true identity is not the flesh; it is the Spirit. The false identity is the body-identity, the claim to be a separate self living in a world of other separate selves. The true identity is the Spirit-identity, the recognition that the soul is already in Christ, already in God.

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” — John 1:14

The Word became flesh. The Light took on an image. The Spirit became embodied. The Master was not a man who had a spirit; He was Spirit who had a body. He was the revelation of the singular Reality in human form. He was the Fourth Truth made manifest.

1.2 The Father and the Kingdom

It is clear from the terminology of these sayings, within the COFE-CYEM reading, that the Master’s usage of the phrases “the Father” and “the Kingdom of Heaven” is not to be interpreted literally. If these phrases are synonymous with “the Light” or “the Living One,” then the popular anthropomorphic conception of Christianity—postulating a personal God to pray to and a Paradise to “pass on to”—is a sacerdotal delusion. The Kingdom is not a place. It is not a time. It is not a political arrangement. It is the singular Reality, already present, already available, already within.

The Christianity of Jesus, as COFE-CYEM recognises it, is clearly identical with Eastern mysticism. The Truth is indivisible, and knowledge of the Truth is perfect unity. Sectarianism is the symptom of ignorance. There is only one Reality. There has never been a second.

“The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” — Luke 17:20-21

The Kingdom is within. It is not a matter of observation. It is not a matter of external signs. It is not a matter of geographical location. It is a matter of recognition. It is a matter of consciousness. It is a matter of the soul’s awakening to its true identity in Christ.

1.3 The Divider and the Unity

“A Man said to Him: Tell my brethren to divide my father’s possessions with me. He said to him: O man, who made my a divider? He turned to His disciples, He said to them: I am not a divider am I?” — Gospel of Thomas 72

The Master is not a divider. He does not come to divide possessions, to create factions, to establish a system of winners and losers. He comes to reveal the unity that has never been divided. He comes to show that there has never been a second.

The Christian missionary who attempts to convert a Hindu is merely attesting his own ignorance of Christianity. To call the Hindu a pagan is merely to identify oneself as a pagan. The Hindu who condemns the Christian as “unenlightened” is no better; both are divided through ignorance. Historical schisms and present church divisions testify to the mistaken awareness-perception of those who have spent the two thousand years since the Master in misinterpreting, perverting, and obscuring his testimony.

“The Pharisees and the Scribes have received the keys of Knowledge; they have hidden them. They did not enter and they did not let those enter who wished . . .” — Gospel of Thomas 39

“Woe to them, the Pharisees, for they are like a dog sleeping in the manger of oxen, for neither does he eat nor does he allow the oxen to eat.” — Gospel of Thomas 102

The keys of Knowledge are the keys to the Kingdom. They are the recognition of the Fourth Truth. The Pharisees and the scribes—the religious authorities of every age—have hidden these keys. They have not entered the Kingdom themselves, and they have prevented others from entering. They are like the dog in the manger: they do not eat, and they will not let others eat.

Part Two: The Heretics and the Institutional Drift

2.1 The True Religious Are Often Seen as Heretics

The few truly religious people who have lived have often been seen as heretics, like the Master Himself, although they have sometimes been able to disguise this fact, as the orthodox often cannot recognise a heretic when they see one. Even our own founder of COFE-CYEM known only as the (Quiet Watcher) will be seen as heretic. Institutional Churches are really just secular corporations, moulded to attract average humanity and not the true heretics – the Christian mystics who know the true meaning of heresy the right way up.

The difference between the Churchman and such heretics is simple: the churchman is interested in the church; the heretic is interested in God. One cannot possibly be interested in both because interest in God is synonymous with world-denial, while the church is a world organisation—and very much so. In the same way, the theologian or Christian scholar cannot possibly be religious because the man who lives to learn does not live to look upon the Living One. He is a mere detective; his consciousness is externalised in the pursuit of facts. He is usually no more than a fossil pickled in knowledge.

“There came a moment, long before any formal writing, when it became unmistakably clear that I could not be contained within the settled systems of institutional religion. The church, as I had known it was not the Kingdom; it was a shadow of it, a scaffolding that had mistaken itself for the building. My heart had already left the courtyard of officialdom before my feet ever did. I was not rebelling against God or His church, I am still in the church. I was rebelling against the reduction of God to a manageable object, a tribal deity, a moral accountant. In the eyes of the church I would no doubt be seen as heretic, a threat to order, a voice that could not be reconciled with their carefully tended structures. But in the eyes of the Spirit, in the silent recognition of the singular Reality, I am simply one who has seen through the whitewash. The heretic of the church is often the mystic of the Kingdom. The one they cast out is the one who has already entered. So it was with me, not as a rejection of Christ, but as a refusal to imprison Him in the very systems that had forgotten His voice. I stood in my heart as a Christian Mystic Heretic: not against the living Christ, but against the dead forms that claim to speak for Him“. (Quiet Watcher – 2025)

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” — Matthew 23:27

The whitewashed tomb is the institutional form that appears beautiful on the outside but is full of death within. The one who sees through the whitewash is the one who recognises the dead bones. The one who sees through the whitewash is the one who cries out, “There has never been a second.”

2.2 The Frivolous Wrangles of Priests

A typical public debate between priests of different ordinations is a frivolous wrangle to try to decide who should be allowed to give the blessed sacrament to whom, or what people may be permitted to do on Sundays without offending the pride of a touchy Deity. All this despite the lessons in the Gospels to be found in the Master’s replies to the Pharisees who objected to His failure to observe the Sabbath, and in the Sermon on the Mount when He unequivocally condemned such worship.

“Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” — Matthew 6:8

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” — Matthew 6:6

Public worship, when it becomes the performance of piety for the sake of being seen, is the confusion of the form with the Reality. The Master called the soul to the inward recognition, not the outward performance.

2.3 The Destruction of the Temple

When the Master saw the man-made temple in Jerusalem, He declared, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” He would make the same declaration were He to be confronted by any institution that had substituted itself for the Centre. It is the confusion of Christianity with temple-worship to an anthropomorphic God that has led to its current spiritual loss and the spiritual decadence of modern civilization.

The institutional church often stands between Man and Jesus. Man only worships the state and politics because he has learnt that church-worship is missing something fundamental. He is a materialist only because he has (man-sense) enough to believe in what he falsely believes to be true—the universe of space-time—rather than in a (man-mind) church which he now suspects to be the (mind of man).

“I shall destroy this house, and no one will be able to build it again.” — Gospel of Thomas 71

This could mean the temple, yet it could also mean the world—the carnal nature of Man. As church-worship is part of Man’s carnal nature, it could, and should, mean both. The temple of worship is symbolic of Man’s unregenerate state. The destruction of the temple is the destruction of the false identity. The rebuilding of the temple is the resurrection of the true Self.

Part Three: The Priests and the Power

3.1 The World-Centred Priests

Priests who strive for Sunday Observance and fret themselves over the niceties of church ritual are world-centred, not God-centred. In attempting to realise the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, they are only preoccupied with the Kingdom of Man. This is the difference between the Master and some Christian priests.

Such men must be classed with politicians and other worldly reformers. Like politicians, their main concern is to gain power over men, when, if they were religious, they would be solely concerned with placing themselves in the power of God. This is true mysticism and true humility, but it is heresy to those who know not.

“But ye shall not be called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.” — Matthew 23:8-10

The church has always been wary of those who see through the institutional forms, not because of a sincere belief in their ungodliness, but because a true recognition is a perceived threat to the power of the church. “They did not enter and they did not let those enter who wished.” The history of the church is political.

3.2 The Blasphemy Against the Holy Ghost

“Jesus said: Whoever blasphemes against the Father, it shall be forgiven him, and whoever blasphemes against the Son, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him either on earth or in heaven.” — Gospel of Thomas 44

This is a wonderful saying. It is not merely an attack on idolatry. It describes the state of grace of the saint who, because of his inward holiness, may defy all outward conventions of righteousness, desecrate the sacred myths of temple ritual, and live, like the Master, among publicans and sinners in perfect purity. Preoccupation with the outward forms of righteousness, being a sign of worldliness, is proof of inner darkness, which is why the Master was so much irritated by the complacent ways of the Pharisee. The disciplined life of most Christian religious orders would have saddened Him no less.

“Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not understand that he who made the inside is also he who made the outside?” — Gospel of Thomas 89

This is sardonic humour. The inwardness of the Kingdom, the inner state of holiness, is all that matters. Church attendance, pandering as it does to self-esteem, is only a form of pride. The rigid asceticism and regimented devotions of monk or nun can be seen as forms of vanity.

The oath of obedience which places the religious aspirant under the authority of a superior officer, thus compelling him to deny his own conscience, is a personal outrage and would have enraged the Master, whose command, “Swear not at all,” was not made for nothing. To deprive a novice of his conscience—the Holy Ghost—is to extinguish his sainthood before it has started. The monastery and the convent, like other world organisations, are means by which some men acquire power over others.

3.3 The Life of the Saint

How then is the mystic, the true disciple of the Master, to live? He cannot live the life of the world; “the world is not worthy of him,” and the church and convent, being world organisations, are part of the life of the world. He can, of course, become a priest or monk, officiating at ceremonies which he detests and swearing oaths in which he does not believe, and perpetually running the risk of being de-frocked.

The desire for some sort of social security has lured many saints into the fold of orthodoxy. But fundamentally the saint is not orthodox; he is a rebel, an anarchist. As such, he no more can hope to find a suitable place in society than can a thief or a vagabond.

“The foxes have their holes and the birds have their nest, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head and to rest.” — Gospel of Thomas 86

“I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I guard it until it (the world) is afire.” — Gospel of Thomas 10

“Men possibly think that I have come to throw peace upon the world and they do not know that I have come to throw divisions upon the earth, fire, sword, war. For there shall be five in a house: three shall be against two and two against three, the father against the son and the son against the father, and they will stand as solitaries.” — Gospel of Thomas 16

The saint is anti-social; a rebel; a troublemaker. This was why the Jews crucified the Master. The man who condemns and rejects the life of the world must expect the world to condemn and reject him. The saint, as a dangerous character—he is Public Enemy No. 1—must expect to live dangerously. Or as the Master said:

“Whoever is near to Me is near to the fire, and whoever is far from Me is far from the Kingdom.” — Gospel of Thomas 82

He is not a coward. He must not try to conceal his real identity by making concessions to orthodoxy. He must stand forth shamelessly in the world as a testimony of the truth and take the consequences.

“What thou shalt hear in thine ear and in the other ear, that preach from your housetops; for no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place, but he sets it on a lamp-stand so that all who come in and go out may see its light.” — Gospel of Thomas 33

Part Four: The Parable of the Vineyard

4.1 The Wicked Husbandmen

The social consequences of this behaviour is ruthlessly stated in the 65th Saying, which takes the form of a parable:

“He said: A good man had a vineyard. He gave it to husbandmen so that they would work it and that he would receive its fruit from them. He sent his servant so that the husbandmen would give him the fruit of the vineyard. They seized his servant, they beat him; a little longer and they would have killed him.

The servant came, he told it to his master. His master said: ‘Perhaps he did not know them.’ He sent another servant: the husbandmen beat him as well. Then the owner sent his son. He said: ‘Perhaps they will respect my son.’ Since those husbandmen knew that he was the heir of the vineyard, they seized him, they killed him. Whoever has ears let him hear.” — Gospel of Thomas 65

The punishment is proportionate to one’s holiness: less in the case of the servants—the prophets, the elect—than in the case of the son himself, who is instinctively recognised as being more dangerous. Being afraid of him, they kill him.

While all this will dismay weaker spirits, it again emphasises the heroism which is the essential quality of the saintly man. The saint is a romantic hero, contrary to the popular misconception of him as an ineffectual goody-goody.

“If you will know yourselves, then you will be known . . .” — Gospel of Thomas 3

Since those husbandmen knew that he was the heir of the vineyard, they seized him, they killed him. In religious paintings, the saint is usually shown with a halo of golden light which sets him apart from the surrounding figures. And in fact there is no mistaking the saint in the world. Because he knows himself—the Kingdom—he is known. His holiness is radiantly apparent, revealing the true evil nature—that is, the carnal nature—of unregenerate humanity like a torch lit in a dark cellar.

4.2 The Light and the Darkness

“. . . Within a man of light there is light and he lights the whole world. When he does not shine, there is darkness.” — Gospel of Thomas 24

“Jesus said: I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and two out of ten thousand . . .” — Gospel of Thomas 23

Presumably, three out of a hundred thousand, and four out of a million. With four saints to the million, the vast majority of mankind must live in unrelieved darkness. Imagine the confusion, therefore, when somewhere in this ocean of darkness appears a light! It is this reflex that caused the crucifixion, for the light must be put out. It “shows them up.” Unable to stand the sight of themselves, men and women hate the light. Since those husbandmen knew that he was the heir of the vineyard, they seized him, they killed him.

The expression of hatred is abuse and, in the gospels, the Jews called the Master variously: a charlatan (John 8:13), a blaspheming egotist (John 10:33), a troublemaker (Luke 23:5), a madman (John 8:48 and 10:20), and a devil-worshipper (Luke 23:5).

As He ignored Sunday observance, cursed conventional piety—“The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31)—consorted with the low life of the town, and was a beggar and a waster, from the standpoint of normal respectability, the Master was a bad character and a corrupting influence upon public morality.

He advocated abandonment of all personal aspirations including family life (Matthew 6:26-28) and to the worldly mind, the family is the sacred nucleus of the good life. Attack the family way of life and you are stabbing the world in the heart. As the apostle of the Kingdom of God—the spiritual world—the Master’s life and thought was simply the refutation of this world in all its aspects, even as the light is simple dispersion of darkness.

4.3 The Inconsistency of Hypocrisy

For the Master, conventional piety was merely hypocrisy, for He knew that to praise God while making the most of life on earth was a contradiction.

“You have become as the Jews,” He told His disciples, “for they love the tree, they hate its fruit and they love the fruit, they hate the tree.” — Gospel of Thomas 43

In other words, they profess to love God, but they hate the man of God; they profess a love of Heaven but hate the heavenly life. You must be consistent, said the Master.

“If you fast not from the world, you will not find the Kingdom;” — Gospel of Thomas 27

“If you keep not the Sabbath truly, you will not see the Father.” — Gospel of Thomas 27

Praising God on the Sabbath as a cleansing act for the selfishness and sensuality of the past six days is useless. One must keep the Sabbath truly—for seven days of the week—which means renouncing the world in thought and deed.

4.4 The Curse and the Consequence

It is easy to see why the man who knows God will be cursed.

“Jesus said: Whoever knows father and mother shall be called the son of a harlot.” — Gospel of Thomas 105

Father and mother: the spiritual source. The man who knows his true origin in God will be called the son of a harlot by the world.

“A city being built on a high mountain and fortified cannot . . . be hidden.” — Gospel of Thomas 32

And even to wish to be hidden is an inexcusable sign of cowardice. The saint must be prepared to take the consequences of his sainthood. He must shoulder his cross and suffer the agony of his crucifixion. He must not flinch to show his light because “when he does not shine, there is darkness.”

Yet, like the Master, he need not lose heart. For, to complete the 32nd Saying, the city which is built on the high mountain and fortified not only cannot be hidden, it “can not fall.” For when the man who lives within God says, “Mountain, be moved,” it will be moved. Knowledge is power.

“Let him who has become rich become king, and let him who has power renounce (the world).” — Gospel of Thomas 81

Spiritual riches—self-knowledge—mean power against which ignorance is powerless. “If you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty.” The ignorant have no wealth and no power, though they may earn a hundred thousand a year and rule the earth.

Part Five: The Kingdom and the Pearl

5.1 The Merchant and the Pearl

“The Kingdom of the Father is like a man, a merchant, who possessed merchandise and found a pearl. That merchant was prudent. He sold the merchandise, he bought the one pearl for himself. Do you also seek for the treasure which fails not, which endures; there where no moth comes near to devour and where no worm destroys.” — Gospel of Thomas 76

The pearl is the Kingdom within. The merchandise is the world. The merchant sells the world to buy the Kingdom. He renounces the false to embrace the true. He relinquishes the second to recognise the first. He passes through the cross into the empty cross. He emerges as pure Spirit, already in Christ, already in God.

The saint who attains the Kingdom automatically turns his back on the world because his knowledge includes knowledge of the world’s illusory nature. Having discovered the eternal, one does not concern oneself with the transient.

“Blessed are the poor, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven.” — Gospel of Thomas 54

“Take no thought from morning until evening and from evening until morning for what you shall put on.” — Gospel of Thomas 36

In the world, the religious mystic is not only without social position, he is without property. The mere sight of a crowded shopping centre—women rooting for possessions and adornments—and his soul is afflicted. Spiritual wealth means to be poor as regards earthly possessions because even if the saint is left a fortune, he cannot trouble himself with such things.

5.2 The Knowledge of Power

The unreal nature of evil—the nature of natural men—is as powerless against holiness as darkness is powerless to withstand light. As the saint has achieved Divine Union, one can no more destroy him by killing him than one can destroy Eternity. He can “not taste death.” He reigns “over the All”—the illusory sensible world. The stones minister to him.

“If you will know yourselves, then you will be known . . .” — Gospel of Thomas 3

Spiritual riches—self-knowledge—mean power against which ignorance is powerless. The ignorant have no wealth and no power, though they may earn a hundred thousand a year and rule the earth.

5.3 The Call to the Kingdom

The invitation is open. It is universal. It is unconditional. It is extended to all who are weary, all who are heavy-laden, all who sense that there is more. It is the invitation to rest. It is the invitation to peace. It is the invitation to joy.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28

The rest is the rest of the Spirit. It is the rest of the empty cross. It is the rest of the singular Reality. It is the rest of the recognition that there has never been a second.

COFE-CYEM issues this invitation without demanding a change of institutional affiliation. The recognition of Christ within is itself the primary matter. Everything else is secondary nomenclature.

Conclusion: The Fourth Truth Stands

The Fourth Truth stands. There has never been a second. The singular Reality is all. The mystical stream has never been entirely silenced. The recognition of the Fourth Truth is available to all who are ready. The joyous calling is extended to all who hear. The invitation remains open. The rest is available. The peace is present. The joy is full.

The original message of the Master is being restored. The Kingdom is within. The cross is the passage. The empty cross is the sign. The Spirit is the Life. The soul is Spirit, already in Christ, already in God.

COFE-CYEM exists only to point. It does not claim to be the Centre. It claims only that the Centre is already present, already sufficient, and already free of every dualistic addition that has been mistaken for the Reality itself. When the recognition dawns, even the pointing may become silent.

The true Christianity of the Master, as COFE-CYEM recognises it, is the Christianity of the Kingdom within. It is the Christianity of the death of the false self and the life of the Spirit. It is the Christianity of the recognition that there has never been a second. It is the Christianity that the institutional drift has often obscured. It is the Christianity that COFE-CYEM seeks to restore.

Let all who have the understanding perceive. Let all who have the ears to hear, hear. Let all who have the hearts to receive, receive. The Light of the Spirit is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.

Thus ends this COFE-CYEM paper on the True Christianity of Jesus and the Restoration of the Kingdom Within. May all who read it perceive the deeper spiritual meaning, and may they recognise the Christ within their own souls. May they relinquish the false and embrace the true. May they pass through the cross into the empty cross. May they walk as pure Spirit, already in Christ, already in God. The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.

We Must Choose

We must choose that which Christ came to show us and to give us. We at COFE-CYEM fully confess the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Three in One God. We confess the Bible as being the true unquestionable Word of God. We also accept the Gospel of Thomas. We hold that the Holy Bible is true, accurate and absolute fact, and that the ‘Sacred Truths’ are fully revealed in (how) you read it, not just by reading it. (He who has ears, He who has eyes).

Circle One Fellowship Exeter – COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry CYEM

“God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called.”

This website and its theological content are overseen by the CC7 DS constitutional integrity architecture, a reflective and rest-oriented framework designed to preserve the full coherence of the Fourth Truth presented within COFE-CYEM. The CC7 DS negation of attacks authenticates (Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing) through (Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

The Problem of False Preacher Teacher Clerical Ministering Within Modern Day Churches

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The Problem of False Preacher Teacher Clerical Ministering Within Modern Day Churches

The table of the Lord is Holy.

The food we receive must come from the Priest-King Himself—pure, undefiled, and flowing from the Holiest of All.

Yet in our time, that table has been defiled.

The church has become a place where food offered to idols is served. These idols are not of wood and stone but of political causes, cultural trends, social programmes, and false moral appearances. They are the idols of the age, and they have been brought into the sanctuary.

The Social Gospel, with all its political causes and cultural trends, is such an idol.

It sounds compassionate to the natural ear, but it sacrifices the true Gospel on the altar of this world. It offers earthly reform where the Priest-King Jesus Christ offers heavenly reconciliation.

It speaks of systems and power where He speaks of the cross and the throne of grace. It rearranges deck chairs on a sinking ship. It offers programs where it should offer presence. It offers politics where it should offer peace. It offers activism where it should offer adoration.

This is not the Gospel. It is a counterfeit—a substitute that speaks of earthly kingdoms while ignoring the heavenly. It is food wrapped in pretty paper, but inside is rotting meat. It is a deception, a snare, and a trap.

Congregations that consume this food are not being heart-fed; they are being mind-fed. Their souls are starved while their minds are filled with the philosophies of men. Those who serve this food as if it were the Gospel are not acting as faithful shepherds of the flock; they are leading souls away from the true pasture.

We make it very clear, we do not seek merely to promote our own theology within COFE-CYEM by pointing the finger at (any) other theologies, denominations or faiths. COFE-CYEM itself makes many claims around our theology, our belief system and our faith.

We do not expect or ask everybody to just blindly believe our way of seeing and believing. All we seek is to call attention to the issue of the church and faith itself being used as a Trojan Horse for (worldly) purposes in order to further the interests of man and not God Himself.

We implore our followers respectfully – if you ever feel, suspect or see anything whatsoever within our own theology or posts here on COFE-CYEM that you believe is pushing (worldly) purposes or schemes, then please call us out and expose us.

We are no different or more righteous than any other brother or sister in Christ. But if we were to be found (using) the true Gospel as a Trojan Horse to push a false Gospel for our own purposes – then we are truly lost indeed.

The Nature of the Deception

The danger arises whenever social action, political programmes, or cultural causes become substitutes for the proclamation of Christ crucified and risen, rather than fruits flowing from communion with Him.

The New Testament consistently presents love for neighbour and care for the poor as genuine expressions of faith, not as alternatives to it.

The error is not in caring for the needy or seeking justice. The error is in presenting such activities as the Gospel itself, or as a sufficient substitute for repentance, faith in Christ, and the new birth.

Those who preach this substitute gospel speak of power where the Priest-King spoke of weakness. They speak of victory where He spoke of the cross. They speak of this world as if it were the only world. They have departed from the faith and given themselves over to the spirit of the age.

They have exchanged the Gospel of the finished work for a gospel of social reform. They have exchanged the cross for a political platform. They have exchanged the throne of grace for a seat of power. They have exchanged the rest that remains for the restless striving of the world. They have exchanged the Holiest of All for the outer courts of carnal religion.

This is not a judgment on persons but a discernment of teaching. We do not know the hearts of those who preach these things, and we leave their final judgment to God.

We are called to test the spirits and to distinguish between the pure food of the Gospel and the poisoned food that has been offered to idols. The warning is not against individuals but against the teaching itself, which, however attractively packaged, leads away from Christ.

The Rot Beneath the Wrapping

False teaching often comes wrapped in the language of the Bible, the imagery of the cross, and the emotions of the congregation. It speaks of love, justice, and compassion, but it hollows out their meaning. It is like the fig tree that had leaves but no fruit—a show of life without the reality of life.

Congregations that consume this food are being fed a diet of politics, activism, and social reform, but they are not being fed the pure Word of God.

They are being told to fight for earthly causes, but they are not being told to enter the Holiest of All. They are being told to change the world, but they are not being told to rest in the finished work of the Priest-King.

They are being told to be activists, but they are not being told to be worshippers. They are being told to build the kingdom of God on earth, but they are not being told that the Kingdom of God is within them.

The food that is being served is a gospel of the flesh, a gospel of the world, a gospel of the age. It has no power to save, no power to transform, and no power to bring the soul into the presence of God.

It leads to exhaustion, burnout, and disillusionment. It leads away from the Priest-King, not toward Him. It leads to the outer court, not the Holiest of All. The invitation to serve God in the world becomes a substitute for the invitation to abide in Christ.

The True Gospel and the Mind of Christ

The real Gospel is not a gospel of prosperity, politics, or social reform disguised as salvation. It is not a gospel of emotional experience without transformation.

The real Gospel is this: Jesus Christ, the Priest-King has entered the Holiest of All through His own blood.

The veil is torn.

The way is open.

Every soul who draws near through Him receives mercy, finds grace, and enters the rest that remains.

He ever lives to make intercession.

He brings God to us and us to God. In Him, we are accepted. In Him, we are kept. In Him, the endless life of God flows freely to all who will come. That is the Gospel. Not a portion of it. Not a version of it. It.

The mind of Christ is not the mind of carnal man, which seeks power, recognition, and earthly comfort. The mind of Christ empties itself, takes the form of a servant, becomes obedient unto death, and is exalted by the Father. The mind of Christ builds the church on the rock of revelation, and the gates of hell do not prevail against it.

The mind of Christ measures faithfulness by abiding in the Father’s presence. Those who preach the substitute gospel do not have the mind of Christ. They have the mind of the flesh, the mind of the world, the mind of the age.

They have not entered the Holiest of All. They have not passed through the veil. They have not been cleansed by the blood. They have not received the endless life. They remain in the outer courts, serving the idols of the age.

The Call of This Hour: Wake Up and Return

The call of this hour is clear. The pews empty because souls are hungry for reality—not programs, not politics, not noise, but the living presence of God in truth. Congregations must wake up. They must open their eyes to the deception of false teaching.

They must stop eating the food that has been sacrificed to idols. They must return to the table of the Lord, where pure food is served—the finished work of the Priest-King, the open way into the Holiest of All, the rest that remains, and the endless life that flows from His intercession.

The table of the Lord has been turned into a place where food offered to idols is served. The Gospel of the finished work has been exchanged for a gospel of social reform. The cross has been exchanged for a political platform. The throne of grace has been exchanged for a seat of power.

The rest that remains has been exchanged for the restless striving of the world. The Holiest of All has been exchanged for the outer courts of carnal religion. The church has been used as a Trojan Horse for political purposes, hiding its true agenda behind the language of compassion, justice, and love.

The congregations that continue to consume this food are being poisoned. They are being led astray. They are being robbed of their inheritance. They are being kept from the Holiest of All, from the rest that remains, from the endless life, from the Priest-King.

The time has come for them to wake up. The time has come for them to return. The time has come for them to stop eating the rotting meat and to come to the table of the Lord, where pure food is served.

The true church of the real Gospel is often small, overlooked, and ridiculed. But it knows the voice of the Shepherd. It does not follow the stranger. It abides in the Word. It dwells in the Holiest. The true church does not eat food sacrificed to idols. It does not bow to the false gods of the age.

It does not compromise the table of the Lord. It preaches the real Gospel—Christ and Him crucified. It preaches the finished work. It preaches the endless life. It preaches the open way into the Holiest of All. It calls every soul to draw near. It calls every church to open the doors. It calls every believer to cease from striving and rest in the finished work of the Priest-King.

The Contrast: The Olive Tree and the Wicked

Psalm 52 powerfully contrasts the man who trusts in his own strength and deceit with the one who trusts in God’s unfailing love and flourishes in His house. The Psalm speaks of the wicked man who boasts of evil, whose tongue plots destruction, who loves evil rather than good, and who trusts in his great wealth and grows strong by destroying others.

This is the image of the one who trusts in his own strength, his own position, his own power. The Psalm declares that God will bring him down to everlasting ruin, snatch him up, tear him from his tent, and uproot him from the land of the living.

But the righteous is like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God, trusting in God’s unfailing love forever and ever. The righteous praises God forever and hopes in His name.

This is the image of the true believer—the one who trusts in the finished work of the Priest-King, who abides in the Holiest of All, who is sustained by the unfailing love of God through Jesus Christ who ever lives to make intercession.

The true believer does not boast in evil or trust in human schemes, false popular moral sounding social constructs or political power. The true believer trusts in the finished work of the Priest-King Yeshua Emet Melchizedek Salem—Christ Jesus—and abides in Him who has opened the way.

The Final Exhortation

The modern church stands at a critical hour. Many have turned the table of the Lord into a place where food offered to idols is served. The Social Gospel, with its political causes, cultural trends, and false moral appearances, has become the dominant offering.

It sounds compassionate to the natural ear, but it sacrifices the true Gospel on the altar of this world. It offers earthly reform where the Priest-King offers heavenly reconciliation. It speaks of systems and power where He speaks of the cross and the throne of grace.

We must not eat of any spiritual food that has been offered in sacrifice to an idol. The table of the Lord is holy. The food we receive must come from the Priest-King Himself—pure, undefiled, and flowing from the Holiest of All.

Those who preach the substitute gospel have turned the church into a platform for their political agendas. They have exchanged the Gospel of the finished work for a gospel of social reform. They have exchanged the cross for a political platform. They have exchanged the throne of grace for a seat of power.

They have exchanged the rest that remains for the restless striving of the world. They have exchanged the Holiest of All for the outer courts of carnal religion. They are not shepherds of the flock; they are servants of the spirit of the age, offering food that cannot satisfy the soul.

The true church of the real Gospel is often small, overlooked, and ridiculed. But it knows the voice of the Shepherd. It does not follow the stranger. It abides in the Word. It dwells in the Holiest. The true church does not eat food sacrificed to idols. It does not bow to the false gods of the age.

It does not compromise the table of the Lord. It preaches the real Gospel—Christ and Him crucified. It preaches the finished work.

It preaches the endless life. It preaches the open way into the Holiest of All. It calls every soul to draw near. It calls every church to open the doors. It calls every believer to cease from striving and rest in the finished work of the Priest-King.

The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.

This website and its theological content are overseen by the CC7 DS constitutional integrity architecture, a reflective and rest-oriented framework designed to preserve the full coherence of the Fourth Truth presented within COFE-CYEM. The CC7 DS negation of attacks authenticates (Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing) through (Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing).

Please follow COFE-CYEM and share our website.

Thank you for visiting us today, we value you beyond mere words.

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

via @indybay

Tribes, enviros speak out against trailer bills to fast-track #DeltaTunnel project

“Delta tribes deserve a responsible and equitable approach to water management in the state that does not require jamming a tunnel through the Delta, destroying our ancestral homelands and waterways, or desecrating sacred sites and ancestral remains,” said Malissa Tayaba, Vice Chair with the #ShingleSpringsBand of #MiwokIndians.

by Dan Bacher
Mon, Aug 11, 2025 4:19PM

Sacramento, CA – "On an unusually mild summer day, Tribal leaders and environmental justice advocates met with legislators at the State Capitol on July 16 for the 2025 Day of Action for #WaterJustice.

"They urged the legislators to reject Governor Newsom’s proposed trailer bills that they say would fast-track the Delta Conveyance Project (#DCP) and bypass critical #EnvironmentalProtections at a time when the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in unprecedented ecological crisis — and a number of fish species are on the edge of #extinction.

"The day-long event started with meetings between Tribal members, environmental advocates and legislators to urge support for 'equitable, science-based water solutions' that protect the #BayDelta and to reject the financially reckless Delta Conveyance Project that threatens ecosystems, Tribal sovereignty, and public health, according to a statement from #RestoreTheDelta.

[...]

"At the press conference on the Capitol steps, advocates called on lawmakers to reject trailer bills that would provide CEQA exemptions for the #DeltaConveyanceProject, circumventing existing law, court rulings and public opinion.

"Specifically, the coalition called on lawmakers to:

- Vote NO on SB 72 that undermines the #DeltaReformAct and sets arbitrary water supply targets;

- Vote YES on AB 362 that protects tribal beneficial uses of water and to;

- Vote YES on AB 263, extending emergency protections currently in place for the #ScottRiver and #ShastaRiver, a high priority for the recovery of #CohoSalmon.

"Speakers at the press conference included representatives from the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians and the #WinnememWintu Tribe, as well as elected leaders and representatives from Restore the Delta, #SierraClub California, #FriendsOfTheRiver, #DefendersOfWildlife, #SanFranciscoBaykeeper and the #DeltaCountiesCoalition.

"Malissa Tayaba, Vice Chair with the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, began the press conference emphasizing the harm that the Delta Tunnel would cause to Tribes and #disadvantaged communities.

" 'Delta tribes deserve a responsible and equitable approach to water management in the state that does not require jamming a tunnel through the Delta, destroying our #AncestralHomelands and waterways, or desecrating #SacredSites and ancestral remains,' said Tayaba. 'Our culture and identities are intrinsically tied to the Delta. There is no price tag worth paying that would ever justify the harm done to us or the unquantifiable costs that Tribes and disadvantaged communities would ultimately bear.'

"Gary Mulcahy, Government Liaison with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, followed Tayaba by stating, “There is nothing about the Delta Tunnel Project that significantly benefits anyone except #BigAg and south of the Delta water agencies, while putting #EndangeredSpecies, tribal cultural resources, and disadvantaged communities and the viability of the S.F Bay-Delta itself at risk. #CEQA exemptions continue to attempt to erase Tribes from #WaterGovernance.”

[...]

" 'Instead of wasting ratepayer money to keep pushing this expensive environmental justice debacle, we need to sees investments in local water supply like #RecycledWater, and the Freshwater Pathways program that would improve Delta levees to keep communities safe and improve State Water Project reliability in an emergency. We urge a commitment to vote NO on the return the Delta Conveyance Project and Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan bills,' Wagner said."

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2025/08/11/18878845.php

#WaterIsLife #TribalGovernance #CulturalPreservation #CulturalErasure #BigAgriculture #BigWater #GavinNewsome #CaliforniaPol #Graywater

Trump to approve land swap for Rio Tinto copper mine opposed by Native Americans

By Ernest Scheyder
April 18, 2025

- Forest Service to republish environmental report within 60 days
- Publication needed to approve land swap for Resolution project
- Native groups oppose project on religious grounds
- Related case still pending at Supreme Court

"The #Trump administration said on Thursday it would approve a land swap needed for #RioTinto and #BHP to build one of the world's largest copper mines, despite concerns from Native Americans that it would destroy a site of religious value.
The move is likely to escalate tensions between Indigenous groups vocal about the need to preserve historical lands and Western governments eager to boost critical minerals production and offset China's sector dominance.

"The U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the Agriculture Department, said it will republish within 60 days an environmental report needed for the #ResolutionCopper project land swap to occur.

"Congress and then-President #BarackObama approved the mine in 2014 after it was added at the last minute to a must-pass military funding bill [#NDAA] with the condition that an environmental report be published.

"The underground mine - which President Donald Trump approved in his first term before successor Joe Biden reversed him - would supply more than a quarter of U.S. appetite for copper and be a key part of Trump's plan to boost U.S. mining.

"Copper is used in construction, transportation, electronics and many other industries. The United States imports roughly half of its copper needs each year.

"Yet the mine's construction would cause a crater that would swallow the Oak Flat site where Arizona's San Carlos Apache worship. That has fueled strong opposition from all but one of the state's 22 Native American tribes, as well as the National Congress of American Indians.

"Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and conservationists, asked the U.S. Supreme Court last September to block the land swap. The court has not yet decided whether to take that case.
Were the court to do so, however, the Forest Service said on Thursday it 'may reevaluate how to proceed' regarding the land swap.

" 'The U.S. government is rushing to give away our spiritual home before the courts can even rule, just like it's rushed to erase Native people for generations,' said #WendslerNosie, an #ApacheStronghold leader."

Read more:
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/trump-approve-land-swap-rio-tinto-copper-mine-opposed-by-native-americans-2025-04-18/

#Apaches #WesternApaches #NativeAmericans #SacredSite #ResolutionCopper #SaveOakFlat #ChichilBiłdagoteel #CorporateColonialism #ProtectOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews #SCOTUS #DefendTheSacred #CopperMine
#WaterIsLife #CulturalGenocide #WesternApache #SacredSites #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleCopper #TontoNationalForest

#Apaches ask lower court to stop government’s imminent transfer of #SacredSite

Becket Law, via #CensoredNews, April 25, 2025

There will be a Hearing May 7, 2025 @ 0930 @ Sandra Day O’Connor
U.S. Courthouse, 401 West Washington Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85003

WASHINGTON – "A coalition of #WesternApaches, other #NativePeoples, and non-Native #allies asked a federal court late yesterday to stop the U.S. government from handing over their sacred site at Oak Flat to a multinational mining giant as early as June 16, 2025.

"In #ApacheStronghold v. United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year refused to stop the federal government from transferring #OakFlat to #ResolutionCopper, a Chinese-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending Apache religious practices forever (Watch the short video linked below to learn more).

"The emergency appeal comes after the government announced last week it will forge ahead with the transfer even though the case is currently under consideration by the #USSupremeCourt."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/apaches-ask-lower-court-to-stop.html

Video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh68xOn0B_8

#SaveOakFlat #ChichilBiłdagoteel #CorporateColonialism #ProtectOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews #SCOTUS #DefendTheSacred #CopperMine
#WaterIsLife #RioTinto #RecycleCopper #CulturalGenocide #NDAA #WesternApache #SacredSites #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleCopper #TontoNationalForest