The Blue Tunic Army of Christ By: Wesley Swift

Tonight we shall talk to you about the Blue Tunic Army. Although there is nothing said about the Blue Tunic Army in the Scriptures, nevertheless, it is rich in tradition, tradition that is shown in the records which the pastor Mark had, as he pastored the Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt.  The Essene company also had records that describe the activities of the Blue Tunic Army, and the history of Joseph of Arimathea contains much concerning this army.         If we turn back the pages of history to the time of Jesus, we learn that there had been a tremendous operation of intrigue going on in Palestine and particularly inside the city of Jerusalem and inside the Temple of that city.  About 500 years before the birth of Christ, when a few thousand Israelites of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, after 70 years of captivity in Babylonia, a mixed multitude of alien Asiatic pagans came along with them, which was most unfortunate.  It so happened that these aliens brought from Babylon a new and radically different kind of religion, religion that was not based on the commandments of God, but, instead, was based on the traditions of men; and this religion over the centuries has been called the tradition of the elders, or Talmudism, and today is called Judaism.        When the Temple was rebuilt about 515 B.C., a government under God was then reestablished in the city of Jerusalem.  This government, called a theocracy, was then once more administered by the Levites as God had commanded, and the sons of Aaron again served as the priests in the Temple worship.  But soon thereafter, the pagan aliens from Babylon began their intrigue of subversion and conquest of the government and religious worship.  These Babylonian pagans were related to the Canaanites, Amalekites, Hittites and other  people that God had told the Israelites to avoid, who also living at that time in the land of  Judea and particularly in the city of Jerusalem.        Most of the returning people of Judah and Levi settled in Judea, but the people of Benjamin established their homes considerably to the north in the province of Galilee.  This was a significant fact, because the people of Jerusalem and Judea were integrated with these other races and in time became almost totally mongrelized with them, while the people of Galilee were segregated and so were saved from the ravages of race-mixing.  God had warned His people Israel that one of the results of race-mixing would be that their offspring would worship other gods, and so it was in Jerusalem and Judea.        The tradition of men or tradition of the elders was actually the worship of the devil Lucifer, which sought to destroy the worship of Yahweh God and nullify all His commandments, statutes and judgments. But interestingly enough, these racially mixed people held onto the ordinances of God which pertained to animal sacrifices, because it suited their evil purposes to do so. They advocated, for instance that as long as the rituals were performed in the approved manner and at the proper times, it was permissible to commit any kind of evil a person could imagine.  It was to such people that Jesus was speaking when HE said to them, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Matthew 23:27-28).        Jesus asked these people, "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" (Matthew 15:3.) Then He told them, "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition" (Matthew 23:6).  InMatthew 15:8-9, Jesus says, "This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.  But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."        The author of the Book of Mark (in Mark 7:3) says that all the Jews held the tradition of the elders.  In Mark 7:7. Jesus accused them of '' . . .  teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."  And in Mark 7:9 Jesus told them, "Full well ye reject the commandments of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."  Jews were like that in the time of Christ and they are exactly the same today.        Imagine the ignorance of some preachers who say that Christianity evolved out of Judaism.  Judaism in the time of Christ, was called the tradition of men and Christ plainly stated, again and again, that their traditions and doctrines were in total opposition to the commandments of God.  Now, just who would advocate doctrines that would be in total opposition to the commandments of God?  Lucifer who is called Satan and the Devil, and his many offspring, are the ones who would try to promote traditions and doctrines that would make the commandments of God of no effect.  To say that Christianity evolved out of Judaism is the same as saying that righteousness evolved out of evil.Jews tell a lot of lies because it is their nature to do so, but, unfortunately, a majority of Christians believe their lies because most Christians have accepted and believe an even greater lie, the tremendous lie that the Jews are God's chosen people, which is possibly the biggest lie ever told since Lucifer told Eve in the garden of Eden, "Ye shall not Surely die" (Genesis 3: 4).        How did the people of Judah and Levi then living in Judea, lose control of their government and religion? They very foolishly forgot or ignored one of the most important laws of the Most High God, a law that is stated in Deuteronomy 23:2 which reads, “A mongrel shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord."  Yes, I know, in the King James Version it says, “a bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord..”  But I want you to know that in the original scripture (as you may learn from any good concordance), the Hebrew word was "mamzer" and mamzer meant a mongrel, a person born of racially different parents:  a child born of an Israelite father and a non-Israelite mother, or vice versa.  Such a child would be spurious, false, not genuine, and therefore illegitimate, but would not necessarily be born out of wedlock. A mongrel or so-called bastard could only be produced by the mixing of races, and marriage had nothing to do with it.        Since Judea and Jerusalem in those days contained an integrated society, most of the people living there soon became mongrelized and therefore had no capacity to understand or accept the laws of God as given to Moses (although falsely professing to do so) or to believe the words of God as recorded by the prophets - because they did not possess the holy spirit.  Nevertheless, by the sheer power of their overwhelming numbers, these mongrels who were false Israelites, these illegitimate mamzers, gradually gained control of the Temple in Jerusalem and therefore control of the local government and religious worship in the temples (which they re-named synagogues).        At the time when Christ was born, the entire administration of the city of Jerusalem and the land of Judea was a Jewish administration operating out of the Temple and was not in the hands of the people of God.  We want you to clearly understand that in the Temple, the high priests and those that controlled it, were Sadducees.  Sadducees were reincarnationists.  They were a strange, pagan cult.  Actually, they were worshipers of Lucifer, they were Talmudic Jews.  They had proclaimed they were true Pharisees, they claimed they had been converted to Phariseeism. They had gained control of the Temple by packing the ballots and the increase in the number that were permitted in the Sanhedrin, until they had gained some control.  Once they had control of the Temple, they put out of the Temple the true high priests and the true peoples of Israel.  The Levites, the sons of Aaron, were no longer in positions of authority and power.  Here and there, among the lesser temples and synagogues throughout the land, there were possibly one or two of the true priesthood left, but generally speaking, the control of the priesthood was  in the hands of a people that Christ was to say,  were of their father the devil, and the lusts of  their father they would do.  And He also said they had descended from murderers and they couldn't  understand the truth and had no spiritual capacity for it.  And so it was that these were the people who controlled the Temple of Jerusalem at that time.        But where were the true priests?  Where were the true peoples of Israel?  Well, they were outside the city, outside of Jerusalem out in the  caves in the hills, in the rocks. They were known as the Essene company. And the Essene company were also called Zealots because they were so zealous for the program of the kingdom. When Christ was born, remember that John the Baptist had been born three months previously, and at three years of age, for the fear of Herod the Jewish king, the parents of John the Baptist sent their child to live among the Essenes.  So the child John the Baptist was raised by the Essenes until he was ten years of age, so he would escape the vicious hostility of Herod, king of the Jews.  For it was Herod king of the Jews, and his murderous army that had put to death so many thousands of the children of Bethlehem and of the house of Israel, proving again that the Jews were not Israelites and had no love whatsoever for Israel, and they thought nothing of killing these babes, in order to make sure they had murdered the Messiah,        It was a strange thing that as a babe, John the Baptist talked. At three and four and five years of age, he was telling the Essene company of the things he had beheld in the heavens.  He declared that the Messiah had been born and would be revealed on the face of the earth - and that he, John, had been sent as His messenger.  When John the Baptist was just a baby, he said, "Behold, I am sent as a messenger of the King."  He told also, that the strange thing would be, that when the Messiah was revealed, His people would want to crown Him king, but he said, "The Messiah will not take the crown, but He will take the chalice."  And the Essenes pondered over his words.        In the meantime, we know that Mary and Joseph had gone down into Egypt with the Christ child, and they remained there until the death of Herod the king, after which they returned to Nazareth.  We understand that John the Baptist also returned to his home, about the same time, for John the Baptist had been raised by the Essene company.  The Essene company were the true high priests of Israel, the Levites.  They were the people who were very zealous and were always in strange places because the high priest of the Temple, whether Annas or Caiaphas or whosoever it may have been, constantly had a price on their heads.  So the Essenes lived throughout the length and breadth of Palestine in communities and towns, but in secrecy. Many of the people belonged to the Essene company but they dared not identify themselves, for the army of the Jews which moved out of the Temple of Jerusalem would put them to death or would stone them on sight.        When the Essene company heard the news that there was a possibility that the Messiah had been born, they were greatly thrilled. They had one among their company, Joseph of Arimathea, who was the uncle of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and he spoke concerning his great-nephew, and he said there had been strange prophecies attending the birth of this child, and perhaps this was the Messiah that John the Baptist was talking about.        It is a matter of historical record that Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy man who owned the tin mines of Cornwall, in Britain.  His ships plied the trade of the Mediterranean and on up to the British Isles.  He sat in the Sanhedrin because he was a Pharisee of great power and renown, but he was also a true Essene.  He well recognized that the company of Essenes, because of their  determination to declare the truth, were totally opposed to the Talmudic teachings of the Temple priests. The Essenes opposed the patterns of interpretation that came out of the Canaanites who had moved into positions of power,        The Temple priests watched Jesus.  They watched Him during His early boyhood and when He came to His young manhood.  When Christ was taken to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea, He spoke in the universities of Britain.  He built the wattle church in Glastonbury and He spoke to the young and the elderly and the Masters of Britain - and Joseph watched this lad.  Surely Joseph reported to the Essene company that all were amazed at the wisdom and knowledge of this young Man, and there were some who thought He might be the promised Messiah.        Then came the day when John the Baptist was baptizing in the river Jordan, those who were repentant, and Jesus came down and said to him, "I want you to baptize Me."        John the Baptist said, "No. I am not worthy to baptize you, I am not worthy to unlatch your shoes."  For he recognized, as the Spirit came upon Him, that this was the Messiah.        What of this John the Baptist?  This was the man about whom Jesus said, "Never was there a man born of woman, as great as John the Baptist. This was the one that was to come with the spirit of Elijah, to announce the way of the Lord."  During this period of time, the Essenes were very attentive, for now they realized that this might be the Messiah. They had heard of how He had changed the water into wine, how He had opened the eyes of the blind, how He had unstopped deaf ears, and they said, "Truly this Man must be the Messiah.''        The Essene company had to use every conceivable stratagem to stay alive.  In fact, as they went to their various lodgings which they had in the areas where they were copying the Scriptures and carrying forward the continuity of the scrolls, and working to preserve the true culture of Israel, when they left a path, they were very careful to wipe out all traces of their movements. They had a group of shepherds, and the shepherds had hundreds of sheep that were used to wipe out their trails, whenever they traveled to or from their caves in the hills.  When the Essenes left a trail, a shepherd would move his flock across that trail until all trace of the path was blotted out, and so the Jews were unable to follow.        It was an amazing thing, but as they saw the ministry of Christ beginning to develop, they were all of one accord and they said, "This is without question the Messiah."  And so they decided that He might need some protection, because they knew what the Jews were like.  In fact, everywhere they watched Jesus, they saw the animosity of the Jews.  They saw that the Jews hated Jesus.  They saw that the Jews designed to kill Him.  The whole country was aware that miracles were being performed, but never was there a miracle as great as when He went, a few days late, to the tomb of Lazarus, for His friend Lazarus was dead. And as Jesus came to the outside of the tomb, He said, "Roll away the stone."  But the people said, "No, he has been in there several days and probably his body is already decomposing; we can't do that."  But Jesus said, "Roll away the stone."  And when He said, "Lazarus, come forth," Lazarus came walking out of his grave.  Then the Essenes said, "This is the Messiah."  But the Jews gnashed their teeth and they plotted how they might put Lazarus to death again.The Essenes said, "We must provide guards, we must provide protection for the Messiah and for those that are His disciples."  In fact, five of the Essene company fought off a group of Jews that tried to stone Lazarus as he was going down to Jerusalem.  And so, knowing how much the Jews hated Jesus, the Essenes always managed to have some of their members in the groups around those who were following Christ. In fact, when He was talking to the five thousand, they mingled among the people, always watching the Jews who were standing by.  And always, the Jews standing by would speak out angrily against Christ.        One day Jesus said to His disciples, (in the sixth chapter of John) "Now I am going to tell you something: I have chosen you twelve, but did you know that one of you is a devil?  Judas Iscariot is the son of perdition, he is a devil. He is different than you are, he is a devil." And after this, it says, Jesus walked in Galilee because He could not walk among Jewry, because the Jews plotted to kill Him.  But the Essene company stayed close by His side.  They always wanted to be close to Christ, for fear of the great dangers that were confronting Him.  As a matter of fact, in certain instances such as related in the tenth chapter of John, we discover something of the tradition of the Essenes, for when He declared, "I and the Father are one," the Essenes again said that He must be the Messiah, and they remembered the prophecy: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father.”  So they said, "Truly, this is the Father that is with us, without question this is the Messiah."  Then the Jews took up stones to stone Him, and instantly, Essene company men, who were charged with the guarding of Christ, stepped in the way and opposed these Pharisees,  and there was a great scuffle at that time.        We move through the Book of John to the eleventh chapter, and again we read the record of the Essenes.  The Temple priests sent out men to capture Jesus, and they were instructed by the high priest to bring Him secretly to a spot outside the city and have Him stoned.  When the men proceeded forth to carry out their part in the conspiracy, they saw the crowds around Jesus.  They saw the people hanging on His every word.  They saw that never a man had spoken as this Man spoke, and they came back to the high priest and they said, "We were afraid to put our hands on Christ. We didn't dare touch Him. The people were enthralled by His words.  Never a man spake like this Man spake."        Caiaphas then dismissed the men, and he said to the other high priests, “I want you to know that you don't know anything at all. This Man does miracles. This Man is carrying out a program that is capturing the people, and I am going to tell you something: If we don't kill this Man, He is going to gather the children of God that are scattered abroad even the Romans who are of the tribe of Gad are going to believe on Him, and we are going to lose control of this people. We have got to kill Him."        In the Book of John it says, "And from this day on, they took counsel together, how they could put Him to death."  So the Essenes pondered these things.  Joseph of Arimathea, who occasionally left his home to visit the Essene company, sat in the conference concerning this matter. They had a young Zealot in their company called Barabbas, a descendant of Jeroboam who had been a commander of the house of Israel many hundreds of years before, and they talked about the necessity of providing protection groups, because of the Jews and their animosity against the followers of Christ.  The Jews had caused some to be stoned, and many had been put to death; and all along the road to Joppa, the Jews had attacked and killed a number of Christians and disciples of Jesus, even at that time.  So the Essenes said, "We will form an army, we will form an underground army, to oppose this evil power of darkness."  And so they turned to Barabbas, the young Zealot, and asked him to head the army - and, incidentally, all the Essene company men were referred to as Zealots.        The Essenes had also secretly selected a proper high priest, for Jonathan was the High Priest that year, the true High Priest of Israel, and he stood before the Essenes with the breastplate of Israel, with shimmering jewels mounted in that breastplate, to denote his rank and title.  He was clothed in the robes that the high priests wore when they were in the Tabernacle and worshiping the Most High God.  The Essene company and all of the Levites said, "Yes, there is no question about it: we must form an army to protect Christ the Messiah."        But there were some who said, "Christ does not yet seek His kingdom, He has not given us a word."  But they were very much activated again, when Jesus one day said, "He that hath no sword, let him sell his coat and buy a sword." - It is a lot better, my friends, that you be cold, rather than be killed or attacked by organized Jewry. And so Jesus said, "He that hath no sword, let him sell his coat and buy a sword."        News of this warning and advice went out instantly to the Essene company, that Christ did not repudiate their plan of defense; on the contrary, He gave it His definite approval. Then as these things transpired, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God suffereth violence, and since the days of John the Baptist, the violent have taken it by storm."  And the Essenes said, “See, He opposes the violence, but He stands for the defense of Israel. Therefore we must form a company, otherwise the Jews will surely kill Him."  So it was that Barabbas, Barabbas the Zealot started to organize an army among the Essenes. They organized in every community and every town. They had many men who secretly said, "Yes, we will defend Christ, we will fight for those that follow Him, we will fight against the Jews."  And so Barabbas began the task of gathering men to form an army.        During this time, Joseph of Arimathea sent for Demetrius the silversmith, and Demetrius  prepared the chalice.  Remember that while Christ sat with His disciples in the dining room of Joseph, in the city of Jerusalem, that Demetrius carefully engraved a beautiful chalice, because the Essenes still had the words ringing in their ears, from the boy John the Baptist: "He will take the chalice instead of the crown." But at the same time, they carefully prepared the crown, and they took the jewels which the Wise Men had brought and placed them in the crown, for they knew that someday they would crown Christ king.  Everywhere now that Christ went, two or three of the Essene company would also go. They knew how to get in touch, instantly, with the underground army that now covered the length and breadth of Palestine. This was a guerilla army, but it was an army that was tried and true which realized that an apostate force of anti-Christ had taken over the Temple of Jerusalem, and these things were confirmed by the Messiah, by the mouth of the embodiment of God.        And so as they gathered and prepared for these things, Joseph of Arimathea said, "I think it is time that we should get ready, because the coronation will come very soon, as the people from the length and breadth of Palestine are ready to crown Him king."  He said, "I think we should have a uniform" - and this was agreed upon. Then the Essenes said, "Let us have a blue uniform with two beautiful, golden crossed fish upon it.”  For fish was already the sign of the followers of Christ, and with the secret of the crossed fish they would gather or meet or assemble or plan.  And so the ships of Joseph of Arimathea, as they went back and forth between Palestine and Britain, brought the bolts of beautiful cloth from Spain and the golden cloth that the Essenes cut and sewed on the tunics for the army of Barabbas.  And so it was that the Blue Tunic Army came into being, with the crossed golden fishes across their chests, dedicated to defend the Messiah and defend those that were His followers.  That was the army of Israel that was coming to life, a guerilla army, yes, but a good army.        You know, so many times, people are misled and get excited when they listen, as they do today, to the press, radio and television, which are in the hands of the enemy - and I think you have had ample illustration of this in the last few days.  Also, during the ministry of Christ, rumors and false information emanated from the enemy, and they would denounce Barabbas, but Barabbas was a patriot.  More than this, the army was well formed: it had several thousand men within it.  They came from various communities throughout the land, as well as from the host that met underground as the Essene company.  At times, they thought they had need of weapons, but weapons were not available, except for a few short swords which they had on hand.  So Barabbas and his men raided a caravan of Roman arms that was coming to the Governor, and they were able to get away successfully with these arms and short swords of Damascus.  The Romans were very much disturbed by this, and they instituted a search for the man Barabbas, but his existence was only a rumor, without confirmation or certainty, for no one would open his mouth, as it was an underground that refused to speak.        The Essene company were also aware of the necessity for the gathering of provisions and food for the large number of the men of Israel who were not permitted any longer to return to their homes, and were living in the underground, out in the caves.  And so Barabbas said, "Why do we not also attack the caravans of the high priests?" for the high priests were bringing in provisions and goods from all over the world.  They were expanding their program and were trading on the steps and in the courts of the Temple. They had turned the house of God into a house of merchandise, for profit and for gain - just as Christ said.        And so it was that the army of Barabbas, not yet in their uniforms but in groups, came out and attacked the caravan of the Jews, and they took the provisions thereof and fled away into the wilderness. Of course the Jews were exasperated. After five or six of these attacks upon their caravans, the high priest said, "We must secure this man. We hear a rumor that he is Barabbas. We must put a price upon his head, for this man we must have."        When the uniforms were finished and the swords were issued, the army was ready for any emergency, and the Essenes listened for the report of an attack or the attempt of an attack upon the body of Christ. The word had come back that Judas Iscariot had been identified by Christ as being a devil. They also pondered over this fact, for they realized that this would identify Christ to the peoples of the Temple, for Jesus had told them, "Ye are of your father the devil: I am of My Father and you are of your father."  No brotherhood here! No brotherhood between the house of God and the house of evil.  Had not Jesus also said, in Matthew, "You are guilty of the blood of all the righteous slain from Abel to Zacharias, killed between the horns of the altar?”Everything now seemed to be ready, and the Essenes said, “YOU know, if we crown Him king before the Passover, then when the  Passover comes, people will have the Messiah as king and a new day will be born. Rome will be cast off, the powers of darkness will be driven from the Temple, and Israel will be born in a day!”  And so with this hope and expectation, they planned, if they could, to crown Christ king. They thought that He would come into Jerusalem a week or so prior to the Passover.  And so it was that we come to the pageant of the day of Palm Sunday when Jesus came toward Bethphage and told His disciples to go over the hill and they would find colt, the foal of an ass, tied to a tree, and He said, "Bring it to Me, and if anyone wants to know who wants it, say YAHSHUA hath need of this, and it will be given to you."        And it happened exactly as He had said.  Then they put their garments upon the animal, and Christ sat upon it and approached the city of Jerusalem.  As He came towards the wall of the city, people from every part of Palestine were there.  They came out shouting, "Hosanna in the highest, to the Son of David! Blessed is He that comes in the name of Yahshua!”  And so they cried and cut palm branches and shouted before Him. This was the great day they had been waiting for. The Blue Tunic Army had also gathered there, from all over Palestine. They were around Jerusalem and around the gate. They were down in the streets and they were ready.  And underneath their togas they wore their blue tunics, and they had their sharp short swords. As Christ entered the city of Jerusalem, the people shouted, "Crown Him king!"  Suddenly, resplendent in the brilliant sun, the togas were dropped and the blue uniforms appeared, with the golden crossed fish and the raised swords of the Blue Tunic Army.  The crowd of people shouted, “Hosanna in the highest! Crown Him king! Crown Him king!"  An army of almost three thousand men were there, ready to defend Christ, lead to battle in any emergency at that hour.        As Christ approached the steps of the Temple, the high priests of Israel, the Essene High Priest and those who were the true Levites, were also approaching. They had the beautiful crown they had prepared.  Joseph of Arimathea and others openly identified with Christ, and they wanted to crown Him king. They brought forth the crown to crown Him king, and the High Priest said, "I would crown Thee King of Israel today. Thou art our Messiah. Thou art our God.”  Then Jesus said, “I can not take the crown at this time; I must take the chalice instead.”  These were the words of John the Baptist.  This was the fulfillment of the prophecy which he had proclaimed to the Essene company when he was but a child.  And so it was that Jesus said, "If I were to take this crown, I would rule you in bondage and in sin.  You are My children and I am your Messiah, and I have been promised unto you from before the foundation of the world."  Then He said, "I shall take this chalice.  I shall drink every drop of this chalice.  I shall assume the transgressions of the world, and I shall set you free.  I shall come again, and at that time My servants will fight, and the kingdom will not be given to the Jews.  But at this hour I must take the chalice.”The flashing swords and the blue tunics with the brilliant crossed fish were identifying marks of the army that had suddenly risen to defend the embodiment of God who was Christ the Messiah.                               On the steps of the Temple, the Jews were gnashing their teeth.  The high priest said "O, if we could only crush this thing, but there are too many people, there are too many involved.”  Jesus turned and looked at the high priest and looked at the courts in the Temple and saw how they had made the Father's house a place of trade and mockery.  Then He whipped together a cat-o-nine-tails, moved in and overthrew the money changers' tables, and He said, "Ye have made My Father's house a den of thieves and murderers."  And then after this, it says that He turned and went, first to the house of John, and then to Bethany.  After He had taken the chalice and left the crown, He handed the chalice to John.  He then left and went to John's house, and the Blue Tunic Army disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.   The togas went over the blue tunics and the men disappeared in the crowd. Where was the Blue Tunic Army now?        Barabbas went to the house of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and Judas Iscariot went to the Temple.  Judas Iscariot said to the Temple priests, "Would you like to catch the man who headed the army? Would you like to get this insurrectionist and stop this violence? He is at the house of John, the son of Zebedee."  And so the priests, not wanting to become victims of the vengeance of the people, called for the assistance of Rome and they said to the representatives of Rome, "The man that held up and attacked your caravan is at the house of John, the son of Zebedee."  And so the soldiers of Rome went down and surrounded the house and took Barabbas.  They took him and threw him in prison. They said,  "He is a robber, he is a thief."  But he was a  Zealot and a patriot. He was a nationalist and  he was loyal to Christ.        During these troubled times, many things transpired.  Remember, that in the trial of Christ we found, as Pilate stood before Jesus, in the King James Bible it says, "Art Thou the king of the Jews?" This is a mistranslation. He didn't say 'king of the Jews."  He really said, "Art Thou the king of Judea?"  And Jesus answered him and said, "Sayest thou this thing thyself, or did others tell thee?”  Pilate said, "How can I know? Hast not the chief priest of Thine own nation delivered Thee to me?"  And Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this hour.  If My kingdom were of this hour, My servants would fight, and the kingdom would not be delivered to the Jews." The servants of God were not Jews. The servants of God were Israelites, the followers of Christ.        Then Pilate went out before the Jews and said, "He is not guilty, He is absolutely not guilty "  He had already talked with Christ and had been amazed at the tremendous wisdom which Christ had displayed. Pilate himself had been trained in the great mystery schools. He was actually a Basque.  He had been born in Spain, educated in the Druid universities of London, and he belonged to the Masonic order.  Moreover, in his questioning of Jesus he asked Him, "What is truth?"  And Jesus gave him the right answer.  Then Pilate said, "You are not guilty, and You are a higher Master than I have yet met." (We find this in the writings of Nicodemus.)  Pilate said again, "He is not guilty, He is absolutely not guilty. I will never convict this man."   And I am going to tell you, there was absolutely nothing that would have ever made this Mason turn on the Grand Master of all masters.                       The Jews said, "His blood be upon us and our children."  After all, that is where the blood belongs.  That is where the blood of all the righteous slain, of all the prophets of truth from Abel to Zacharias, belonged, as Jesus had declared.  And so Pilate thought, "Well now, I know one thing they will not do.  Surely they will not ask for the death of this Man, about whom I have heard so many rumors and about whom my wife has told me so much, who has done so much good, who has raised the dead, who has healed the sick, who has proclaimed words of life, and who has not uttered a single word of insurrection. Surely, when I place this information before them, I know what they will do."  So he came before them and said, "There is a custom that at the Passover we release unto you a man. Now I happen to have a man named Barabbas. This man is a robber and a thief" (which he might have been to Pilate, but to Israel he was a patriot).  Pilate said, "I have this man in jail, and he has raided your caravans and he has taken your goods and stolen from you. Whom would you have me release, Barabbas or Christ?"  Of course the mob of Jews said, "Release Barabbas, release Barabbas."        Barabbas was an amazed patriot. Barabbas was the man who was released then, as Christ was led forth to crucifixion.  But Barabbas was heartbroken, to think that the Messiah was going to take his place. The strange situation was that Barabbas, upon being loosed, immediately went to the company, and the Essenes were worried lest the Jews would take after Barabbas again, the very moment that Christ was crucified. So Barabbas was hidden by the Essenes, out in the caves, and a man named Rufus was given command of the Blue Tunic Army of Christ.        After the resurrection, organized Jewry resumed their persecution of Christians.  They sent out armies all over Palestine to persecute them. And so the Blue Tunic armies would come out to defend the Christians, and they would fight with the armies of Jewry.  Here five, here ten; here secret groups gathered in the communities to defend Christians. Christ had ascended into the heavens, but the battle of Christ and anti-Christ went on. The children of Lucifer were now carrying their battle directly against the church.  Joseph of Arimathea also had now been identified with the Essene company and the followers of Christ, because of his defense of Jesus and because of the placing of Christ in his tomb.  More than this, as these situations developed, Joseph of Arimathea took Barabbas on one of his galleys which plied the course of the Mediterranean Sea and went back and forth between the land of Palestine and the areas of Britain.  And with Barabbas, there was always a band of Blue Tunic warriors guarding the ships of Joseph of Arimathea.        When Jesus, hanging on the cross, looked down at His mother, He said, "Mother, behold thy Son."  Then He turned to John His beloved disciple and said, "John, behold thy mother."  From that day on, we are told that the Disciple John took care of the mother of Christ until the Jews placed her in a small boat along with her uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, and several of the disciples, a boat that was without sail or oars which the Jews set adrift on the Mediterranean Sea.  Of course the occupants of the boat were expected to perish, but it drifted to shore at the city of Marseille.  That small band of early Christians then crossed over the land of Gaul, which was ancient France, and finally arrived at Glastonbury, in Britain, where Mary spent the remainder of her life.  After the Crucifixion, the Jews continued to harass and persecute all Christians, and especially the family of Christ.  But many of the Essenes, with Barabbas their leader, also escaped to Britain, and they continued to watch over the Virgin Mary as long as she lived.        Except for those who had gone to Britain, practically every known member of the Blue Tunic Army gave his life defending Christians, fighting the anti-Christ in the land of Palestine. But it was in Britain, in the area of Glastonbury, that Mary made her home.  A house was built for her, and there by the Spring of Jacob, Mary was to spend the remainder of her years - and settled around her were some of the members of the Blue Tunic Army.        We have learned more about these Blue Tunic soldiers.  We discover that this guerilla army fought valiantly to defend the towns of Britain against the invasions of Rome, as they came again, in about A.D. 42, in sorties against the land of Britain and against the abbeys and structures of Christendom.  These invading barbarians, at that time, didn't realize that Britain was Christian.  And this of course was long before Saint Augustine came up from Rome, as he did, half a millennium later, and was amazed to find that the British were Christians and were followers of Christ, even though they had no contact with his church in Rome.        The Blue Tunic warriors were at the front, and they fought valiantly to defend the towns of Britain against the Roman invasion.        What little we know about the Blue Tunic Army has been gleaned from ancient traditions and writings which tell us they served and protected Joseph and the leaders of the Essenes, as long as they lived.  We understand also that the high priests of Israel and the Essene company openly became Christian.  When Mark formed his church in Alexandria, Egypt, the Essenes brought all of the Scrolls which they had copies of to him.  That is why 163 scrolls made up the area of Scripture in the days of Mark, and ten of them were spurious, but 153 of them were inspired.  Now you have only 66 books in your Bible, due to Catholicism and the Council of Nicaea, and two of them are spurious. The Song of Solomon and the Book of Esther are totally spurious, and the name of God isn't in them even once.  One is licentious and stands for mongrelization, and the other for the revenge and the blood bath of Jewry.        The Essene company melted into the Christian church, but they maintained their status and for many years maintained their secrets.  Some of the secrets were carried to Rome.  When they were persecuted in Rome, Christians would secretly come together with the sign of the fish, and they would hold up their crossed fingers, as a Sign of the crossed emblem that had once been on the vestments of the army of Barabbas.  It became a custom everywhere, for Christians when meeting, to make the sign of a cross by crossing their fingers.We do not know about the death of Barabbas, but it is recorded that he was in Britain, and that he was among the company that fought to defend Britain against the invasions of Rome.  We however know this, that in that day a guerilla army was formed.  Christ did not encourage the army, but the army, with enthusiasm and zeal, was there to defend Christ. It was there, and defended Lazarus, when the Jews plotted how they might put him to death again.  Think of a people, so vicious, so evil, that they would want to put to death a resurrected man.  And so it was that the army of Christ, the Blue Tunic Army, was without question a tremendous pattern of protection to Christians, even though it eventually was exterminated by the sheer weight of the numbers of organized Jewry, and their power.        We remember that Blue Tunic Army and look to a resurrection of it in the days ahead.  We look forward to the day when Christians shall rise up.  For God says, "I shall sound My voice before My army, and a great and mighty army shall rise up, and the children of anti-Christ shall be driven back."   The powers of darkness shall be destroyed and the forces of Asia, and Africa under the world communistic conspiracy, organized by Zionism and Jewry and spread today by the Jews in America, will be defeated and destroyed.  We want you to know that this is a true fact.  And as people are beginning to become aware of this mystery, they will lift their heads and look to God from whence cometh their strength.  "The armies of God, the great fleets of the Most High, will soon be among us.  Of this you can be sure.  And in such a day we shall see Michael the great archangel, and we shall see again the great hosts of the Most High, as they join with us in the battle.While we battle in the earth against the hosts of darkness, so also will the King of kings and Lord of lords, as Messiah, come, and the crown will be given to HIM.  This time it will not be, “I must take the chalice,” for He has already fulfilled that part of our destiny.  He drained the chalice to the last drop.  And at that time, He said, "Even though it were possible that this cup pass from Me, still, not the will of flesh, but the will of Spirit is that which must be done,"  So He assumed your transgressions and set you free with the power of His resurrection.  He will return again in the near future, to take the throne, and we shall then join with Him in administration, world without end.  And we shall sit and rule with Him in the earth forever and forever, according to the pattern of the Scriptures.So as we think of these mysteries and situations, we recognize that we are in the end of the age.  I think the events of this week clearly demonstrate that we are in the end of the age.  The power of darkness and the voodooism and the witch-doctorism and the control of organized Jewry over the Negro population, as they move them in the Red revolution, have been a part of our history for the last few years.  From Watts  to Chicago to Detroit to Newark to Boston, to all these cities, have come fires and wars and riots and trouble, while these Negroes act as though they were having the finest time of their lives, stealing the goods and setting fire to the places.  And of all the inept, irresponsible, degenerate Society!  They even set fire to their own houses.  They set fire to their own stores and everything else, and they dance around and act like they are full of glee until it is all over.  Then they sit down and want you to rebuild everything for them, because they are burnt out and they have no place to go.        As we see these things, we can feel sure that we are in the latter days, and certainly we are in perilous times.  When in a great nation of God's kingdom we can have these savages act like this, then we have shirked our responsibility.  The kingdom of the Most High belongs to the children of the kingdom who are the majority, and their representatives should be controlling this nation by all soundness and all patterns of intelligence.  People have been thinking too much about their own gain, or their own security, or their own homes.  Now the hour has come when we must stand for Christ and His kingdom and for the deliverance of this great nation under God.  And when it comes, we will be fighting for the kingdom of God, and mayhap also a Blue Tunic Army will rise again.