KM + ONAC = ONAC KM
Many have been inquiring lately as to the true position we personally maintain as a church, especially with the division now between we and Oklevueha being publicly known, so we thought we would do our best to try to explain so that those interested will better see the reality for what it is with more coherency... and what better day To reflect than this day we see as a "holiday."
Before being known as ONAC KM, we, meaning Kautantowit's Mecautea were blessed as such by the Narragansett tribal council in August of 2013 via confirmation from Sachem Matthew Thomas personally. The name is in the tribes traditional language which means "Great Creator's Warrior Soldiers who fight off evil and the enemy" and yes, the tribe was well aware that the blessing was for our church, which yes, we were already established and recognized both state and federally as being a bona-fide "Church" of our own, PRIOR TO becoming known as ONAC KM... it's Very important that you truly understand that concept If you truly seek clarity of our position As a church personally ourselves.
Our official name until this time was "Soldiers of Jah Ministries" which helps explain the name the tribe blessed us with if you really stop and think about it, doesn't it. The blessing was their acknowledging our place as the Rainbow tribe of warriors that was prophecized and is an essential key in the now fulfilling of the seventh fire times.
Prior to establishing as Soldiers of Jah Ministries (SOJM), our spiritual leader had already been honored with ordainment's in multiple different faith-based systems ranging from Universal Life Church Ministries to credentials as a minister of Pr Ntr Kmt but the very first step leading a church and congregation on her own came in January of 2010 when sh was blessed with an individual "United Cannabis Ministry" church of her own which she established in the Pacific Northwest at what's now known as the Sanctuary Headquarters of ONAC KM in the central south valley in the state of Oregon. This was our original public stand as a church.
With the blessing of Reverend's Steven & Seeva Cherms, the ones who blessed Graves with our own independent church "Branch", Graves established Soldiers of Jah Ministries in early 2011 as it's own free-standing As a church, which operated out of what we call "the Headquarters sanctuary" still to date, but in 2012 Graves additionally began leasing a then 102 year old church building in Oregon that was very similar to the old church out on the Porcupine (Pine Ridge) reservation always shown on tv when they speak of "Wounded Knee of 1973" incident in South Dakota. Graves deal was that the monthly payments she was making to the owner/landlord Would be counted as payments toward Owning the building As the church.
Graves, upon the request of the landlord officially incorporated the church in early 2013, but after getting betrayed by the landlord, who come to find out, wanted the church incorporated so that he could start legally running both Bingo and a "Gaming night"events In the name of our church and had even contacted the state to start officiating that ability, Graves ultimately chose that we walk away from the old church building in the summer of 2014,which was almost a year after being gifted the blessing from Oklevueha Native American Church (ONAC), and which was after we were blessed with the name "Kautantowit's Mecautea". Hence the birth of "Oklevueha Native American Church of Kautantowit's Mecautea, or "ONAC KM" for short. We hope we are explaining this in a way you can clearly understand the truth of how it is we came to be as we are, if not, please let us know and we will try to explain it better.
You see, Soldiers of Jah Ministries, contrary to most people's first impression conclusion, was NOT a declared Rastafari church, it was based upon Graves lineage rooting to the Aboriginal bloodlines through her DNA, although we did acquire a handful of Rastafari members and even a couple who were credentialed as Rasta spiritual leaders,which remain in good standing and honored treasures to the whole of Our church, SO was Never solely ANY denominal faith based system then recognized. This was Intentional because we have always been and always will remain a Non-Denominational spiritual faith based system as we have, do and will continue as too, we welcome all persons regardless of their race or lineage, personal belief system or their individual spiritual connections via other faith based spiritual and or religious systems so long as All honor one another when we come together. "We've never had any problem, question or even upset from our members regarding any of the wisdom we have yet to meet, introduce and include into our teachings, and we hope never will."
Soldier of Jah Ministries...
Soldiers of Jah Ministries (SOJM) was essentially the first of it's kind in a couple of different ways, first being that we were the first actual Aboriginal based church that we are yet to be made aware of,and second because of our stand in regards to our beloved sacred sacraments, which include specifically cannabis and fungi. The nickname SOJM quickly acquired upon our establishment was "The Jack (Herer) Church" because it is based upon his own personal wisdom teachings regarding the sacred sacraments. Obviously for those of you familiar with him, cannabis is and will always of coarse remain a crucial and essential sacrament of our church, but too, Jack's instruction was to "shift gears" and to educate our people about the sacred sacraments he insisted are "More important for them to know than even about the cannabis." What the Hemperor was speaking about specifically was what he would refer to as the "Food of the Gods" and too,"The flesh and blood manna" sacraments of the Christ of the bible - the "True Communion substances" that he says we Need in order to connect with "The Most High" which we refer to as Great Creator when we speak of what most would call "God."
The sacramental substance(s) Jack was referring to, were in fact hallucinogenic mushrooms, specifically the Amanita Muscaria mushroom as seen most commonly in the Super Mario Brothers video game and also the Psilicybe Mushrooms, which Jack explains in his unpublished manuscript that the court awarded Exclusively to Sachem Graves honoring her primise to Herer that she would educate the ones he calls "Our people" to his wisdom of this important knowledge.
Many who knew Herer personally know he had devoted more than 25 years of his life to as having "decoding the bible." as he described it and how adament he was about getting the manuscript published and out "To our people", and he made sachem Graves VOW that she would because whether any believe or consider it or not, she and we remain confident that Herer was a wise prophet of our time especially when coming to our beloved sacrament substances and we honor his wisdom and strive to continue to follow his wise instruction. "Beings he was a polish jew and raised of the lines of Leviticus (The Priest lines of the 12 tribes of Israel) in what he called "Traditional way" According to Graves "Jack was confident in his outcome and his wisdom when it came to this information and too, he insisted it was essential that our people know the wisdom he was preparing to publish as his last book "The Most High" is the short title, he made me PROMISE to share and enlighten all who would listen, and I and my elder and spiritual council, including the Cherms felt that establishing SOJM was the most appropriate and honorable way to do it."
By doing so, SOJ Ministries would be the first church Ever to declare themselves as using multiple sacrament substances, especially three that the federal government declare "Federally controllable substances" and considered dangerous and addictive, but Graves and our members know better than to buy into their "Reefer Madness Hype" and have as well as continue to stand their ground as it being their inalienable birth rite choice to do and use, and they have yet to have any trouble or challenge over it or specifically the mushroom sacraments as far as the law or society as a whole is concerned when it comes to religion, period... "If anything the government's been increasingly focused on questioning our right to cannabis."
So why then become ONAC KM?
The answer to that is simple, we have long respected the courage and bravery of the stand ONAC made in court in the defense of another of our Creator gifted sacred sacrament plant medicines, peyote specifically, and in fact had looked into receiving some sort of recognition and possible unification or confederation from them before we actually had, but it was made into a church goal to work toward as we are and remain a Poor church, meaning no money and still to date,no option of donation receiving."When we first looked into seeking recognition from Oklevueha, they required $200.00 per person for a lifetime membership into their organization,and then they said that in order to receive a blessing from them, we would need three fully paid members of ONAC to even be considered for a blessing,An that each member would have to put forth a $200.00 token offering each and Then give them an additional $5,000.00 for the actual blessing as an ONAC. As if that wouldn't be an obstacle for us alone, it was then stated that all of that would only make us a "Chapter" of them, which realistically we didn't really need or even desire as our focal was liberating cannabis and manna (mushrooms) as our sacred sacraments, and then we figured we would go from there as Creator leads us which in addition to the ones we're claiming looks like it will likely lead us toward others not yet protected by any church such as the Ibogane so we can start assisting in the curing of our species of heroin addictions" explains Mecautea Emissary 'Wolf Brother' Minter who explains that our focus is on being a Benefit to our communities throughout society, not a dishonorable black-eye to it.
The Deal between SOJM and ONAC...
In August of 2013, while at an event promoting cannabis awareness and education, Graves found herself face to face with James 'Flaming Eagle' Mooney, founder of Oklevueha. The meeting of these two remains described by both as being both spiritual and too, at the will of "The ancestors and Creator" opposed to chance. Mooney round tabled with Graves then and several times throughout the end of the month, and upon receiving the blessing from the tribe as Kautantowit's Mecautea, Mooney ultimately blessed us and hence we became most publicly known as being ONAC KM.
According to Graves, Mooney offered she and SOJ, who were then in transition of becoming Kautantowit's Mecautea church "an olive branch exchange" which would extend ONAC's protections of Peyote into our church and to all of our members willing to attain formal adoption into ONAC KM through ONAC. Cost was a major issue to Graves and ultimately that is when the ONAC policy changed regarding their membership token offering fee from $200.00 mandatory to adding in a $30.00 lifetime membership option If the member was acknowledged as being "adopted" by an ONAC church, which KM was then declared one, but Graves didn't stop there. Additionally she insisted that ONAC implement the option for All ONAC off-shoots whether independent church confederation, independent branches and too that ALL "ONAC" Military Veteran members be given an even bigger discount because as she and our church feel "We owe them and it's the least we can do as a symbol of our respect and gratitude for they and their service as our warriors." Ultimately Mooney agreed and immediately changed ONAC's website to reflect these new fee options, which you're welcome to confirm for yourself on their website, veteran memberships are least expensive of all, $25.00 for the lifetime membership, $30.00 for all other adopted members, and the $200.00 option remains for all non-adopted or military memberships.
In exchange for all of this, Mooney in turn sought not only someone to aid in the implementation of cannabis as a sacrament of ONAC's and too, Mooney wanted ONAC KM to Specifically become the "Martyr" church of ONAC specifically for cannabis sacrament. What this included was our ability to establish the internal structural forms needed to bring cannabis safely and honorably into ONAC's core structure. We have already completed all that needs to be done including the formation of the Cannabis Sacrament High Council which would be the highest step to the Founders regarding this specific sacrament, but too, we have done so in a way that ONAC can do the same with All the individual sacraments they may one day choose to include as being sacraments they promise to legally protect their members from while using them. "We as KM whether or not we remain ONAC KM are willing and committed to martyring for all earth-based healing sacraments even if one by one so long as it's done and they're used in honorably way because to us it's a rights as we the human being issue... a principle issue to do with spiritual connection to Creator and creation, nothing less but plenty else. We remain waiting ONAC to validate such so that the High council can then establish the lesser council which will be by election of the ONAC members who specifically specialize in the focal sacrament medicine in their churches by their members."
Because Oklevueha had nothing other than a blessing from a Mexican based tribe who also do use cannabis as a sacred sacrament substance spiritually in attempt to expand ONAC's offering of legal protection exemption to members, Mooney knew it was Not enough to protect the members of ONAC from actual legal prosecution. The proof of this remains in various federal prisons where ONAC members have remained there without any sign of hope or even help from ONAC for exercising the rights of protection Oklevueha had promised them which ultimately proved to be untrue as far as the American government was concerned long before our unification with them.
It's also worth noting that since our and the pre-existing church unification's with ONAC Like ours, Some ONAC members have been able to narrowly escape otherwise prosecution including our members directly as well as other ONAC members are proving to possibly be on the brink of release because of our unifications with ONAC as well. "Jack said it would take each and everyone of us to accomplish cannabis liberation standing side by side... we trust him and hope to see and be able to prove it true, but only time will tell in the end, that's why we stand with All the churches we do, especially the ones using cannabis and earth-based healing sacramental substances... and we Will continue even if ultimately we stand alone."
However, as of this time (2013) the issue which prompted Mooney into such action was in the hopes of protecting his son from federal prosecution while trying to declare his cannabis situation as being a "Church issue" but beings other members didn't achieve such in their legal battles, Mooney was desperate to recruit someone willing to "Grab the bulls-eye" and run to the front of the battle as the shield for their members and Hopefully save his son from federal prison. We and Graves proved to be Mooney's choice and decision. Mooney ultimately agreed to bless us as an irrevocable "Independent and Free Church of ONAC" completely FREE of charge,meaning no token fees were expected of us at all in exchange for the blessing we received from him and Oklevueha, and to honor Graves with recognition from him as being a medicine woman! This is why we shifted gears in our public image, and reputation and have since put forth all of our attention into developing ONAC KM and also to cleaning up the messes of Oklevueha as we have honorably been doing since... literally, diligently and whole-heartedly in our efforts! We are NOT ALONE in this direction or effort either, just so it's known as others Also were offered the same "Gift of Blessing" who also were known for defending cannabis publicly and politically from a religious stand-point.
You see, Some ONAC's are in fact only "chapters" meaning that they cannot stand 100% on their own as a church because for whatever reason they cannot meet the federal standards justifying them as a church on their own. Some do not wish to, while others who were Not pre-existing churches Before joining with ONAC strive to attain Independence of their own - those We refer to as "Branches" where as we who stand on our own, including such as The Hawai'i Cannabis Ministries and Greenfaith Ministries who also accepted the offering from ONAC to do a "Olive Branch Exchange" and ultimately went out and established themselves legally and publicly as also being part of Oklevueha. "None of us ever agreed or were ever told that by accepting their "Olive Branch" that it meant we were giving up our position as our own churches, we joined with ONAC to try to help protect them and their members, we would have Never agreed to lessen our standing and become subservient to the whims of ONAC, we joined forces because we all agreed on the common goal and accomplishing our objective!"
The birth of ONAC KM...
So the Olive Branches were exchanged and ONAC KM was born, and with a very important mission- to secure our rights as a church to utilize all Creator's earth based healing medicines, specifically first, Cannabis, and so that's what we set out to do, but not First without clarifying Our position with other sacred medicines... mushrooms. If you look at the following two photos, you will be able to see for yourself proof in that agreement being made between us and ONAC, but our concern remains in that ONAC is including the promise of legal protections should ONAC members choose to possess and use them, especially since we haven't as ONAC secured our right to such a guarantee, which to us clouds and calls All of our integrity and trustability into check.
(Note the Above card says "Peyote,Ayuahuasca, Cannabis, etc." This is Pre-ONAC KM cards)
(Note the above picture shows the cards Since establishing ONAC KM. note it says "Peyote, Ayahuasca, cannabis, Psilocybe Mushrooms & Fungi, Etc." This should confirm our agreement with ONAC if nothing else.)
ONAC KM, in jumping to the front lines as the Martyr church for ONAC, did succeed in winning legal recognition on the state level from the state of Oregon in a 2014-2015 case in which we asserted and gained their recognition for using cannabis as an ONAC KM sacrament, but we did Not get that recognition extended to the whole of ONAC as we set out to accomplish because the state back-doored out of facing prosecution for having dishonored our rights as a church, so, back to the drawing board we went in our goal, until the PDX situation, which we are Still trying to get them held accountable for all the harm, victimization and irreparable damage they have and continue to cause our church and members for having take the initiative to get them held legally accountable for their dishonorable deeds.
But for whatever reason, Oklevueha remains distracted from accomplishing the re-file needed to not only stop and secure our church and members from their victimization but to get All ONAC members protected especially those utilizing cannabis as their sacrament which was and remains our goal whether we remain ONAC or revert to KM which we may well end up doing should ONAC prove insincere in their efforts to maintain their end of the deal which would mean they have breached our agreement by failing to live up to their end of the bargain, which thy have already done mind you, but we are giving them an opportunity to right their wrongs and show good faith tokens to us which do NOT include money but Does include keeping their word and promises to we and our members such as getting the PDX injunction Promptly re-filed and too, retain the legal council deserving of the case.
We also await ONAC to respect the agreement made by Graves and Mooney to the full potential for the greater good of the whole of not only our but All churches which includes the certificate acknowledging her as a medicine person as Mooney testified to being the case in court in 2015, and to honor ALL of the ONAC KM members who have and remain in Good Standing with the membership cards we as the whole of ONAC KM were assured were earned by our front line efforts and our saving ONAC time and again from repercussions of their "mis-steps" as they Admit to, and the poor judgement they have had that has and continues to harm and hinder us from the goal. They have promised the cards would be Gifted to our members and be sent to us, but we have yet to get that accomplished as of the present time with them. Meanwhile people are continuing to join ONAC KM specifically through ONAC and we Will honor them as they do once we know they have been.
These tokens of good faith we are seeking of coarse are in addition to the issues which ONAC KM addressed while putting ONAC as a whole and Mooney personally on a "Notice of Distrust" which mainly have to do with the internal structuring necessary to make ONAC efficiently operate in the best interest of the whole and of all our members that remains lacking as far as being implemented and made operational. "We've held up our end, now it's time ONAC shows us the same respect and fulfill their end of the agreement."
We Hope they do so soon as time is of the essence, especially when it comes to the injunction being re-filed because if not, we will have to return to council and make some serious decisions as to how we as our church are going to proceed, with or without Oklevueha. "We cannot allow Oklevueha to damage if not destroy the goals and objective because too many of our members are counting on us to accomplish the goal and secure Their inalienable rights including to choose what and how they exercise there spiritual and or religious faith practices, or endanger us by looking down upon us as did we are but a mere branch of them alone, we never have been, we've always stood on our own merit and must continue to do so for the sake of Our members safety and protection." Graves says after watching the events going on around ONAC just within the last Year has she and many in and beyond Our church concerned as to the repercussions they've caused upon our plant and people opposed to taking any productive coarse's to secure and preserve our stand regarding them.
Again, only time will tell though the sands are running on how long we can sit idle waiting for their effort, not by dictation of our own but by the circumstances ONAC has put us in, specifically with our now urgent need in securing the injunction in Portland, Oregon. As always, we Thank you for your continued interest, contribution and support and we Hope you stick with us and stay tuned. Blessings to all,may we all go in a good and productive way ~ A'ho!