WEEKLY MESSAGE: August 14, 2019

 

HEAD OVERSEER’S WEEKLY MESSAGE

 

 

 

 

August 14, 2019
Date of the Second Omen, 1955

In continuing our review of The Secret Sayings of Jamil prior to our discourses at this year’s annual Convocation, these are the words of the Third Saying. (Once again, please remember that “man” and men” refer to women, as well.)

The Third Saying

The school of enlightenment which shall be brought into existence will be charged with the responsibility of preserving the Teachings of Light for all times. And it shall be obligated to teach all persons who come to the school should they be found worthy. But no person not found worthy should ever be allowed to possess a knowledge of these sacred teachings. We have seen how in ancient times the academies and temples astounded the world with teachings of things of this world and other worlds. Even kings and the masters of the world came humbly to their gates for instruction. Today this knowledge has been lost because men of corruption abused portions of it. This corrupted use of knowledge gave birth to worldly sciences whose adherents have caused man to turn away from sacred things. And like the sciences, modern religion has been corrupted and made worldly. And for this reason religion has ceased to inspire men and caused them to turn away from religion. And dark forces of evil, which is to say those powers not of Light or of God, threaten to pervert men’s minds and take over the world. And with the taking they shall destroy civilization and lead it back into an age of darkness that no man can imagine. For it is the nature of man to worship forces beyond the material world. And if man worships not the things of God and of Light, then he shall worship things of the Devil and of Darkness. And if man opens the gates to the Powers of Darkness he unleashes a force which no man knows. Therefore, let the students of the new school serve as agents of the Light, as guardians and protectors of mankind.

“And when The Man put down the codex one asked: ‘Were the teachings of Socrates and Plato, as given in the Greek Academy, exemplary of this knowledge spoken of in the Sayings?’ And The Man said: ‘Socrates and Plato drew upon the ancient teachings of Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, Pythagoras, and the Egyptian and Persian schools of the time. Plato and Socrates were not the original source, nor did they adhere to the ethics and codes of the ancient mystery schools. They believed in a more simplified system of instruction which prompted Aristotle to break away altogether from tradition. His attitude resulted in teachings that led the way for secular scientists who rejected the Word of God, elevating human reason, thought and logic above divine intuition. Here we had the beginning of scientific thought of a perverted and secular line that believed man had the right to use divine knowledge for practical and worldly ends.’

“And another of the Companions asked: ‘We moderns are not so enthralled with religion in the orthodox sense. I cannot imagine the rulers of the world today beating a path to the door of any priesthood. Why did they do so in ancient times?’ And to this The Man replied that religious institutions of learning have ceased to be disseminators of Light. They have become worldly, dealing with human reason. Divine intuition and spiritual consciousness have no place in a modern university. Theology is taught in a logical manner that appeals to the rational mind or to faith or to the emotions. But in ancient times the priesthood were diviners who had a knowledge of the past and the future. Kings and rulers wanting to know what their destiny was sought answers from the priests or priestesses knowledgeable in such things. Knowledge of divination has failed to come down to the modern Church. Today, no king or ruler of the world requires the services of a theologian to advise him on matters of politics or economics.

“And the skeptical Companion inquired further: ‘Do you mean to say, Sir, that the Devil really exists? Are we to believe that the Powers of Darkness actually exist? Do you mean that goblins and entities can obsess the minds of men in this day of science and technology? I thought we left all that behind ages ago.’ To this The Man replied: ‘If you believe in God and in the Powers of Light, then you must-needs accept that the Powers of Darkness exist. All things have their opposite in this world and the next. Man is regulated and controlled by forces and intelligences outside his own mind and organism to a far greater degree than he knows. I can predict that if man continues to turn away from God, rejecting religion of any kind, the powers of Darkness will come to the forefront to dominate the life of man until he and his world are destroyed. The one single power holding back these forces are the religions of the world, orthodox and unorthodox, old and new. I beg you not to doubt my words.’

“And to this the skeptic said: ‘I find it difficult to believe that the modern world will ever again believe in superstition, fable and mythological powers that belong to an age that died out with the coming of scientific thought.’

“And The Man replied: ‘All gathered on this hill shall live to see the day when men will again return to worship evil forces of Darkness, rejecting all forms of religious expression, because from Darkness they will obtain power over human minds for sensual and material gain. The establishment of the new school of Light comes at a most opportune time in the evolution of the world.’

“And as all the Companions pondered his words, and no one asked another question.”

Once again, if I may be of any personal service to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Very truly yours in Light+,

Gene




Amanda Buchanan Receives Appointment as Canon

 

Rev. Canon Amanda Buchanan PHOTO CREDIT: Jim Elliott

 

Rev. Amanda Buchanan was appointed to the role of Church Canon on June 6, 2019.

Rev. Buchanan has a long and varied history of working in the Church Community. She has been a member of the Jamilian Handbell Choir since 1984 and played on some of the recordings made in the 1980s. During those years, she also worked as an assistant instructor in the Jamilian Parochial School and started working at the Chancellery in the department of records.

In the 1990s she was assigned to the department of Liturgy, and since that time she has overseen the minor order of acolytes and rehearsals for Chapel Services. During this time, she was also on the board of the Foundation Orchestra, where she did fund raising and worked with the orchestra director, her husband Rev. Gary Buchanan, to contract and pay the musicians.

Rev. Buchanan received third-level ordination and the rank of presbyter on October 10, 2002, and on January 30, 2017, the anniversary of the commemoration of The Child, she was appointed director of the Department of Sacramental and Liturgical Rites.

For the past several years, she has been a member of the Jamilian University staff, working with inquiries and with new students as a preceptor.

 




WEEKLY MESSAGE: August 7, 2019

 

HEAD OVERSEER’S WEEKLY MESSAGE

 

 

 

 

August 7, 2019

Let us continue with our review of The Secret Sayings of Jamil with the Second Saying and its commentary. (Please note that while the original text refers to “men” and “man,” both men and women are implied.)

The Second Saying

The New Religion shall be founded on the teachings given by my person come as The Child. My ministry announces the birth of God’s Messianic Sun which shall fill the spirits of men with manifold blessings. Every revealed religion of past ages has prophesied the coming of this cosmic religion at the final age of the world. This revealed religion shall teach all men everywhere the secret power in God’s New Sun. The Image and the Word shall be as a living force in this religion. In olden times the founders and the prophets of sacred scripture did hide the meaning of the writings, keeping knowledge of the Image and the Word from the profane. This New Religion shall restore the meaning of all sacred scripture. And all will be made to see that the written word, like Law, has no power in itself. And the ministry I shall cause to be established shall teach man that he can be created in the Image of God, which is Intelligible Light. And herein is the secret of life which man has sought. And man will have regained his lost immortality. This New Religion shall be a fellowship of Immortals having Communion with God. And they shall possess such a knowledge of this world and the next that they shall challenge the institutions of learning for leadership of men’s minds. No man shall be able to explain the source of their great wisdom for it shall come from the living Word within the light of the Sun and not from books. In this way the lost knowledge, magical formulas and mystical teachings of the ancient world shall be reclaimed.

“And after The Man completed his reading of the Second Saying one of The Companions asked: ‘Are we to understand that we have the responsibility of deciphering or decoding all of the world’s sacred scripture?’ And The Man answered saying: ‘All scripture written by the ancients is shrouded in the symbolic language of the old scribes to keep the hidden meaning from being understood by those not initiated into the mysteries. Since these writings are the property of solar cults, our task is to decipher them and make them available to the fellowship within the Community. We have the knowledge necessary to accomplish this for we have an understanding of the code which was shared by all the classical writers of antiquity.’

“And another question was asked by one of the Companions: ‘In addition to the hidden knowledge of ancient religious literature we hope to recover, are we to expect new scripture for the time and era?’ And The Man replied: ‘The Child has endowed the Community with Prophecies, Statutes, Teachings, and Scripture which have been preserved and hidden in the archives. This material will serve as an inspiration to the Community for centuries to come here on the planet or anywhere else in the physical universe; for this religion is cosmic and a blueprint for the survival of the race wherever it may be forced to go in the future.’

“And one of them asked for an explanation of this statement. And The Man answered that the world could expect to be irradiated from the New Sun with new cosmic and solar emissions of a kind that would produce new conditions for the race. The New Religion, being cosmic and solar in nature, would teach the uses of techniques to build up immunity by the race to these radiations. In this respect the Community would be concerned with man’s survival anywhere in the universe….”

We will continue with the Third Saying next week.

Once again, if I may be of any personal service to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Very truly yours in Light+,

Gene




Services for the Week of August 10, 2019

 

 

Saturday, August 10, 2019 
10:00 AM COMMUNION
Chapel of The Holy Child
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Lector: RC Ted Staver
Cantor: Rev. Bruce Kanzelmeyer
Reader: Dea. Radheka Patel-Savoy
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

 

 

Sunday, August 11, 2019
5:58 AM SUNRISE DIVINE SERVICE
Cathedral Church of  the Americas
Leave: 5:15
Gate: 5:45
Sunrise: 6:13
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RC Robert Petrovich
Assistants: RC Ted Staver
RC Peter Foust
Rev. Barbara Whitney
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

 

OPEN-AIR COMMUNION
Church of the Christian Churches    Rev. Robert Roy
Church of the Universal Theocracy    Dea. Noriko Roy

 

 

Wednesday, August 14, 2019
12:00 NOON COMMUNION
Chapel of the Holy Child
Rev. Michael McIntyre

 

 

Friday, August 16, 2019
9:00 AM PRAYER & FELLOWSHIP
Chapel of the Roses
RM Elizabeth Reece

 




Services for the Week of August 3, 2019

 

 

Saturday, August 3, 2019 
10:00 AM COMMUNION
Chapel of The Holy Child
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Lector: RM Rebecca Willis
Cantor: Rev. Greg Klinedinst
Reader: Sonya Savoy
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

 

6:00 PM 125TH PANNUCHES MEAL RITE
Chapel of The Holy Child
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant:
RM Elizabeth Reece

 

 

Sunday, August 4, 2019
5:54 AM SUNRISE DIVINE SERVICE
Cathedral Church of  the Americas
Leave: 5:00
Gate: 5:30
Sunrise: 6:09
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RC Robert Petrovich
Assistants: RC Ted Staver
RC Peter Foust
RM Rebecca Willis
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

 

OPEN-AIR COMMUNION
Church of New Philadelphia    RC Ted Staver
Church of New Qumrany    Rev. Barbara Whitney

 

 

Wednesday, August 7, 2019
12:00 NOON COMMUNION
Chapel of the Holy Child
RC Ted Staver

 

 

 

Friday, August 9, 2019
9:00 AM PRAYER & FELLOWSHIP
Chapel of the Roses
RC Peter Foust

 




WEEKLY MESSAGE: August 2, 2019

 

HEAD OVERSEER’S WEEKLY MESSAGE

 

 

 

 

August 2, 2019

Yesterday was the 38th observance of the New Light of God Confirming the Active Principle of Divine Law. And what an observance it was! The Community in Reno gathered at the Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary at the Cathedral Church of the Americas and witnessed a splendor of brilliance emanating out of the Sun. There was not a cloud in the sky, and it was something quite beautiful to behold.

As we approach this year’s annual Community Convocation next month, we will be focusing on The Secret Sayings of Jamil, of which there are 27. Sayings 1 through 24 have previously been published by The Community. However, Sayings 25, 26 and 27 have not. So these last three Sayings will be one of our major focuses in September. We often concentrate on The Prophecies of Jamil, sometimes at the expense of The Sayings, which are also magnificent.

Please bear in mind that The Sayings are of little value to individuals who merely practice the techniques of The System on their own without giving thought to the Community of which they are a part. However, The Sayings are profound to those gather together in Community and in fellowship. Community, as you know and as we stress, is essential to The Teachings. If one is to benefit to the fullest extent possible, it can only be accomplished in Community. We also know and teach that too much knowledge should not be given to the initiate before they can assimilate it. This is because something which one does not fully understand, one either rejects, criticizes, or flees from.

For those of you who have received the published Sayings of Jamil, you know that The Sayings are accompanied by extensive commentary. Let us review The Sayings over the next several weeks. We will begin this week with the First Saying and an excerpt from the commentary made on it in Volume I of The Image and The Word.

The First Saying

Twelve revealed religions, come to the world in the previous age, were founded by the inspiration of God’s Image and Word in the suns of that age. These religions flowered with the light of these suns, then withered making way for the new. Like the spokes of a wheel, these religions were intended to support the inner hub of a universal religion destined to usher forth out of the Central Sun of the final age of the world. Together with the New Sun this revealed religion will regenerate religion and restore the world to good order. If the New Religion is resisted by the older and traditional religions, then the Central Sun will go out casting a darkness over the face of the earth forever.

“After a moment’s pause one of the Companions asked: ‘If God inspired twelve earlier religions out of the sun, could not any one of them serve to regenerate religion in the world today?’ And The Man replied saying: ‘Each religion was for a specific time and people. Therefore, each is incomplete, forming part of the whole, but being not the whole. The religion to come is universal, for it is related to all the former religions. Yet, it is a newly revealed religion representing supplemental teachings in harmony with the Image and the Word of the New Sun of God. No religion of antiquity, which is but a fragment of a greater whole, can hope to convert the entire world in this age of social, religious, economic, political and scientific revolution wherein human freedom from traditional teachings is emphasized.’

“And another asked: ‘If God’s Image and Word appeared in the suns of former times, then the ancients had a knowledge of what we are teaching. I fail to see why there has to be a continuance of new suns and new religions’ And The Man answered: ‘Like the twelve months of the year, each having its own character, with an abundance or lack of sun and heat according to the season, so are religions seasonal, some being more brilliant than others, but all making up the whole. With the coming of the New Sun we have the promise of a new condition, a Golden Age in which God’s Light will shine ever more. This New Religion is for such an Age, teaching and instructing the human family how to live under the new condition. The older religions cannot accomplish this purpose for they were for another time and place. Knowing this, we must-needs encourage the growth of this New Religion, teaching the new ways of the sun in order to prevent it from dying out and casting the world into a spiritual darkness from which it will not recover. For, like older suns and older religions, the world appears destined to die of old age in making way for the new. With all religions of the world laboring together for the creation of the one new universal religion of the sun, a new world can come into being as a fulfillment of religion. Without this fulfillment, religion will cease to serve any useful purpose in the world.’

“‘What are the twelve revealed religions by name?’ inquired one of the Companions. And The Man said: ‘I saw the Light forms of many Holy Prophets and founders of world religions in company with the Angelic Host about the Child. There was Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Buddha, Quetzalcoatl and Viracocha, Jesus, Mohammed, Krishna, Akhnaton, Mithra, Manu, Pythagoras, Plato, and many others I could not name.’”

We will continue with The Secret Sayings next week.

Once again, if I may be of any personal service to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Very truly yours in Light+,

Gene




JUNE 2019: Intercession & Memorial Services

 

 

 

JUNE 2019

1
Marilyn Taylor
Dottie Carnemola †
Gene Savoy Jr. and Japanese Community
The Nation of Cameroon

5
Bernice Martinez

8
John & Tammy Belies
James Kanzelmeyer †
Evelyn Kanzelmeyer

12
John & Tammy Belies
Ruth Harris
Mary Lorenz
RonnieVinson

15
John & Tammy Belies
Ruth Harris
Mary Lorenz
RonnieVinson
Anila Gandhi †
Mercedes Littlefield
Gideon Holum

19
Gideon Holum
Sam Buck
Kobi Anderson
Kari Milliron
Kit Orton

22
Gideon Holum
Sam Buck
Kobi Anderson
Kari Milliron
Kit Orton
Mercedes Littlefield

29
The People of Yamataga, Japan who suffered in the earthquake on June 18

 

† indicates Memorial Prayer

 




Services for the Week of July 27, 2019

 

 

Saturday, July 27, 2019 
10:00 AM COMMUNION
Chapel of The Holy Child
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Lector: RC Peter Foust
Cantor: Rev. Mary Foust
Reader: Rev. Michael McIntyre
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

 

 

Sunday, July 28, 2019
5:46 AM SUNRISE DIVINE SERVICE
Cathedral Church of  the Americas
Leave: 5:00
Gate: 5:30
Sunrise: 6:01
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RC Robert Petrovich
Assistants: RC Ted Staver
RC Peter Foust
RM Rebecca Willis
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

 

OPEN-AIR COMMUNION
Church of the Golden Age of Light    Rev. Larry Coesens
Church of the universal Theocracy    Dr. Tom Lee

 

 

Wednesday, July 31, 2019
12:00 NOON COMMUNION
Chapel of the Holy Child
Rev. Francine Petrovich

 

 

Thursday, August 1, 2019
MANIFESTATION OF THE NEW LIGHT OF GOD
5:49 AM SUNRISE DIVINE SERVICE
Cathedral Church of  the Americas
Leave: 5:00
Gate: 5:30
Sunrise: 6:04
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RC Robert Petrovich
Assistants: RC Ted Staver
RC Peter Foust
RM Rebecca Willis
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

 

 

Friday, August 2, 2019
9:00 AM PRAYER & FELLOWSHIP
Chapel of the Roses
Rev. Barbara Whitney

 




WEEKLY MESSAGE: July 26, 2019

 

HEAD OVERSEER’S WEEKLY MESSAGE

 

 

 

 

July 26, 2019

In concluding our theme of the last two weeks, we know of the eternal struggle on Earth, over the long history of the human race, between the Powers of Darkness and the Powers of Light. Darkness, in its perpetual efforts to bind humankind to the illusory universe of matter – generated by rebellious Angels who withdrew from the Godhead before the sun and the stars and the world were born – inflicts with evil intention certain people who, by the incarnation of Dark Powers, lead the world astray. These wicked ones – who deceive, lie, falsify, and persecute the good – deny God and the immortality of the Spirit.

Subject to Darkness, they despise God. They are robbers of the Divine Doctrines bestowed upon the world by Righteous ones sent by the Powers of Light to alleviate a suffering mankind. They adulterate holy writ, thus corrupting the minds and Spirits of men and women, causing them to war against one another. Every day, they promote evil causes, which ultimately leads to the death of the races and perpetuates the Error of Darkness.

This being the case, humankind knows not the True Religion perpetuated by the Elect of God. Humanity scorns Divine Law and persecutes and sometimes puts to death the Holy Ones sent by God and the Powers of Light to liberate the human Spirit. These Holy Ones taught in every land and in every culture over the span of a thousand millennia, endeavoring to liberate the peoples of the Earth from the bondage of ignorance of God.

In the case of the Holy Covenant between Man and God in Israel, in the latter days of the Jewish nation before its defeat at the hands of the Romans, the remnant of Holy Ones who lived apart from the Jewish people attempted to restore the Temple and establish true worship, abrogating blood sacrifices. Moses had atoned for the sins of Israel. And as recorded in their literature and sacred scrolls, the struggle to cleanse Israel and institute prayer and righteous living of the True Way of God had been thwarted three separate times under three Messiahs: First, under the Prophet Messias of Israel; secondly, under the Priest Messias of Aaron and Israel; and thirdly, under the lay Messias, a prince of the line of David come for the salvation of Israel. Each Messiah had suffered death at the hands of secular and religious authorities.

The ministry of the Davidic Messiah, Jesus, was brought to an end by crucifixion. But before his passing from the world of the living, Jesus had proclaimed the coming of a future Age of Enlightenment when God would appear in the Heavens as a Great Light and as savior of the whole world.

The ancient prophets of the Righteous Race prophesied that after the completion of four cycles of seven times seventy years following the birth, ministry, and martyrdom of the final Messiah of Israel – in an age of earthly tribulation, war, turmoil, unrest, and social strife, an age of apostasy of the professing churches and a falling away from the true doctrines given to the world by those Holy Ones inspired of the Powers of Light – the Universal Messianic Age would commence and God would extend the True Bread of Life and the Waters of Truth at the Great Communion Banquet in which all Souls would share.

In holding to the ancient tradition, the followers of Jesus prayed to God each day while facing the sun at its rising. With hands stretched toward heaven, they implored the Creator to reappear and deliver the world. They asked for His Redeeming Light that had been withdrawn from the world with the fall of the Angels of Darkness who had led Adam and Eve into the degeneration of matter.

They prayed with humble heart and devout Soul for God to reveal Himself, to illuminate the heavens with that Great Light that had glorified Adam and Eve before the Temptation. They asked God to incarnate The Image of Himself in a Messianic Sun that would shine sevenfold in strength to blind Satan and the Angels of Darkness and burn up the wickedness of evil for all time. And in their devotion they invoked the Sun to shine favorably upon the world, thus opposing the Evil One – the begetter of all human flesh and the generator of mortal life that is subject to impermanency and changeableness in a world of suffering, pain and sorrow, where all living things eat one another for life and slowly pass away into the oblivion of a deep sleep from which they never awaken.

The Righteous Ones knew that the True God of Spirit was not the Father of the world, but the Creator of Spiritual Realms removed from mortality: immortal realms of permanent Life, Peace, and Love where the Spirit of every living thing was nurtured by the Divine Presence. Though the Eternal Race passed away from the memory of man, it left to generations to come a sacred inheritance engraved on every human Spirit to assist them at the coming of God’s Day in their eternal struggle against that old enemy of Man, Satan, whose profoundly cruel and impious act of error annihilates all life and allows him to rule over a mute and lifeless universe for a time. Satan, not knowing that separation from God must end in extinction of even those Dark Worlds which are the offspring of God’s adversary, is the soulless Destroyer. But God would appear as the Heavenly Messiah in the end times of the Earth, and His Light would be softer than water for the Righteous and harder than rock for the wicked.

By the establishment of the New Covenant of Love and Mercy ruled by Divine Law, God has covered the earth with Redeeming Light to unite all separated Spirits and to restore them to Divine Order. God has assumed the role of Teacher and Instructor from the abode of Heaven. He has set His Power in the seat of the Sun to rule over the Earth by means of Intelligent Light and Energy beyond the reach of any human hand or corrupt government.

By means of the Creative Power of Light and Energy, God will clothe the races of the Earth in New Flesh to inherit a New World. A new humanity, created by God’s Light as successor to the former races generated out of Darkness,shall establish a New World of Truth and Justice ruled by God’s Divine Image and Word, which will result in the transformation of matter into incorruptible Spirit in a restored Creation in which Evil and Darkness would vanish forever.

Before the final Restoration, the world is to be purified by the bright rays of the sun. The races will be cleansed by the fire of the Holy Spirit for a healing and a blessing of Soul. And God shall speak to them out of the Light, and they will see His Image. And that race that endures will bathe in God’s Light and live on the Divine Presence as did the Creation before the generation of Darkness – the sun and stars and the worlds of matter – and it will share in the New Act of Creation.

Next week, in preparation for this year’s annual Community Convocation, we will be spending some time reviewing The Secret Sayings of Jamil.

Once again, if I may be of any personal service to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Very truly yours in Light+,

Gene




ICC vs AEF Lawsuit Settled

 

 

The case of the Church vs the Andean Explorers Foundation is over. The Church has been in a legal entanglement with the Andean Explorers Foundation for more than two years. After Andean separated itself from the Church, significant material was removed from Church premises, and Andean claimed ownership over it. This created a major dispute relating to intellectual and other property created by members of the Church, including the late Gene Savoy Sr., as well as precious property in the Church’s possession and collected over a period of decades. This constituted a serious breach of trust and was something that the Church could not allow.

We received the final order and stipulation for the case from Judge David A. Hardy on May 24, 2019, which reads, in part:

The parties stipulate that the “Cosolargy Works” [all intellectual and other property held by Andean] … are the sole and exclusive property of The Head Overseer (Bishop) of the International Community of Christ, Church of the Second Advent, and His Successor, a Nevada Corporation Sole, free and clear of any and all claims of right of ownership or right therein by Andean Explorers Foundation and Ocean Sailing Club, a Nevada Non-Profit Corporation, save and except as same may be licensed by The Head Overseer (Bishop) of the International Community of Christ, Church of the Second Advent, and His Successor, a Nevada Corporation Sole, to Andean Explorers Foundation and Ocean Sailing Club, a Nevada Non-Profit Corporation, in accordance with the parties’ settlement agreement.

Bishop Gene Savoy Jr. reported, “The case ultimately went in our favor, in as much as we have retrieved all of the property that was taken. The Church owns all of that property, and we are now in the licensing process with Andean to determine which items will be licensed and which will not be licensed. So that is still ongoing. We have a mediator, so if there are any disputes that arise in the future, we go to the mediator. We do not go to the judge. At the end of the day, we have recovered everything. Whatever it is, the Church has recovered all of it – everything that exists,” Bishop Savoy said.

The history of the case began officially in January 2017, when Bishop Savoy, Jr. notified the Andean board of directors that the work, scope and mission of Andean was part of the Church, as envisioned by its founder, the lat Gene Savoy, Sr., and that their departure from that work, scope and mission, needed to stop. Andean’s response to that letter was unacceptable, and the present lawsuit commenced.

Eventually, a settlement agreement was reached and drawn up in June, 2018, which allowed Andean to license certain items for their use. But disputes and conflicts arose over the items to be licensed. “There were Church and Jamilian University related items that the Andean claimed licensing rights over, and the Church disputed those claims, so, essentially, the case should have been concluded almost a year ago, but it dragged out for another year over all of the licensing procedures, which, interesting enough, we are still going through. So now both parties have agreed to an amendment to the original settlement to clarify the process,” Bishop Savoy explained.

The amendment deals with a new process for Andean to submit its licensing requests through the mediator. Because both parties have agreed to the use of a mediator to handle disputes, the case has now been moved out of court and all the details of licensing are no longer a problem that needs to be resolved by the court.

“The Church has made its notations of Andean’s request to indicate what we can license and what we won’t license, what we can’t license, what we will license but we are not responsible for how they use it, for instance, the music,” Bishop Savoy said. It is the Church’s position that Andean’s request to license past musical recordings and performance videos in almost all cases would violate copyright ownership and/or music performing rights as protected by copyright law and the music performing right organizations of ASCAP and BMI. The same concerns pertain to certain films and videos held by the Church, which has been granted limited usage by the likes of CBS, ABC, BBC, and others.

“Needless to say, it cost the Church quite a bit of money in legal fees to recover the entirety of the property, but that is what has finally transpired. As of May, this lawsuit has been dismissed by the court in our favor. . . The long and short of it is that we recovered all of our property, intellectual and other,” Bishop Savoy said.

“Some members of The Community have questioned the wisdom of pursing this course of action,” he continued. “However, I cannot stress enough the importance and significance of our explorations, discoveries and research in Peru. The information that was gathered, primarily by my late father is profound, to say the least. He spent decades of his life researching and uncovering civilizations that no longer exist that used the Sun for their spiritual benefit. The archaeological discoveries aside, which are also very significant, were not as important as the spiritual discoveries he made. This information is primarily what we sought to protect in order that these things would not be commercialized, secularized and put to profane use. And that is why we have created ‘Gene Savoy Xplorations’ as a branch of The Community, to preserve and protect this work and carry it forward into the future.

“The main thing is, I want to let everyone know that we were successful in what we set out to do. The importance of why we did it is, I think, the key. Why are we doing this? Why did we spend the money? A lot of people would say, ‘That’s ridiculous. It doesn’t make any sense. Who cares? Just let them have it.’ For some reason, we didn’t look at it that way. And the reason is that our action keeps the integrity of the work and allows us to do something with it in a new way, which I think is important.

“I think we already know all of the reasons that the explorations went far beyond archaeological work. That doesn’t mean that the archaeological work is unimportant. It is important. But the big picture is much more important than that. And I don’t really think that my father would have wanted his work to be divided – to be chopped up. I don’t know what he would have done. But the way that I was trained – the way that he taught me – was that if things are important, you fight for them. Otherwise everybody comes in, as he would say, raids you and steals your stuff, and then you have nothing.”