Abbreviare Chronologia of the church at Salem and Sacred Pages of the ekklesia 1997 - 2005 Pre Seizure Period: 12-15-97: Acting in legal persona, William Raymond and his wife Kathy Lois purchase with cash Guildford Manor - an estate house on 2 1/2 acres in Salem, New Jersey - which they will later place back into the Hands of the Rightful and Original Owner, Jesus the Christ, via an official Lawful act and process of the ekklesia known as The Christ’s Divine Right of Recall. From the day the “property” so-called was purchased and occupied as a civilian residence [that which constitutes “minimum contact” with the forum state] up to the day it became re-Established in Christ as His holy ekklesia, William and Kathy faithfully rendered unto Caesar all s0-called “property taxes” that were due in a timely manner. 02-18-99: Under the forerunner “Guildford Manor Family Ministries” (GMFM), the church recorded her establishing (founding) documents at the Salem County Court House and was thereby officially entered into the public record as a non-incorporated, non- consenting “establishment of religion” in and under the exclusive Lordship of our Sovereign King, Jesus the Christ. Recording an “instrument of conveyance” in this manner is commonly known as “Record notice” - a declarative process of law which is understood to constitute “constructive notice of its contents to the whole world”. [Black’s Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, page 1275] Directly after Establishing the church, we hand delivered a letter along with certified copies of our new founding documents to the local Board of Taxation. In the letter we declared our Establishment as the church of Jesus Christ and our subsequent status of Divine Immunity as a result thereof. Also, we requested a final tally of whatever outstanding taxes might be due up to that date, so we could immediately pay the balance in full. Also the letter stated that, congruent with the First Amendment, we could not and would not bear any further responsibility for additional taxes from that date forward. 04-26-99: As instructed by our Sovereign Lord, Jesus the Christ, the founding members of the ministry meet in Lawful assembly to repent and to formally and officially dissolve GMFM. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it shall abide alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24. 03-02-00: After approximately seventeen written correspondences and numerous phone calls between the church and the City, on this date we sent a letter to the City’s lawyer, David J. Puma, printed on the church at Salem letterhead stationary. Writer’s Notation: During one of the phone calls within this period I asked lawyer Puma if he understood that he was in violation of his own Constitution by withholding from Us our God-given, First Amendment protected, right to Establish the church at Salem without incorporating under the state. He said he didn’t understand the First Amendment and that it wasn’t his job to interpret it; but only his job to work within the framework of statutory law. Still, whenever I asked him to show us the specific statute which he believed required churches to incorporate, he could never produce such a law. William Raymond: This particular correspondence, of all those sent up to this point, may have been the most important as it stated clearly all the pertinent information relative to the First Amendment and numerous case law decisions which lawyer Puma would have needed to know in order to understand the matter in its correct legal context, and to call off the City’s attack. Rather than accept our faithful witness and the testimony we bore as to our true identity in Christ, lawyer Puma instead chose to simply ignore our letter and the ten day response period we respectfully imposed thereto. 04-04-00: As instructed by our Sovereign, and in accordance with the Christian Traditions, Customs and Usage of our local ekklesia, the church at Salem in Lawful assembly served our first Lawful process - Part One of a non-statutory (Ecclesiastical Law Venue) abatement at Law - naming lawyer Puma and three other souls within the City government as codefendants for their individual and collective (conspiratorial) actions of trespass against Christ and His holy ekklesia. Subsequently all four failed to respond by the rule day and were forthwith individually served Part Two of the abatement - a notice of default. Approximately twenty days after being served their default notices, the City committed yet another action of trespass against Christ by sending a Notice of Tax Sale to the church. 06-08-00: On this date a meeting took place in lawyer Puma’s office. William Raymond with two other brethren - Steven George and Edward Charles - met with lawyer Puma in the church and city’s first face to face meeting. Historically, the importance of this meeting stands out for the way it clearly demonstrated the City’s utter lack of “good faith dealing” that would become so obvious to us in the days to come. During this meeting, lawyer Puma led us to believe he was sincere and that he had a genuine desire to resolve the dispute between us. His exact words were “give us something to work with” and “meet the City half way”. Understanding that we could not apply for a statutory tax exemption or participate in any other civil process that would legally obligate or compromise Christ and His holy church, lawyer Puma proposed another option. He then proffered the idea that if the church would provide the City a formal statement declaring her position, this could act in lieu of the standard tax exemption application commonly used by 501 (c) (3) church corporations. Feeling confident we had finally reached a resolution that was satisfactory to all, we returned to the parsonage and prepared our statement - a document titled “Witness of Faith”. The following day we delivered it to lawyer Puma’s office believing fully that the conflict was over and that we would no longer be attacked by the City for our allegiance to Christ. 06-16-00: Despite all our efforts and demonstrations in good faith, eight days after delivering our Witness of Faith statement to lawyer Puma, the City of Salem defiantly and in blatant violation of every published law prohibiting mandatory church incorporation, sold the first of three (3) tax liens against our Sovereign King and His holy ekklesia - the church at Salem. And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me. Matthew 25:40 Writer’s Notation: It is important to understand that during our time of transition from the secular civil venue into the Righteous Venue of Christ, that we made that tran- sition in accordance to and as provided by the laws of both venues. In other words, not only were we Called and Authorized by Christ to enter His Kingdom in this manner, likewise, we had a constitutionally protected and statutory right under the laws of man to obey that Call. Therefore, despite the lies by the local newspaper attacking my “credentials” and portraying us as anti-government tax evaders, at no point in time was the church at Salem ever actually subject to or in violation of the laws they said we had broken. Whenever a local church formally announces her transition into the Kingdom as we did, eventually the question of who has lawful authority over her will be tested and must be authoritatively defended in a Lawful manner by the new ekklesia; which is now become an autonomous assembly in Christ - an “establishment of religion” as per the First Amendment - and is positionally and literally “hid with Christ in God” in obedience to Colossians 3:3 as well as other supporting scriptures (a subject for another time and discussion). Notwithstanding, once the church makes her entrance into the Kingdom, she can then be subservient to the laws of only one master for it is Written, “no servant can serve two masters” - Luke 16:13. Or, as the maxim of law states, Ubi non est condendi auctoritas, ibi non est parendi necessitas, which is interpreted, “Where there is no authority for establishing a law, there is no necessity of obeying it” [Black’s, page 1521 Id]. This maxim correlates with and clarifies even more fully the meaning of the words “no law” found in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Thus over the years it has been the rightfully stated position of the church at Salem that we cannot, and will not under any circumstances, perform in any man- ner whatsoever under civil law. We are not civilians under Caesar; but rather christians under Christ... for real! William Raymond: From the day of the church’s Establishment and entry into the public record, up to the day of the Seizure and Exile (a period of about six years), many correspondences, phone calls, several Lawful processes of the ekklesia and many other significant events occurred, including the false arrest and four day imprisonment of William Raymond on 06-04-01. As they are altogether too numerous to list here in this abridged chronology, we’ll now proceed to the Post Seizure and Exile period of the church. 2005 Post Seizure and Exile Period: 03-24-05: After a protracted 6 year dispute, the church at Salem is seized by Salem County Sheriff, John B. Cooksey and agents from the Counter Terrorism Division of the New Jersey State Police. Also, the pastor and his wife are arrested on criminal charges. The reason for this unprecedented attack against Christ and His church, according to a tape recorded statements made by Salem mayor Earl R. Gage and their attorney David J. Puma just moments before the seizure, was because the church refused to incorporate under the State. Writer’s notation: Although the City tried to disguise their real reason for the seizure, citing false and spurious charges to the court (an act of perjury), this statement from the lips of the mayor and coconspirator Puma reveal, as clearly as can be stated, why the church was seized. Plain and simple - the church at Salem was seized for refusing to incorporate. While surely they would never admit it, all the other grievances which the City held against Us over the years (such as their “property tax” ruse) were all essentially nothing more than red herrings. William Raymond: With the church and parsonage legally seized, the pastor and his wife are immediately forced into exile for the next three years. During this time, as a faithful witness in Christ to all that occurred at Salem, they begin working on a video documentary to tell their story. Also during this time, construction on the church’s new website begins. 2008 01-01-08: By the grace and mercy of our Sovereign Lord, Jesus the Christ, Sacred Pages of the ekklesia, the official web site of the church at Salem, is posted to the World Wide Web. 02-11-08: Our first run of 50, double disc sets of Seized For Refusing To Incorporate! have been duplicated, one disc at a time, and packaged for shipping. As of this entry, nearly 30 sets having been distributed to those who’ve been patiently waiting to receive one. 04-30-08: Using our new e-mail template for the first time, on this date we announced that Seized For Refusing To Incorporate! could now be viewed from our website. 12-30-08: Upon entering “the church at Salem” into the Google search bar, “Greeting Page” - the title page for this website - becomes the first listing on the first page after progressing through a listing of more than 1,250,000 others over the past year. To date, over 180 sets of Seized For Refusing To Incorporate! have been given away free without any cost whatsoever while our total visitor (hit count) for the year 2008 stands at 4,636. To God Almighty be the glory forever! 2009 01-01-09: By the grace and mercy of our Sovereign Lord, Yeshua Jesus the Christ, Sacred Pages of the ekklesia celebrates our first year on the World Wide Web. 02-02-09: As a faithful witness in Christ to all the world, on this date our Open Letter to President Barack H. Obama is sent to the White House and also posted here on our website. All follow-up correspondence thereto are likewise posted on this page. 05-22-09: The first program of our new internet radio ministry, An Hour with the church at Salem in Exile, airs on Free America Radio Network from 7:00 to 8:00 PM, EST. 09-22-09: Free America Radio Network shuts down and An Hour with the church at Salem in Exile leaves the air. 2010