by Dan Paxton
Posted on FactNet Wednesday, October 13, 2004 - 7:39 pm:
A BRAVE SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST Back in Jan 2000 a brave soldier of Jesus Christ, Eddie Billmeyer, was sick of what was happening in the group. He sat down and put his concerns in a letter to Jim Maurer, Weyman Zelder, and Ray Sharpless. He was very much troubled by so many, who he considered dear Christian men and women, being marked to be avoided. Several of these marked people were concerned about his condition and visited him when they heard he had had a heart attack. Eddie was still in the group when he wrote his first few letters.
In response to his first letter he got a two page letter from Jim Maurer. Eddie's letter was 14 pages long. He then wrote a second letter and got an even shorter reply. He wrote a third letter and Jim's reply was that he was not going to read Eddie's third letter. It wasn't long then before he received a letter marking him to be avoided.
At the time he wrote his first letter Eddie had two daughters still attending the group's meetings. He also had four children that no longer associated with the group. He was aware that he probably would be marked and be separated from the two daughters still in the group and his grandchildren if he continued to write letters to Jim Maurer, et al. However, he truly hoped that he could get Jim Maurer, Weyman Zelder, and Ray Sharpless to wake up and see the error of their ways. He was willing to suffer what might come because he felt that to please the Lord he had no other choice.
Even after he was marked he continued through out the year 2000 to write letters to Jim Maurer, et al. He wrote all together about 20 letters.
I believe that it will take several men still in the group to rise up at one time like Eddie did before anything will happen. I am thankful that Eddie had the Godly courage to take a stand for what he believed that the Holy Spirit had shown him and didn't allow the prospect of being cut off from some of his children and grandchildren to deter him from his letter writing.
As an added note Jim Maurer stated in his reply to Eddie's first letter that he had a list of 50 people that have had their markings lifted. I wonder who they are.
Posted on Friday, October 15, 2004 - 11:35 pm:WHO WILL RISE UP IN PROTEST? In my first posting I stated that I felt that it would take the simultaneous protests of several men in the group to really get the attention of the leaders. It is too easy for them to squelch one person who protests. I know of two men that have amazed me for apparently not protesting. These two men are John Morey and his brother Bob. I wonder what position they think their father Clarence Morey would take on the subject of incorporation if he were alive today. Clarence Morey was the reluctant tax payer that was the focus of the tax case in the early 1960's. John and Bob, it is not too late to hear from you.
Posted on Saturday, October 16, 2004 - 8:19 pm:
WHY I WAS MARKED Back in 1985 and 1986 there were four young fathers in the group who were concerned about what was being preached from the pulpit and they discussed their concerns with John Morey. They felt the headship of their homes was being usurped by the ministers. These young fathers were my son-in-law Fred Grant, Bob Marsolais, Rocky Sherer, and Eric Anderson. John told then to put their concerns in writing. This turned out to be a real sting operation.
Fred was reluctant to write a letter but my wife and I urged him to do so. We felt sure that John would study the letters and then reply to each one to help them with their concerns. What he did instead was to staple them together with a cover letter marking them as trouble makers. He made a first reading of his marking letter at the July 1986 camp in Tulare. Fred was not at the camp because his wife was due at anytime to go to the hospital and deliver their third child. On Friday following the camp a men's meeting was held at Fred and Betty Grant's home (our son-in-law's mother and father) to talk to the four concerned fathers. John made the statement to several at the conclusion of the meeting that he felt that Fred and Rocky had been helped. The men's meeting disbanded around 4:00 AM in the morning. Fred went home and slept for a couple of hours and then went to the hospital and brought his wife and new born daughter home.
This was Saturday. The next day, Sunday, was an all day meeting in Alhambra. John presented the situation to the congregation and mentioned the men's meeting. He also mentioned the favorable response at the men's meeting from Fred and Rocky. However, he said he was going to go ahead and read his marking letter. Fred's father Fred and Dave Bowin both asked if he shouldn't hold off on reading it and give Fred and Rocky some more time. He refused and went ahead and read it. He said that Fred wasn't there and that it would be easy for him to become unmarked. All he had to do was to confess. I don't know exactly what John felt he had to confess. When I went home and told Fred that John marked him he was heart broken.
My wife and I kept seeing our daughter and son-in-law and grandchildren after that and refused to abide by John's ruling. In October of that year I was called in a men's meeting and John asked me if I was going to abide by the marking of Fred and stop seeing him and his family. I said no because I did not feel that it was a godly marking. He said then that he would have to mark me.
As far as I have ever been able to understand, John pronounced my marking because I refused to obey someone that felt they had the rule over me. If John Morey had the rule over me I would like for John Morey to tell me who has the rule over him. The obvious answer to this question is the POPE of his organization, Robert Grove.
Posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - 5:40 pm:JOHN MOREY John Morey for several years was the primary speaker on Sunday morning at the meetings in Alhambra. This was after Berl Chisum was asked to step down as a full time minister in the Los Angeles area because of problems he had at home. John's messages seemed to be well prepared and he presented them well. I felt then that he was lead by the Holy Spirit in what he gave. Marlie and I did have confidence in John for a long time. We felt that he was a just and fair man but as the years went by many started complaining about John's demeanor on the basketball court and at his place of business. He didn't play basketball at the playnights for the fun of playing. He played to win. His mannerism on the court was upsetting to many. This was brought to his attention on several occasions. He told me shortly before I was marked that he had solved that problem by refraining from playing basketball at playnights. This didn't seem to me to be a victory over his flesh. Also at his music store he had for a while a TV hidden in the shop where he worked on musical instruments. He would watch TV while repairing musical instruments. He confessed that this was hypocritical when he knew that the teaching of the group at that time was that a Christian shouldn't watch TV.
When the situation arose with my son-in-law Fred, I still had confidence in John and viewed him as a just and fair man. I felt sure that he would study Fred's letter and write a reply giving his position on the points that Fred was concerned about. This was not what he did. I saw that the only reason he wanted the young fathers to put their concerns in writing was for him to have something that according to him showed they were trouble makers. So I quickly learned that the character of John Morey had come to the surface. Before I was marked I asked John to send a copy of his marking letter Fred and one to me. He never did.
When his son Benjamin's mother-in-law passed away I went to the funeral service which was held in a chapel at the Rose Hills Cemetery in Whittier, CA. It was conducted by a denominational minister from Long Beach. Benjamin did take a few minutes and give something from the scriptures. I don't know if John felt that this justified him disobeying doctrine that he supposedly endorsed. As far as I know the group taught then and still teaches that a Christian that calls himself/herself a separated Christian should not attend funerals and weddings conducted by ministers they consider sectarian. I wrote John a letter and asked him if he had changed his belief on this subject. In the same letter I asked him again to send me a copy of his letter marking Fred. This was over two years ago and I have not heard from him yet.
My mother-in-law Eleanor Smith wrote to John hoping that he would write her. She was Marjorie's aunt. Marjorie is John's wife. Eleanor was in her eighties and was also marked so John didn't have the courtesy to reply to her letter.