Special Bulletin 09-2013

 

     I want to give you a brief update on The Oak Initiative. You may have heard The Oak Initiative being mentioned in the news as one of the organizations targeted by the IRS. It is true that we filed for 501(c) 3 status years ago, and the IRS has not, to this day, taken action on it. This is a serious violation of their own rules. Of course, this had consequences in our being able to raise the resources to accomplish our purpose. However, we have resolved to just keep doing all that we can with what we have, and we have still be able to accomplish a lot. 

 

 

 

     In Acts 2:17-18, we are told that “in the last days” the Lord will pour out His Spirit and the result will be prophetic revelation in the form of visions, dreams, and prophecies. The fact that these are increasing so dramatically in our time is being viewed by many as one of the signs that we are truly coming to the end of this age. What has gotten my attention is how many visions, dreams, and prophecies have been sent to me recently that seem to speak prophetically of an extraordinary purpose and destiny for The Oak Initiative. One was shared by our friend, Rick Stoker. It is not only very encouraging, but may help us focus even more on our strategy and purpose. This is a brief version of what Rick shared with me:

 

     Rick was shown the ship Old Ironsides. The real name of this ship is The Constitution. This ship was nicknamed Old Ironsides because cannon balls fired at it would bounce off its sides. This was because it had been constructed from southern oak trees. Almost every other ship of that time has long ago ceased to exist, but The Constitution remains afloat to this day because of the strength of the oaks from which it was constructed. 

 

     The Oak Initiative was founded to address the many, important issues of our time. After a dream I had a couple of years ago about our foundations being consumed, I realized that we might need to focus more on the issue of defending the Constitution. It is under unprecedented assault from every single branch of government. If we lose the Constitution, we lose our Republic and our freedom, including the freedom to continue addressing any issues.

 

 

 

     One of our main devotions as The Oak Initiative is to be “force multipliers.” That is a military term for high impact military assets or units that can have an impact in battle far bigger than its size might imply. We take even greater inspiration from the Lord’s parable of the talents—those who manage well what is trusted to them will then have resources multiplied to them. Until we have the resources to do more, we want to be sure we’re doing the best we can with what we now have. We can use our present lack as an opportunity to be even more creative and resourceful. The impact of our communications, bulletins, videos, and many of our members has been far greater than some organizations that are many times our size and have many times our resources. Until this situation changes, let’s keep trying to do even more.

 

     I thank you, our members, for the impact we have made. Many of you have been promoting the Oak as well as circulating and sending out links to our materials on social media. There is no doubt that many of you are the high-impact, force multipliers we hoped to draw to the Oak. You continue to give us hope in the great struggle of this time.

 

     I also want to thank those of you who may not have had the time or ability to do much, but you have at least continued to renew your membership in the Oak and support us in that way. Our membership dues remain the only source of income that we have, and probably will have, until we get our 501(c) 3 status that will allow donors a tax exempt deduction for their contributions. Thank you so much for being faithful to The Oak.  

 

 

 

     General Boykin, one of our Oak board members, is no doubt one of our great American heroes. After retiring from the U.S. Army following 36 years of service, he continues to fight as hard as ever for his country. In his own words, he never considered that his oath to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic ended with his military retirement. He continues doing frequent interviews on national news and other programs, speaking all over the country and working with Tony Perkins to address some of the crucial issues of our time at the Family Research Council (FRC). It was the FRC that suffered the recent attack by the first person convicted of domestic terrorism in America.

 

     Even though General Boykin has been retired from the Army for five years now, he recently received an official reprimand from the Army for his activities. He was then notified of an impending IRS audit. Of course, this only steeled the resolve of the author of Never Surrender to never surrender and to even increase his resolve to stand for the truth and to defend the Constitution.

 

     In spite of the seemingly penitent attitude the IRS has been seeking to portray with congressional investigations, the practice of targeting and seeking to intimidate and silence conservative voices is continuing, if not increasing. This has only steeled our resolve to push back as hard as we can. We will almost certainly file a suit against the IRS for its persecution of The Oak Initiative, but we want to do it in the most effective way possible. We soon hope to join with those who will not cave under pressure or intimidation. We will fully use this and every other means to expose what our government is now doing to its own citizens.

 

     General Boykin thinks I may be the only one who gets as viciously attacked on the Internet as he does. If this is true, then I am proud to be included in this with such a great American. I try to take every death threat as a call to do even more so that the freedom to have open and honest debate in our country will not be lost. If we allow ourselves to be intimidated and do not speak out, we can be sure we will not have this freedom for much longer. 

 

 

 

     To aid in the mobilization of new Oak members, we recognize Oak chapters and ambassadors. To qualify as an Oak chapter, you only need five Oak members. Ambassadors are recognized officially by the home office. Every chapter or ambassador of the Oak will receive the following benefits:

 

	50% of the first year dues of first year members, 25% of their second year dues, 10% of third, and 5% thereafter.
	This can add up to a substantial amount to cover the expenses, and even pay workers for the local chapter, or ambassador
	Free brochures, membership kits, and other recruiting aids
	Books, videos, and other resources at wholesale to offer for sale at book tables at events or in other ways to raise money.

 

     Randy Simmons, who has been one of our most active and effective Oak Initiative leaders, is going on the road virtually full-time to recruit and mobilize for The Oak. We will be putting out his schedule to our Oak members with dates that he could be available to speak at an Oak event, Tea Party meetings, churches, Rotary or other community and charity events. Please consider how you might use Randy to build the Oak in your region.  

 

 

 

     Please don’t forget that the anniversary of Crystal Night is coming up. This is not a celebration, but a remembrance of the beginning of the Holocaust, one of the darkest hours in human history. Anti-Semitism is rising all over the world, and it is essential that we stand with Jewish people with the resolve that this will never happen again. 

 

     As a token of our appreciation for the Jewish people and how they have fulfilled the promise made to Abraham to be a blessing to all families on the face of the earth, we recommend taking gifts of crystal to your local synagogue or Jewish neighbors and let them know how much you appreciate them. Last year, we received amazing reports and letters about how much these gifts, as tokens of our friendship, meant to those who received them.  

 

 

 

     General Boykin and I did some television interviews with Yale King that illuminated what many consider the worst case of tyranny by our government ever. Others picked up the story and now it has been released as a book titled Outraged. This is the Amazon listing:  

 

     U.S. Federal Court agreed with Yale and sided in his favor. However, by that time, hundreds, maybe thousands, of contributors to conservative causes had their businesses ruined or illegally seized and given to others. Yes, our government did this using the GM and Chrysler takeovers as a pretext. 

 

     These facts are very well-documented and many are a part of our Federal Court records now. You will be outraged, but we must understand this, and resolve that we will not allow this to happen in our country ever again. Never have our basic rights and freedoms been so trampled upon by our own government as they have been recently. We must stand up now to this type of tyranny or we will very soon lose all of our freedoms.   

 

 

 

     Thanks to all of our Oak members for ordering, reading, and continuing to spread the word about our books, videos, and other resources. Thank you for the feedback on our recent bulletins and for all that you do to see these get circulated. Most of all, thanks for all that you are doing to be the salt and light that is so desperately needed at this time. 

  

 

In His Service,

 

 

Rick Joyner