Tape And Measure, Tape And Measure......



The Wesley Swift sermons presented so far were ones I found that he delivered during the Kennedy Administration and had comments about the Civil Rights Movement and the Kennedy Administration itself. The only other such sermon I initially thought was relevant turned out to be incorrectly dated (8-25-63), as it refers to President Johnson and a letter from "the President's Chief Council" regarding the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. That letter is said to be dated April 20th, 1983. April 20th fell on a Monday in 1964, so there's not much we could determine other than that Swift likely delivered the sermon sometime between that date and Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act into law on July 2nd, 1964.

In looking at these sermons, we have seen (among a great many other things) that the given dates for them were often extremely unreliable. That no doubt is mostly due to typos and general brain farts involved in the initial cataloguing and especially the later transcribing of the taped sermons. But in some cases, there seem to have been efforts to obscure things, most likely because of controversial content. The sermon dated 11-16-63, for instance, was clearly given on the evening of November 24th. And the one dated 12-31-63 seems much more likely to have been delivered on December 1st, the next Sunday after the president's murder. (The subject was still fresh on Swift's mind, particularly a "persecution of the Right Wing" he saw resulting from it, and there's no mention of it being New Year's Eve, which would have been on a Tuesday in 1963.)

Moreover, the general issue is most noticeable in cases where no sermon appears (at the website) for dates on which we would expect to find one. For example, below in chronological order (and framed by relevant current events) are the most probable dates of the sermons from 1963 that I've posted.

(8-28-63: March On Washington)
(9-15-63: 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Birmingham, Alabama)

9-22, Sunday sermon
10-7, Monday (likely a mistake for a Sunday sermon, possibly 10-6)

(10-7-63: President Kennedy signs Partial Test Ban Treaty)
(10-8-63: President Kennedy announces agreement to negotiate with USSR for sale of US wheat)

10-27, Sunday sermon

(11-1-63: South Vietnam coup, Diem murdered 11-2)
(11-22-63: President Kennedy assassinated)

11-24, Sunday sermon (dated 11-16, a Saturday)
12-1, Sunday sermon (dated 12-31, a Tuesday)
12-8, Sunday sermon
12-15, Sunday sermon
12-22, Sunday sermon
12-29, Sunday sermon


Of these, the most inflammatory and directly "indicting" of President Kennedy before his assassination was the October 27th sermon, "Mount Up With Wings Like Eagles," with its theme of "eagles" being needed to strike down "serpent power." It gave no attention to astrological prognostications. In the sermon delivered on the night of Oswald's murder, Swift talked about "carloads of Federal officers" who came to Lancaster the night before (Saturday, November 23rd). They apparently asked about plans involving "great property loss" (possibly the blowing up of buildings, which was Kieth Gilbert's specialty). And earlier, in the same sermon, Swift spent a couple of paragraphs going on about astrological "measures" that he had previously shared with the congregation.

Let me point out to you that when we made a prophetic preview for you in 1960 we pointed out the strange mathematic pattern in numbers, that every President who came to office in a Zero year never lived out his term. This is true of every president who ever died in office. I also pointed out then, and also in our preview of 1963 that there were certain things to remember in the basic United States chart. There were two things of importance, one of course was July 4,1776----and Mercury was rising. Mercury always has a very vital place to play, and Uranus also in the sign of Gemini just above, and in it's descent it appears to rule the Presidency. It has since 1840, and when Uranus is in transit, and comes to square or conjunction there has always been a serious blow to the Presidency.

Now:----we just called to your attention these facts, we don't make the signs we just call them, and we said this was a dangerous time. But let me point this out to you:---the aspect which we see, and measure which occurs now and continues even thru 1964, and into 1965 came to it's height of impact Nov. 22 when Jupiter was in conjunction with Uranus. The time was 12:42 central standard time, the exact time the Assassin delivered his fatal shot. He died 11 A.M. Pacific time which was the exact time when Mercury squared Uranus at one P.M. I don't know how much measure could have more closely indicated that this was a dangerous time for the President? Nor my friends if you were to check the message at that time as the tape went out, you find that it was just a tape which evaluated measure. That Measure of destiny was fulfilled, it was not the responsibility of the measure, it was merely timing by that measure that this was a turbulent hour. And the forces of darkness that were in this measure with Saturn influence, moved at that time.

Got it -- "we don't make the signs we just call them," and "if you were to check the message at that time as the tape went out, you find that it was just a tape which evaluated measure. That Measure of destiny was fulfilled, it was not the responsibility of the measure, it was merely timing by that measure that this was a turbulent hour." In other words, just because my interpretation of "prophetic" signs happened to see great danger for the president around this time, it doesn't mean I had any kind of foreknowledge about anything other than what my God provided unto me.

It is my definite recollection that NARA (the National Archives and Records Administration) once had a document online that reported the questioning of Swift about possible foreknowledge of President Kennedy's assassination due to his "prophesying" on the subject in at least one of his sermons. In returning to check at NARA recently, I was unable to find it, but I'm sure others have found it or are aware of it. In any event, the sermon(s) may well have been from earlier in 1961 or 1962. The thing is that here we have Swift himself somewhat defensively alluding to such an issue -- in the immediate aftermath of the killings, and after a visit from "Federal officers" on the night before.

In light of all this, one or more sermons that Swift might have given from mid-October through the first weeks of November 1963 could have been not just controversial and inflammatory. They might have been suggestive of President Kennedy's anticipated, imminent "downfall." If that were the case, such sermons would not be available at the website due to their unsuitability for consumption by the general public. (Or their suitability as evidence against Swift and some of his friends, which means the same thing.) And if so, this would not be the last time there would be evidence for some editorial precautions in the public presentation of Swift's preaching.

If there was no hiding of any controversial sermons from October-November 1963, it seems that Swift's 10-27 "Mount Up With Wings Like Eagles" sermon is the last one he gave before the assassination of President Kennedy. And then he appears to have taken a sabbatical after that until the night of November 24th. And if so, this would not be the last time there will be evidence that the Rev. Dr. Swift took such a respite during a critical period.


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