Dr. Leland Jensen / **Letters** # **An Open Epistle to Mike East** #### **Dr. Leland Jensen** ###### October–November, 1988 [↓ PDF](https://leland-jensen-info.netlify.app/1988-11-01-jensen-to-mike-east.pdf) *** **Dear Mike,**\[1] I have several letters from you and I will try and respond to them in this epistle. When you became a Baha'i you didn't join anything, so there is nothing for you to withdraw from. When Charles wrote the Guardian he asked to withdraw from that National Spiritual Assembly that he was elected to. He also requested to withdraw from that administration that the Guardian had established. The Guardian later, in 1966, not only dissolved that assembly but also eliminated that administration; so there is nothing for you to really withdraw from as I did not make an administration. I am a test to the Baha'is just like all the previous Promised Ones of God. For instance, when Jesus said: >… he who eats of my flesh and drinks of my blood has eternal life … he who eats of this bread will live for ever. … Many of his disciples, when they heard it said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" … After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. > >(John 6:54, 58, 60, 66, Revised Standard Version (RSV)) Then we have the example of Judas, he had a better idea. He was the most zealous of the apostles and probably the most intelligent. He thought that if he could get Jesus before the Sanhedrin he would be able to prove to them that he was their promised Messiah. Jesus knew different. He knew that they wanted to kill him. In spite of that, he told Judas to go and do what he had to do. When one goes against the Promised One, the Promised One lets them do what they want to do. Some examples of this are when Shoghi Effendi expelled the whole royal family of Baha'u'llah as well as his own family from the Baha'i faith for Covenant-breaking, and when Mason removed Rex King. I however am not a guardian. I remove no one from the faith. I leave them to God. Usually the opposition to the Promised One occurs at the top. The higher they are the harder they fall. Among us there are a number of my followers who, for some reason or another are trying to find fault with me. I don't try to stop them. The faith cleanses itself. "But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of Life." (Revelation 21:27, RSV). I don't wish that any should fall but that they see their evil ways and repent. The problem with many is that their egos get in the way. When a person feels that he is led by God and it is in opposition to the Promised One then this is not divine guidance. I have given you the proofs of my station and mission. Muhammad said that once one becomes a believer and then turns away that is the worst thing that could happen to a person. He also said that when one says he is a believer, do you think that God will leave him to himself and not put him to test?\[2] The things that you complain about to me in your long letter are reminiscent of the iniquities heaped upon the Promised Ones of every age by their followers. The things you accuse me of in your numerous charges are similar to those heaped upon Moses by Korah in the 16th chapter of Numbers after Moses had established the priesthood. Korah said to Moses: "You have gone too far! For all the congregation are holy, every one of them, … why do you exalt yourself above the assembly of the Lord?" (Numbers 16:3 RSV). In reading verses 31-33 you will find that Korah, and all that were with him, went down into hell.\[3] There are a number of my followers that are in rebellion. When they come to study with me I give them the proofs that I am the promised one: name, address, date, and mission; so they are not innocent, knowing that I am who I say I am, they proceed to test me. Knowing what they are up to I allow them to proceed with the test. As Jesus said to Judas (John 13:17), I allow them to go and do what they must do. Some of them go for what they believe is the achilles heel — "the dirty garment." When they test me they themselves are being tested. The test is for them to know their failings. The true 144,000 will follow the Lamb wherever he goes (Revelation 14:3-5). The "stone with seven eyes"\[4] is a test to all people. It is a stone which many people will fall over. The whole world except the 144,000 will fall over it. Shoghi Effendi also was a test. He was not a male blood-line descendant of Baha'u'llah, or of king David. His line was not to succeed him, so God didn't give an heir. Therefore he appointed one who was of the line of David, 'Abdu'l-Baha's adopted son to be his successor guardian. When he died God didn't hesitate to remove all of the millions of the Baha'is that separated themselves from the guardian, and thus from Him; and when Mason died God didn't hesitate to remove the rest of them who didn't accept his son, from His sight except the two knights. There are high stations set aside for the true believers. I am to have twelve apostles. How can anyone who comes against me, showing their disloyalty to me and trying to discredit me to the other believers, ever attain their station? God requires unconditional acceptance of His Promised Ones. I don't eliminate anyone from the faith, they eliminate themselves. I don't wish that any should perish but that all should reach repentance and be saved. I have a mandate — to bring forth and establish the BRANCH — I must and I will accomplish this. Nothing in heaven or upon earth can prevent me in doing this. I have been chosen by God at the beginning of the Adamic cycle when He put me in His plan. I am promised in the Great Pyramid, prophesied in the Judaeo-Christian scriptures by name, address, date, and mission, and all of the other Revelations of God have prophesied me, including the Hopi. This gives me authenticity. Authenticity is the criteria for believability. All peoples will be forced to succumb to God's plan or perish. You criticize me in the episode of Peter Tompkins\[5]. But you don't realize that what you were trying to do was all wrong. You were trying to get certain people at the Star Mesa conference\[6] to support the faith monetarily without conversion. First of all you had in your plan for Charles\[7] to come. But he didn't show up. Did you ever think why? I offered to fill in for him; I did not veto your plan. I was to meet with Peter Tompkins on Monday night to go over the Pyramid with him. A number of other people showed up before he came and you made yourself scarce. They had questions on the Hopi prophecies that they wanted answered, so I turned them over to Trevor.\[8] Then Peter arrived and, as it was your project, I expected you to chair the meeting, but you had gone upstairs to hear the discussion taking place there. Instead of you starting the discussion with him, I was left holding the bag. I was only to step in and explain the Pyramid when you would indicate to me. You flubbed the whole affair. When it came to South Dakota I asked three persons to cooperate with each other and to carry out their particular expertise. They were to correspond with each other to plan and carry out their mission. I referred to them as generals, meaning that they were over the others there, except myself who is the commander and chief. When I got there you were in the back of Trevor's truck sulking over an episode of your love life, refusing to get out and help improvise a new plan after Neal\[9] had blown our cover. You remained in the dumps until just before we were ready to go home, and you threatened to kill Jim. You and Trevor had the idea that, because I termed you three as generals, I the Commander in Chief should step aside and let the generals bungle it further. You compliment me saying that nobody can teach like I do, then you criticize me for being the cause of all the trouble in the faith. The fact of the matter is that the believers never took the time to learn the proofs. Take yourself for instance. To the best of my knowledge you have never brought anybody into the faith, and that is due to the fact that you never learned the proofs. Your problem is that by never taking the time to learn the proofs you never deepened enough into the faith to really comprehend my station and then like Satan you try to put yourself above the Promised One. Neal on the other hand mastered the proofs, recognized my station and has brought a number of people into the faith. Therefore he doesn't have the problem that you have. Thus he has gone forth and, in cooperation with some of his friends, has brought forth the most important thing in the Cause and that is the genealogy. In addition to this he went forth on many missions for the faith and in doing this he worked and supported himself, and the faith, financially. Don't get me wrong Mike, I hold you in high esteem. You have great capacity and untapped potential. You have been a terrific PR man. The successes you've had, have been in commensurate with your great sacrifices. Nothing is accomplished without sacrifice. You however have a great defect and this goes all the way back to your teens. You try to establish yourself in a position to be able to live off of those that you recruit. Baha'u'llah forbade a clergy class in the faith. No one is to live off of the faith, meaning other people. It is alright at times to have other people assist in certain projects, but all must work and support themselves. No idle rich and no idle poor. Work is elevated to the station of prayer. Paul said that he made tents so that the new believers wouldn't say that he lived off of them. You say that you can't work and carry out your plan. Then I say for you to change your plan. I don't have the funds to carry it out for you. God didn't provide me with a fund to carry out my mission. And He didn't provide me with any instructions to establish that kind of fund. The publishing fund only provides for materials, but no Baha'i gets paid for labor in printing them. I financed the faith out of my own pocket until I didn't have anymore liquid assets. Then I borrowed on my property until they wouldn't lend to me anymore. I am paying high interest on the mortgages, the taxes on the property are years in arrears, and I haven't been able to sell off the real estate. Opal\[10] was able to scrape together enough money to make the Colorado trip. I let Trevor and you use my car to go to Hopi land for Trevor to visit Caroline and to authenticate the drawings on the Hopi Fire Clan Tablet, to see who has the tablet and to compare the inscriptions on it; for you to look around for the site and to see if you could implement your plan. Trevor was broke so he borrowed $100 dollars from Victor\[11], which he has to pay back, for he is broke too. He spent his entire fortune on the faith, so now he is working in workfare to make a living. You only had 57 cents in your pocket, so Trevor was stuck with supporting you on the trip. Needless to say he was very upset about this; resulting in tension between you two, to the point of you both failing in your mission. If you are to go ahead with your plan then you will have to find a way to support yourself. You may find someone to help you with the transportation, and find someone to live with for a few days or so, but you are not to live off them. You are to pay your own way. You blame me with 90% of the believers leaving the faith, because of me and my defects, but this is not so. A promised one doesn't have the defects you imagine. I, like any other promised one, have been vouchsafe the perfections to carry out my mission and to test the people. Moses killed a man in cold blood, so the people reasoned that a murderer is imperfect and then cannot be their deliverer. They accused Jesus with being a glutton and a wine bibber, also of sitting with publicans and prostitutes and of not knowing who his father was (calling him a bastard), and therefore he couldn't be their promised Messiah. They said that Muhammad had 11 wives and one of them was only nine years old (meaning that he was a child molester and a rapist, taking something that was not his), therefore they deemed him a false prophet. The irony of this is that the defectors were judging the spirituality of the Promised Ones with their own warped minds and lifestyles, not realizing that the Promised Ones are sinless and their actions are the modes by which the people are tested and are judged. They do this instead of focusing on the fact that each of them came with proofs. The rebels only deprived themselves of the presence of these Holy Souls. Every thing that a promised one does or says is a test to the people. There are two Messiahs, one is entitled the Son, the other, the Father. These titles pertain to the potency of their respective revelations. The "Messiah" pertains to their descent from King David. Baha'u'llah fulfills the prophecy for the return of Christ, but he has a genealogy from David different than that of Jesus. All of his ancestors sat on the throne of David whereas none of Jesus' did. Jesus also was a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Baha'u'llah fulfills the prophecies for the return of Christ, while I fulfill the prophecies for the return of Jesus the High Priest. My station is not fully understood, for I have not fully revealed it yet, but when I do it will astound all the people. They are not ready for it yet. I am the Son that has returned to establish his Father's Kingdom, David's! (Baha'u'llah's). My mission is different than that of Jesus'. Although he had twelve apostles, and I will have twelve apostles, our functions are different. All of Jesus' revelation was in parables so the people wouldn't know what he was revealing. To the apostles he revealed the meaning. The apostles didn't reveal to the people the meaning, because Jesus didn't want them to know the meaning, otherwise they would repent and be forgiven. He didn't intend for them to be forgiven. (Mark 4:10–12, 33, 34). My mission is different, being the return of Jesus the High Priest (Zechariah 3:1). I reveal to my apostles and disciples the meanings of the Revelation of Jesus so they can tell all the people that will listen, so that they might repent and be forgiven. Those that are to be my apostles, however, will be those that pass all the tests. I don't want any Judases among them. The main test then is loyalty under all circumstances. There are some in the faith who are nice to my face, even telling me they love me, but have a knife in my back. They should be able, first of all, to give the proofs, to give the explanations of the Great Pyramid — mainly the seven seals in the grand gallery. But greater than that I open their third eye so that they may also discover the reality of all things. The word apostle means "he who goes out" — that is, I will be able to send that person (not limited to gender) anywhere in the world to represent me. They must be able to raise up, by themselves, a whole community of new believers wherever they go. The word disciple means one who is a believer who has passed the test, and is also one who goes out, but who is not able to represent me fully in my mission. All people are able to arise to a high station, even though they may not go out; they need to pass all the tests however. For nothing unclean will be able to enter the kingdom, otherwise they would corrupt the kingdom as had corrupters in the past. Some are saying that I am the Promised One, but, however that I am just a man and have all the defects they can imagine, not knowing that they are projecting their defects, which are threatening to them, onto me. I am not a Manifestation of God, that has essential sinlessness, but I do have a special type of conferred sinlessness that is essential for me to carry out my mission. Also, there are some things that I share in common with them. I am the only establisher of a Revelation of a Manifestation that has been prophesied by name, address, date and mission. I raised up an entire new creation of believers from scratch, after the whole Baha'i community of believers came to an end after the passing of Mason Remey, as no one accepted his son as his successor — not even his son himself. God has given me the perfections essential to accomplish this. I will end this epistle with the words of Abdu'l-Baha telling the people that I was already born and in this world, and his description of me. He wrote the following after I was born: > Verily, that Infant is born and exists and there will appear from his cause a wonder which thou wilt hear in future. Thou shalt see Him with the most perfect form, most great gift, most complete perfection, most great power and strongest might! His face glisteneth a glistening whereby the horizons are illumined! Therefore, forget not this account as long as thou art living, for as much as there are signs for it in the passing centuries and ages. > > ('Abdu'l-Baha, *The Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baha*, Vol. II, p. 484.) > O thou dear friend! Know that the Distinguished Individual of every age is according to the virtues of that age. The Distinguished Personage who was in the former cycle, His power and virtues were according to the former age, but in this brilliant age and divine cycle, the noble Personage, the Radiant Star, the Distinguished One, will manifest with virtues which will eventually amaze the peoples, for he is in spiritual virtues and divine perfections loftier than all the Individuals; nay, rather, He is the Source of Divine Benediction and the Center of the Radiant Circle. He is certainly comprehensive. There is no doubt that He will reveal Himself to such a degree as to bring all under his overshadowing shelter. > > ('Abdu'l-Baha, *The Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baha*, Vol. III, p. 541.) **Leland**   *** **Endnotes** **1.** \[Editor's note: This epistle is addressed to Mike East (also known as the Eagle of the East), the assumed name of Michael Niedermayer.] **2.** \[Editor's note: Dr. Jensen is referring to the following passage from the Qur'an: >Do men think that They will be left alone On saying, 'We believe' And that they will not Be tested? (Qur'an 29:2, Abdullah Yusuf Ali trans., see the [[Bibliography]].)] **3.** \[Editor's note: "And as he finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split asunder; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men that belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly." (Numbers 16:31–33, RSV). "Sheol" is defined as "the abode of the dead in early Hebrew thought." Merriam-Webster Dictionary, s.v. "Sheol," accessed June 8, 2026, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sheol.] **4.** \[Editor's note: Zechariah 3:9.] **5.** \[Editor's note: Peter Tompkins is the author of *Secrets of The Great Pyramid*, (Harper & Row, 1971) and other titles.] **6.** \[Editor's note: Star Mesa is a geographical landmark in Pitkin County, Colorado. The specific date and location of this conference are not documented in available records, though it likely occurred in or near Aspen, Colorado, in late summer or early fall of 1988.] **7.** \[Editor's note: Charles H. Gaines, a Baha'i from Camden, New Jersey, supported Charles Mason Remey and served as Vice-Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly until resigning due to conflicts with Rex King. His account appears in Dr. Jensen's Proofs for the Establisher Fireside. After Remey's death, Gaines followed his son Joseph Pepe Remey, then briefly Dr. Jensen (whom he rejected), and finally E.S. Yazdani of Jacques Soghomonian.] **8.** \[Editor's note: Dr. Trevor Stanwick Ph.D., faculty member in Microbiology at the University of Montana, and appointed member of the second International Baha'i Council.] **9.** \[Editor's note: Neal Chase, appointed member of the second International Baha'i Council who [[2004-03-07 sIBC Neal Chase's Opposition|opposed]] the sIBC in 2001 along with Victor Woods.] **10.** \[Editor's note: Dr. Leland Jensen's first wife, Dr. Opal Jensen.] **11.** \[Editor's note: Victor Woods, appointed member of the second International Baha'i Council who, along with Neal Chase, [[2004-03-07 sIBC Neal Chase's Opposition|opposed]] the sIBC in 2001.] *** **Document Details** - **Type:** Open Epistle. - **Date:** October–November 1988 (distributed in November 1988) - **Author:** Dr. Leland Jensen - **Recipient:** Mike East (Niedermayer) - **Length:** 8 pages (estimated). - **Enclosures:** None. - **Purpose:** To document what went wrong on a teaching trip and to establish expectations for all of those that teach the faith. - **Summary Note:** This epistle is addressed to all believers as much as it is to Mike East. - **Editorial Note:** Some citations have been standardized and completed where necessary for consistency. **Archive Classification** - **Collection:** Dr. Leland Jensen → Letters - **Period:** 1988 (approximately two years prior to the establishment of the Second International Baha'i Council in January 1991) **Reference Information** - **Permanent Link:** https://leland-jensen.info/letters/1988-11-01-mike-east/ - **Download PDF:** [1988-11-01-jensen-to-mike-east.pdf](https://leland-jensen-info.netlify.app/1988-11-01-jensen-to-mike-east.pdf) - **Citation (Chicago Style):** Jensen, Leland, to Mike East. "Epistle to Mike East, November 1, 1988." Unpublished epistle, Missoula, MT, November 1, 1988. Circulated by the author during his lifetime; subsequently circulated among students. Leland Jensen Archive. Accessed [Month Day, Year]. https://leland-jensen.info/letters/1988-11-01-mike-east/ - **Archive Home:** https://leland-jensen.info - **Last Updated:** 11 June 2026 *** [Site Guide](site%20guide.md)  |   [Sitemap](Clickable%20Sitemap.md)  |   [Downloads](downloads.md)  |  [Contact Us](contact%20us.md) **Dr. Leland Jensen**: Teachings and Commentaries Archive © 2026 Baha'i Council of Dane County, all rights reserved.  [Copyright & Usage Policy](copyright.md) ***