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In England, most radio and television stations are run by the government-operated British Broadcasting Service (the BBC). There are some independent stations today, but 40 years ago, the BBC ruled the airwaves alone in England. In 1965, a free-spirit named Roy Bates, decided to set up his own, independent, illegal, pirate alternative – Radio Essex. Operating a radio transmitter on English soil was clearly against the law, and he was quickly arrested and fined £100.
Not willing to give up his radio voice, Mr. Bates moved his operation offshore. England’s territorial waters at the time extended only 3 miles off the coastline. Roy Bates, once a commercial fisherman, knew of an old abandoned fort six miles off the coast, just far enough to lie within international waters. Rough’s tower, as it was known, was a military platform built during WWII to protect the Thames Estuary – the harbor at the mouth of the Thames river, where large and vulnerable convoys of shipping were assembled. It housed up to 200 men, and had a helipad. These sea forts were equipped with radar and heavy armaments, and housed enough troops to man and maintain artillery designed to shoot down German aircraft and missiles. The fort, built on a barge which was later intentionally sunk, was originally intended to be built within English waters, but was moved to it’s current location at the last minute to take advantage of shallow waters in the area. After the war, the platform had been abandoned and had lain derelict ever since. Roy set up his radio station on Rough’s Tower, safely in international waters, and broadcast his own brand of entertainment over much of England.
Were this all there was to the story, it would still be quite interesting, but what happened next makes it truly epic. In 1967, realizing that his home was in international waters claimed by no country, Roy Bates decided that he could, in fact, claim it as his own sovereign realm. He and his wife Joan declared the tower to be the “Principality of Sealand,” and a independent country. They crafted a constitution, named themselves Prince Roy and Princess Joan of Sealand, and swore loyalty to their new country, using their newly created flag and national anthem. They designed their own passports, postage stamps, and minted coins (about 25 coins of each denomination). The official language is English, and the currency exchange rate is fixed at one Sealand dollar equal to one US dollar. The Sealand national motto is E Mare Libertas, or "From the Sea, Freedom".
Sealand offerred to join the coalition of nations supporting both the first and second Gulf Wars, and issued statements of condolences and offers of assistance to the United States after 9/11. In 2003, Sealand also appointed its first official athlete - Darren Blackburn of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Blackburn has represented the Principality at a number of sporting events, including marathons and off-trail races.


SEALAND

By late 1968, the British navy had become aware of the new situation and dispatched a naval cruiser to quietly resolve the situation. Prince Roy took exception to this invasion of his territorial waters and fired warning shots – basically plinking the side of the naval warship with a shotgun loaded with bird shot. Since Prince Roy was still an English citizen, he was accused of several serious crimes against England and was summoned to a British court. In this widely publicized lawsuit, the court decided that it could not exert any jurisdiction outside of British national territory, which many interpret as the first de facto recognition of the Principality of Sealand. English law had ruled that Sealand was not part of the United Kingdom, nor did any other nation claim it, hence Prince Roy’s declaration of a new Sovereign State was upheld. Prince Roy has been called to British courts several times since to face charges ranging from more incidents between his shotgun and British warships to not paying taxes. In each case the Court ruled that they had no jurisdiction in international waters, strengthening Sealand’s claim to statehood. A well-recognized international precedent known as the Montevideo Convention states that one test of the legitimacy of a nation is when it is recognized by other states. England, by specifically NOT claiming it, was recognizing it.
Prince Roy now claimed Sealand as his own based on de jure (based on law – because the fort was abandoned in international waters) and de facto (based on facts – recognition by other states) precedent.
What would you do with a country of your own. What laws would you pass?
Sealand instituted an international ferry service consisting of a rubber Zodiac. In order to board the Sealand vessel at the dock in England, you had to present your Sealand passport and submit to customs inspection. Smoking and swearing were both subject to banishment, as was taking more than three five-minute showers per week. Sealand printed international postage stamps and used them to post letters in England, which the British postal service subsequently delivered, again recognizing Sealand’s existence and rights.
But dark days soon fell on the brave new country…

SEALAND GOES TO WAR (AND WINS)

In August of 1978, a number of Dutch men invited Roy to continental Europe. It was later found that the men represented organized crime families interested in the possibilities of owning a country beyond the reach of other nations. They stated their purpose was to discuss the possibilities of paying Prince Roy a large amount of money to relinquish Sealand to their control. Roy left Sealand under the control of his Prime Minister (the German night shift disc jockey, who was later discovered to be in league with the Dutch criminals. While Roy was away in Britain, armed men boarded Sealand and staged a coupe, imprisoning Prince Roy’s son the His Royal Highness Prince Michael in the toilet. Prince Roy became suspicious of the delaying tactics employed by the “business men” and returned to his country. Discovering what had happened, Prince Roy declared war on both Germany and the Netherlands, went back to Europe and hired a mercenary unit, and led the helicopter assault to retake his country. They were quite successful. No lives were lost, and the traiters were declared prisoners of war and imprisoned.
During the time that he held the prisoners, the Governments of the Netherlands and Germany petitioned for their release. First they asked England to intervene in the matter, but the British government cited their earlier court decision as evidence that they made no claim to the territory of Sealand. Then, in the most definitive recognition of Sealand’s sovereignty, Germany sent a diplomat directly to Sealand to negotiate for the release of their citizen.
Roy first released the Dutch citizens, as the war was over, and the Geneva Convention requires the release of all prisoners. The German disc jockey was held longer, as he had accepted a Sealand Passport, and therefore was guilty of treason, but was later released as well. He claims to this day that his government was entirely legal, and now claims to be the ruler in exile of Sealand, living in Spain.
On 1 October, 1987, Britain extended its territorial waters from 3 to 12 nautical miles. The previous day, Prince Roy declared the extension of Sealand’s territorial waters to be a like 12 nautical miles, so that right of way from the open sea to Sealand would not be blocked by British claimed waters. No treaty has been signed between Britain and Sealand to divide up the overlapping areas, but a general policy of dividing the area between the two countries down the middle can be assumed. International law does not allow the claim of new land during the extension of sea rights, so Sealand’s sovereignty was safely "grandfathered" in. Britain has no more right to Sealand’s territory than Sealand has to the territory of the British coastline that falls within its claimed 12 nautical mile arc.
In 1997, forged Sealand passports started tuning up around the world. Some of these were used to open bank accounts under false names in various countries. Since few people have ever seen a legitimate Sealand passport (less than 300 exist today) it was difficult for these to be easily detected as forgeries. The source of these forgeries was traced back to the same German disc jockey who was involved in the earlier attempt to take Sealand by force. His Minister of Finance had created a fake Sealand Business Foundation and boasts that he has sold over 150 000 fake Sealand Passports to all comers. Thus there are now unfortunately 500 times more forged Sealand Passports in circulation than real ones. Many of the forged passports were apparently sold to people leaving Hong Kong at the time of Chinese reoccupation for USD 1 000 each. These passports, which were not authorized by the Bates family, were involved in several high-profile crimes, including the murder of Gianni Versace.
Whilst Sealand has been the pride and joy of Prince Roy and his family for well over 30 years, his recent poor health has caused him fundamentally to review the arrangements which have been in place for decades and to look to the future of his Principality. Consequently, his son Prince Michael was appointed Prince Regent as Sovereign pro tempore by Royal Decree in 1999. Since that time, the Royal Family has struck a deal with HavenCo Limited, and that company now leases exclusively its offices in Sealand, where it offers, and is able to offer, unparalleled security and independence to users who wish to take advantage of its Internet services. The presence of an active and rapidly growing high-tech internet industry in Sealand has changed the character of the Principality; once more, Sealand rings with the sound of voices, boasts regular support ferry services, and is host to a growing and dynamic population.

The point of all this? Roy Bates is an extreme example of a man who set up a kingdom for himself here on earth. As cool as that sounds, the Bible tells us that we have a kingdom in Heaven. We are citizens of that country, not this. We are just strangers here.

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SILENT NIGHT

Europe in the early 1800s was a place of great war, turmoil and upheaval. Even after the Napoleonic Wars officially ended in 1815, it's effects continued to take their toll.

The year 1816 was one in which national and municipal borders were divided, changed and reset. Areas, such as the Principality of Salzburg, which had long been ecclesiastical provinces of the Church were put under national authority and secularized. Many industries and trades that certain communities depended upon were decimated by the wars and never recovered--spinning the economies into economic depression.

At this time and in one of these communities, a small-town (Maria Pfarr) assistant pastor and Austrian Catholic Priest, penned the words to a poem that would one day echo through time and space. The words laid dormant, however, for another two years.

Shortly before Christmas in 1818, the organ in Joseph Mohr's church broke and could not be repaired in time for Christmas. On December 24, Joseph Mohr went to the home of his friend, the musician-schoolteacher Franz Gruber, and asked Franz to write a melody and guitar accompaniment to his earlier poem so that it could be sung at the Midnight Mass. Set to a guitar accompaniment with two solo voices and a chorus, "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!" was performed for the first time in St. Nicholas Church, Oberdorf, Austria--because of a broken organ.

Since then, the song we know as "Silent Night, Holy Night" is largely considered the most translated and sung song in human history. It has been referred to by some as, "The Song Heard 'Round The World." On Christmas Eve 1944, on various fronts of World War II it has been reported that Allied and Axis soldiers alike stopped their fighting and sung together "Silent Night, Holy Night."

Although it was written and composed by Catholics for a Catholic Eve mass, the song proved to be much more popular in Protestant than Catholic churches because of the meaning of its lyrics.

From Todd Leupold's Sermon "Silent Night, Holy Night"

The story begins in the late 1980s when Thomas Muthee and his wife returned from Scotland to Nairobi, Kenya. He was serving as an itinerant evangelist and his wife as a school teacher. In 1988, the Lord spoke to him in a time of prayer and said, "I want you to plant a church in Kiambu." Numerous evangelical preachers had tried to start churches there and left defeated though churches thrived in other parts of Kenya. If the Muthees were to succeed in starting a church in Kiambu, they needed a divinely-given direction. God revealed through a vision that a spirit of witchcraft was the ruling principality there and that a number of other demonic spirits were functioning under the headship of witchcraft. . Since God had shown them that witchcraft was the ruling principality over the city, they spent the remainder of their six months in prayer and fasting attacking this stronghold. The Muthees called their second phase of intercession simply sending in the ground troops, and they were it. The two of them moved their residency 10 miles away into Kiambu and set to work on starting a church. God gave them tremendous favor, and they were the first evangelical ministers allowed to hold meetings at the municipal hall. Eight people came to Christ the first night. The third phase of intercession for the Muthees was rallying an army of prayer warriors. . They soon found out that the principality of witchcraft had its chief human counterpart in a woman named Mamma Jane, a sorceress who practiced witchcraft and fortune-telling in a facility she called Emmanuel Clinic. Thomas Muthee knew that the 24 hour prayer vigil was not cutting it and something more was needed. He reached a point of desperation and tears and feared he would be the next statistic of pastors who gave up on Kiambu. Then, the Lord revealed to him the fourth phase of intercession that was needed. The Lord said, "My son, I want you to get the intercessors on the job." While the results of this strategy were initially positive, the designated intercessors came under strong attack on their assigned days. They might become sick, weakened, or distracted on their day of duty. When Muthee asked the Lord how to deal with the attack on the intercessors, the Lord directed h...

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