Biography

Elijah E. Hernandez is a Mexican-American born and raised in California who has ancestral ties to a family of pachucos in Downey, Paramount, Downtown Los Angeles, and East Los Angeles. He belongs to the southwest Calo lineage with a connection to Saint Thomas Yuma Indian Mission (aka) La Mission Puerto de Purissima Concepcion in the Arizona Mission District of Winterhaven California established in 1780, La Purissima Mission State Park in Lompoc California that dates back to 1787 and is the 11th mission located on El Camino Road (Royal Road), and La Purisima Catholic Church in Boyle Heights established in 1931. Elijah was the first to graduate with a high school diploma from Bellflower California (aka) Gateway City or Southeast Los Angeles and the first civilized member of his family. As a native of Downey, California, had a religious upbringing and was actively involved in his local church from a young age. However, he began to question his beliefs and found solace in music, particularly heavy metal, as a form of escape from negative influences such as gang life and public institutions. As he entered his twenties, Elijah attended college and became increasingly aware of what he perceived as the prevalence of socialist ideologies being promoted in academia. This realization led him to believe that many professors and students lacked an understanding of the true nature of American institutions and establishments, which he sees as rooted in realism rather than idealism or socialism. Overall, Elijah’s personal journey has shaped his perspective on religion, music, and sociopolitical landscape of the United States.

Spain, France, Romania: A Historical Bridge Built by Twin Cities

The deep cultural and geographical connections between the Spanish town of Santa Fe in Granada and the Romanian Mocani shepherd tradition are woven through a chain of international town twinning. The history begins in Santa Fe, famous as the site where the Catholic Monarchs signed the Capitulations with Christopher Columbus in 1492, which established a formal twinning link with Vire Normandie, France. This Norman city, renowned for its post-war reconstruction and medieval heritage, is in turn twinned with Săcele in Romania’s Brașov County, a partnership aimed at fostering educational and cultural exchange. Săcele is historically significant as a major community of the Mocani, ethnic Romanian shepherds known for their ancient practice of transhumance (seasonal migration). Within their local folklore and deep religious customs, often celebrated around the summer feast of Sfântul Ilie (Saint Elijah), these Mocani shepherds maintain traditions that are believed to symbolically represent the revered Old Testament figure of the Prophet Elijah, who ascended to heaven in a fiery chariot, thus linking a 15th-century Spanish colonial milestone to a centuries-old Carpathian pastoral custom.

From Whitechapel Rifle to Baker's Field

The name Baker stands as a curious common denominator across centuries of history, from the spiritual texts of antiquity to the industrial frontier of California. This journey begins in London, where the renowned gunsmith Ezekiel Baker (1758–1836), rumored to have roots in the Whitechapel district, forever cemented his name in military history by designing the famed Baker Rifle. Though he was an artisan, his powerful first name resonated with the ancient and profound biblical figure, the Prophet Ezekiel, whose messages of vision and divine guidance have echoed through history. Moving forward over half a century and across an ocean, the same surname reappears in the American West with Colonel Thomas Baker. A key figure in California's development, Colonel Baker served the state legislature and represented regions including Tulare County before eventually draining the swamplands of the Kern River to create his settlement, fittingly called "Baker's Field." While a direct family connection between the London gunsmith and the California founder remains unconfirmed folklore, the shared name links two men who dramatically shaped their respective eras—one through a revolutionary weapon design, the other by founding a city.

The Point Man: A Legacy of Vigilance

Throughout the sweeping history of the American frontier, the role of the point man transcended mere navigation, embodying a profound social contract of self-sacrifice and hyper-vigilance. While the "crowd"—a vulnerable collective of pioneers and families—sought refuge in the center of the caravan, the point man operated in a state of perilous isolation, riding far enough ahead to encounter danger before it could reach the collective. His gaze was not merely observant but prophetic; he had to interpret the subtle language of the landscape, sensing the tremor of a distant stampede or the stillness of a waiting ambush. This position demanded a rare psychological fortitude, as the point man functioned as the group’s living shield. He lived with the quiet, haunting realization that his primary utility lay in his willingness to be the first to fall—his own life serving as the ultimate alarm that would buy the crowd the precious seconds needed to survive. In this light, the point man was the soul of the trail: a solitary figure whose heartbeat was the rhythm of the community’s safety.

3 God's divine power has given us everything we need to live a truly religious life through our knowledge of the one who called us to share in his own glory and goodness. 4 In this way he has given us the very great and precious gifts he promised, so that by means of these gifts you may escape from the destructive lust that is in the world, and may come to share the divine nature. 5 For this very reason do your best to add goodness to your faith; to your goodness add knowledge; 6 to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add endurance; to your endurance add godliness; 7 to your godliness add Christian affection; and to your Christian affection add love. 8 These are the qualities you need, and if you have them in abundance, they will make you active and effective in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if you do not have them, you are so shortsighted that you cannot see and have forgotten that you have been purified from your past sins.

2 Peter 3-9