Only the Holy Scriptures Have Told Us the Future

In preparing for teaching from the book of Daniel on Sunday mornings this fall, I came across the following post I wrote a few years ago. It will take you a few minutes to read, but if you persevere, you'll have a greater appreciation for the Holy Scriptures and a deeper conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, sent to save the world. Enjoy!

We live in a day of texting, not reading. For this reason, we've produced at least a generation of non-critical thinkers in the United States. It's difficult for many Christians to respond to the question, “How do you know Christianity is true?” Sadly, the faith of Christians is becoming increasingly blind and ignorant. 

Many Christians feel their faith is real, but can't explain why. For example, "Since I came to Christ,  my life has taken a turn for the better" is a common refrain of believers. Christianity is real to many because of their experience and feelings.

Unfortunately, testifying of one's comfort and changed life in believing the Christian message is not a unique religious testimony. The Taoist, the Buddhist, the Muslim, and the Hindu could all say the same thing. Even the radical Islamic believer trusts his life is better because of his faith in Allah. All faiths have the claim that lives will be changed for the better because of their unique, religious faith. Ironically, even skeptics and atheists will argue that their lack of faith in God brings just as much peace and feels just as right to them as the faith of the religious.

So how do you know Christianity is true? What is the basis for your assurance that Jesus Christ represents the truth of God, and followers of Jesus are in possession of the truth that other faith religions don't have?  How do you know that the God of the Bible is the One True God and the biblical account of Him coming to earth, dying on a cross, and rising from the dead for the deliverance of sinners is the message that should be accepted above all other religious messages?

Other than your personal experience and testimony, you may have little or no idea how to defend your faith. You may even be uncomfortable proclaiming the exclusivity of Christ, as are many theological liberals because you don't have a firm foundation for believing in the exclusivity of the Christian faith. Even worse, you may know that your inability to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" is probably your greatest weakness as a follower of Christ.  

So let me help you.

*Only the one true God can foretell the future

The Lord says in Isaiah 42:8-9 "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another ... new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you." 

This is an astounding claim which, if true, conclusively proves that the God of the Bible is the one true God. 

God alone or, more precisely, the one true God alone, can tell us future events before they happen. The LORD, the God of the Bible, makes this claim for Himself. He says that He tells us things “before they spring into being” (Isaiah 42:8-9). No other god can do this. This, in the end, is the only way to be sure that Christianity is the one true religion and the God of Christianity is the one true God.

There is not one religious book in the world, other than the Bible, that even attempts prophecy. There are no prophecies in the Quran of Islam, the Diamond Sutra of Buddhism, the Smitri of Hinduism, the Pearl of Great Price of Mormonism, or any other holy book of the world’s religions. No other religious book, other than the Bible, even attempts to prophesy the future. God tells the biblical prophets the future, and the Bible prophecies recorded for us are so accurate in foretelling future events that nobody should ever doubt the message the Bible contains.

The Lord inspires His prophets to speak of things “not yet sprung forth,” and we are able to verify these prophecies because we have lived to see them fulfilled. For example, one set of prophecies, made hundreds of years before their fulfillment, are those prophecies regarding the coming Messiah. These “Messianic prophecies” include statements foretelling that the Messiah would be a descendant of Abraham (Gen. 12:3; Gen. 22:18), would come from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10), and would be a direct descendant of King David, (2 Sam. 7:12 and 13). The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech. 9:9), and would suffer silently before his accusers (Gen. 3:15; Isa. 53:5; Isa. 53:7). He would be considered a criminal and executed with other criminals (Isa. 53:12) while making intercession for those with whom he died (Isa. 53:12). The Messiah would have his hands and feet pierced (Ps. 22:16). He would be buried in the tomb of a wealthy man (Isa. 53:9) and his dead body would not see decay (Ps. 16:10). He would also rise from the dead (Ps. 2:7-9; Ps. 16:10 and 11; Isa. 53:9-12). These Messianic biblical prophecies (and dozens more) were given at least five hundred years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth came to earth and fulfilled them all.

Skeptics might object that Jesus could have read the writings of the Jewish prophets and self-fulfilled everything they said about the coming Messiah. I find that argument rather ridiculous, but rather than resting my assurance in the veracity of the Christian message on the fulfillment of biblical Messianic prophecies in Jesus Christ, I turn to the stunning and amazing prophecies of Daniel 11 and 12 and discover the capstone defense of the Christian faith. The fulfilled prophecies of Daniel 11 and 12 give us irrefutable evidence that the God of the Bible is the one true God, and that He has chosen to reveal Himself as Emmanuel (i.e. “God with us”) in the Person of Jesus the Messiah.

Daniel is one of those Bible books that many Christians avoid because they find it difficult to understand. However, with just a little knowledge of world history, the ability to place Daniel in its proper context to ancient Hebrew history, and the patience to study the Bible for something more than serendipitous personal devotionals, you will find yourself supplied with an Anchor of hope in Christianity that can never be shaken or taken away.

The Power of Fulfilled Prophecy

After the Persian conquest of Babylon on October 11, 539 B.C. God told Daniel about other major world events that would occur over the ensuing six hundred years -- from 530 B.C. to 70 A.D--and Daniel, in turn, foretold to the Persian/Mede Prince Darius these future world events.  The prophecies God gave to Daniel included world events that would occur during the years between the close of the Old Testament (Malachi) in 440 B.C. and the beginning of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in 4 B.C. The world events occurring between the Testaments include the fall of the Persian Empire (modern-day Iran), the rise of the Grecian Empire (modern-day Greece) and Alexander the Great’s conquest of the known world, the premature death of Alexander at thirty-three years of age and the division of Alexander’s empire into four districts (north, south, east, and west), the great conflict between the Seleucids of the north (the Syrians) and the Ptolemies of the south (the Egyptians), and the ultimate rise of the Roman Empire and the establishment of Roman emperors as the “gods of the world.” Daniel foretold the first century BC events including the rise in power of Julias Caesar's adopted son Octavius, otherwise known as Augustus Caesar, the attempted revolt by Antony and Cleopatra against Octavius, and the assignment by the Roman Senate that Herod the Great ruled the Jews in Judea on behalf of the Romans. Finally, in the first century AD, the Roman Empire made the determination to destroy the Jewish Temple and the city of Jerusalem, effectively ending the Old Covenant Hebrew system of worship.   All of the above events occurred during the 600 years from 530 B.C. to A.D. 70.  and Daniel prophesies each and every one of the aforementioned events in specific and mind-blowing detail in Daniel 11 and 12. These prophecies are given by God to Daniel for one purpose--to identify the date of the coming Savior of the world. Daniel is accurate in every detail, giving the precise sequence of order in which these future events would occur, over five hundred years before they happened,

How could Daniel prophesy these things? God told Daniel about world events “before they sprang forth” and commanded Daniel to write down the prophecies hundreds of years before they were fulfilled. Think about this. The ability to foretell world events for the next 600 years in stunning detail would be astonishing confirmation that the One who told you the future is the true God of the universe. We can’t even tell who the next President of the United States will be, but God knows the end from the beginning, and should He choose to tell us the future, we would tell others in order to prove that our God is the one true God. This is precisely what Daniel did. God was telling the world when He was coming to earth, and your confidence that "all the fullness of the Godhead" bodily dwelt in Jesus Christ is supported by fulfilled the fulfilled prophecies of Daniel.

Daniel in the Dead Sea Scrolls

So accurately do the events described in Daniel 11 and Daniel 12 correspond with real historical events that the infidel, Porphyry, could not evade the force of the argument that the Bible was written by Divine Inspiration except by claiming Daniel was written by an imposter after the events prophesied had actually occurred. Porphyry and other scoffers of the Bible long claimed that an unknown Hebrew scholar, after the fall of the Persian Empire, after the rise and fall of the Grecian Empire, and after the ultimate rise of the Roman Empire and her emperors, pretended to be Daniel and wrote the book of Daniel. Their theory, however, was dashed to pieces by a shepherd boy who threw a rock into a cave in Israel in 1947 and science discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls. It has now been conclusively proven that the Daniel manuscript in the Dead Sea Scrolls dates from before the fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel 11 and 12.

God refuses to share His glory.

For an incredible exposition of the fulfilled prophecies of Daniel 11 and Daniel 12 see this rare 1838 book by James Farquharson, LL.D. F.R.S. entitled "Daniel's Last Vision and Prophecy." To assist the reader who wishes not to download the full PDF file linked above, I am offering an abbreviated exposition of Daniel 11, to show the power of fulfilled prophecy and why you never ought to doubt Jesus Christ as the one true God.

A Brief Review of the Fulfilled Prophecies of Daniel 11

(Daniel 11:1) “In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and protection for him" —

Daniel Before King Darius (535 B.C.)

Daniel had been a Hebrew captive in Babylon (modern-day Iraq) since 607 B.C. However, God determined that the Babylonian Empire would fall to the Medes and Persians on October 11, 539 B.C., an event chillingly described in Daniel 5. God told the leaders of Babylon – “Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin,” which means “you have been weighed in the balances [of God’s justice] and found wanting.” God judged Belshazzar and the Babylonian leaders for their desecration of the Hebrew Temple vessels, and the Lord brought down the kingdom of Babylon through an invasion of the Medes and the Persians. The Hebrew captives in Babylon, including Daniel, became the captives of the Persians. Two kings ruled Babylon simultaneously in 535 B.C., Cyrus (the Persian king) and Darius (the Mede king), as their armies continued a conquest of the known world. Daniel 11 opens with Daniel being encouraged by the angel Gabriel that he (Gabriel) had "encouraged" King Darius the Mede. The order had been given by Cyrus (and Darius) to release the Jews from captivity in order to allow them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their city and the Temple. The forces of hell did not like Cyrus' edict to release the Jews, and Gabriel, on behalf of Israel, "strengthened" Darius to follow through. This prophecy of Daniel 11 and 12 is called “the latter prophecy” or “the last prophecy” of Daniel. The prophecy encompasses events that would occur in the world over the next 600 years (530 B.C. to A.D. 70).

(Daniel 11:2) “Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all.”

Here Daniel is given a glimpse into the future. Four additional kings of Persia would arise after the reign of Darius and Cyrus. History records that things happened precisely as Daniel recorded them. The first king was Cambyses, the son of Cyrus who ruled the Persian kingdom from 530-522 B.C. The second king was Bardiya (522 B.C.). The third king was Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who ruled from 521-486 B.C. The fourth king was Xerxes, who ruled Persian from 486 B.C. to 465 B.C. and was involved in continual attempts to defeat a newcomer to world power--Greece. After Xerxes, the Persian Empire would be ruled by lesser Persian kings.

Xerxes  as portrayed in the movie 300

Ironically, many young people today are familiar with Xerxes. Fascination with ancient Sparta, and particularly the Battle of Thermopylae, has led to a rise in the popularity of Xerxes in modern culture. He is depicted as massive, evil, and incompetent in the modern Hollywood version of the movie 300, played by Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro. This portrayal of Xerxes angered the government of modern Iran. The video game Assassin's Creed II gives Xerxes cult status. He is the leader of the Persian Empire in the video game Civilization II and Civilization III. American rapper King Gordy released an album titled Xerxes the God King on August 1, 2010. Most Christians do not even know that the Bible accurately prophesies that the fourth Persian king after Cyrus, King Xerxes, would be the richest (most powerful) king of all Persian kings. Other Persian kings would follow, but none would hold the distinction of being as powerful as Xerxes, the fourth king after Cyrus. It is during the reign of Xerxes that the biblical story of Esther occurs.

(Daniel 11:3-4) “And a mighty king shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion ... but as soon as he has arisen his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants.”

This “mighty king” that arose was Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.), the ruler of Greece during the rise of the Grecian Empire. Alexander the Great (Greek: Megas Alexandros) conquered all of the former Medo-Persian Empire as well as the rest of the world and sat down and wept when he realized there were no worlds left to conquer. Alexander died at 33, at the peak of his power, and just like Daniel 11:3-4 prophesies, Alexander’s Grecian Empire was divided among four people—Seleucus (north), Antigonus (east), Philip (west), and Ptolemy (south). These four were Alexander's generals and not his relatives or descendents.

Again, many modern Christians may watch the 2004 epic film Alexander, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Colin Farrell, but never realize that the prophet Daniel, in Daniel 11:3-4 prophesies accurately and in stunning detail the accomplishments, downfall and division of the kingdom of Alexander the Great--two hundred years before Alexander was even born. It is through a lack of understanding fulfilled prophecy that many Christians have little stomach to stand up against those who pronounce us arrogant for saying Christianity is the only true religion in the world.

From Daniel 11:5 through 11:23 we have a vivid description of the kings of the South (the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt) warring against the kings of the North (Seleucid Dynasty of Syria). The Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt reigned from 305-30 B.C. when it was finally conquered by Roman Empire. The Ptolemies were the 32nd and last dynasty of Ancient Egypt. The Seleucid Dynasty reined over the Greco-Syrian Empire from 312-64 B.C. Again, most people have no clue that the Bible vividly describes the rise of the two greatest kingdoms of the 4th century B.C. and their wars against each other -- hundreds of years before the kingdoms arose and the wars occured. In this section of the prophecy, there is a detailed description of the different kings that would reign over the Northern kingdom (the Seleucids of Syria) and the Southern kingdom (the Ptolemies of Egypt).  The prophecies of Daniel in these verses, detailing the various kings of the Ptolemy Dynasty of Egypt and the Seulicid Dynasty of ancient Syria and their actions, can be compared to actual history and it is irrefutible that events in the two major world empires of 300 B.C. to 170 B.C. occurred precisely as Daniel foretold they would.

Slaughtering a pig on the altar

In Daniel 11:24-35  we have a lengthy and vivid description of a Seulicid king named Antiochus Epiphanes (215 B.C. to 165 B.C.) who battled the Egyptian Ptolemies, but lost his most aggressive campaign against them when the rising Roman Empire sided with the Egyptian Empire and "drew the line in the sand" in 168 B.C. and told Antiochus not to cross it or he would be entering into war against both Rome and Egypt. This is where the saying "a line in the sand" originates. Antiochus did not cross it for fear of the Romans and, humiliated and angry, Antiochus left the outskirts of the Egyptian empire and made his way back north to Syria. However, he stopped on his journey back home in Jerusalem and vented his anger against the Jews and the Temple of the Jews. In this section of  Daniel's prophecy  (remember the prophecy was made in 535 B.C.), Daniel vividly foretells what Antiochus would do against the Jews and the Temple in 168 A.D. The "abomination of desolation" (v. 32), which occurred in the Hebrew Temple of Jersualem, included Antiochus slaughtering a pig on the holy altar. Many Jews were also murdered by the wicked king.  

(Daniel 11:33-35) “ ... but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

The people who “know their God" and are strong, in context, are the Maccabbees. These three verses in Daniel describe the Jewish followers of Judas Maccabeus,  who arose in revolt against the tyranny of the "evil king" Antiochus. They led the Jews to seek to overthrow the Seulicid Empire and Antiochus Epiphanes beginning in 167 B.C. The war of the Maccabbees against the Seulicids lasted for seven years and is recorded in the historical books of I and II Maccabees.

(Daniel 11:36) “And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods ...

The description of the king who prospers and exalts himself above every god is a reference to the rise of King Herod the Great, who put an end to Maccabean (Hasmonean Jewish) rule of Judea. Herod was made King of the Jews by the Roman Senate in 39 B.C. but it took him three years to defeat the Maccabeans and gain control of Jerusalem in 36 B.C. Herod's allegience throughout his reign as King of the Jews was to Rome. 

Herodium, one of Herod's walled "fortresses."

(Daniel 11:37-38) “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honor the god of fortresses [Hebrew: Maozim]: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver …”

This prophecy of the one who worships the god of fortresses (Maozim) refers to Herod the Great (74 B.C. to 4 B.C.).  Herod was an ethnic Idumean and worshiped the "god of fortresses." He built over a dozen heavily fortified fortresses, including Herodium and Masada during his tenure as King of the Jews. His fortresses are still able to be toured throughout Israel today.

(Daniel 11:39-44) Describes the expansion of King Herod's influence and grip of power over all Judea, the land of the Jews, and the rebuilding of the Temple with "costly stones," which Herod heavily fortified to garrison his army (i.e. "the Antonia Fortress").  The Roman Senate had designated Herod King of the Jews in 39 B.C., but it took Herod three years to defeat the Maccabeans and gain control of Jerusalem. Herod the Great, ruled Judea with an iron fist from 36 B.C. to 4 B.C. Though he sought to gain favor with the Jews by ordering the rebuilding of the Temple, called "Herod's Temple," he was a singularly vile and wicked 'King' to the Jews. 

Five years into Herod's reign over the Jews (31 B.C.), Cleopatra of Egypt convinced Antony to attack Octavius of Rome. The year-long battle between the "king of the south" (i.e. Cleopatra) and the king of the north (i.e. Octavius) is vividly described in Daniel 11:40-44. Octavius initially defeated Antony and Cleopatra in the naval battle called Actium (September 16, 31 B.C.), overwhelming the aggressive Egyptian forces "like a whirlwind" (v. 40). King Herod of Judea, who had initially aligned "with" Cleopatra, eventually switched his allegiance to Octavius. After Cleopatra and Antony retreated their forces to Alexandria, Octavius marched his Roman armies south, through Judea,  moving his massive infanty to attack the Egyptian forces in Egypt. Octavius' army defeated Antony and Cleopatra and their Egyptian armies in 30 B.C., putting an end to the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt. 

After the conquest of Egypt, Octavius (63 B.C. to A.D. 14) became the first emperor of Rome, receiving the title Augustus Caesar from the Roman Senate. Augustus was the first in a long line of Roman emperors who would claim 'deity' for themselves. The Roman Emperor became known as “The Son of God and the Savior of the World” according to Roman inscriptions of the day. It is to this foolish designation of the Roman Emperor to which Peter refers in Acts 4:12: “For there is none other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

King Herod of Judea, in tribute to the new Emperor of Rome, and possibly hoping to make the Emperor forget Herod had initially aligned "with" Cleopatra, built for Augustus a city on the Mediterranean coast in Judea and called it "Caesarea by the Sea," the place the Apostle Paul would later be held as a prisoner before being shipped to Rome. It was during the reign of Caesar Augustus as Emperor of Rome (30 B.C. to 14 A.D.) and King Herod as Roman tetrarch of Judea  (36 B.C. to 4 B.C.), that the prophesied Savior of the World, the eternal Son of God and true King of Kings would enter the world (i.e. "At that time Michael ... shall arise"). When Herod the Great heard the rumors of this "coming King" he was greatly troubled.

The Magi from the East

(Daniel 11:44-45) “But rumors from the East and from the North will trouble him: and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain, yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him."

“Rumors from the East and from of the North shall trouble him” is a reference to the Wise Men who came asking King Herod, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews.” In great trouble and inner turmoil, not only because of the words of the Wise Men, but also because of threats from the North (Rome) against him, Herod ordered all young boys in the land of Judea put to death. Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. The death of Herod the Great in 4 B.C. is an astonishing portrayal of isolated abandonment, even by those closest to him, and an inability to cure him of his multiple diseases. Daniel 11 concludes with the death of King Herod in 4 B.C., which corresponds precisely to the year of the birth of Jesus Christ, the true Son of God and Savior of the world (Luke 2:1).

"At that time Michael... shall arise" (Daniel 12:1).

I find it so unfortunate that many modern-day Christians have missed the power of fulfilled prophecy in Daniel 11 and 12 and, as a result, have missed the clearest evidence there is that Jesus Christ is the one true God. The purpose of God giving Daniel a glimpse into the future was to confirm that the Son of God and the Savior of the world, Jesus of Nazareth, born in 4 B.C. was the one true God of the universe come to earth. God gave Daniel a glimpse into the future, something only the one true God can do, in order to reveal WHEN MICHAEL SHALL ARISE.

Futurists--those who constantly try to tell us that Daniel 11 and Daniel 12 are prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled and relate to some future antichrist and a future coming of our Lord--have missed the power, the purpose, and the truth of Daniel's prophecy. In closing, I leave you with the words of two people, John Gill, the greatest Hebrew scholar Baptists have ever produced, and 19th-century Scottish pastor James Farqurharson as they reveal who "Michael" is in Daniel 12:1 (I trust John and James much more than I do Tim Lahaye or Hal Lindsey).

"Michael the Archangel, who has all the angels of heaven under him, and at his command, is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ; who is as God, as the name signifies, truly and really God, and equal in nature, power, and glory to his divine Father" (John Gill).

"It is undeniable that the archangel Michael is the only archangel of whom we know anything from holy writ. It cannot be proved from holy writ,—and if not from holy writ, it cannot be proved at all,—that any archangel exists but the one archangel Michael; and this one archangel Michael is unquestionably the Michael of the book of Daniel. The Archangel, in 1 Thessalonians 4.16, whose voice is to raise the dead, can be no other than our Lord; and in the 9th verse of Jude, the Archangel is named Michael. Although not of “the nature of angels" (Hebrews 2:16), our Lord is their Commander, for authorities, and powers, are subject unto him (I Peter 3:22), and “thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, and all things, were created by him, and for him" (James Farquharson)

In summary: The book of Daniel was written in the 6^th Century BC (539/538 B.C. to be exact) and describes in detail the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Seleucids of Syria, the Ptolemies of Egypt, and the Roman Empire—hundreds of years before they ever existed. The details of these historical events are so accurately foretold by the prophet Daniel that pagan scoffers have ridiculed the book of Daniel by saying it could have only been written AFTER Rome came to power and conquered the world, and that the author of the book "claimed" to be Daniel the prophet. In 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, including full copies of Daniel manuscripts that date back well before the fulfillment of the Daniel prophecies.

The basis for your trust in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is fulfilled prophecy. Only the one true God can tell us the future, long before the events of the future "spring forth." He told us about world events immediately preceding the time "Michael ... shall arise." It happened just as He said.

Michael, the Son of God and Savior of the world, has come. All religions are not the same. There is only one true religion and only one true God, and may an understanding of Daniel 11 and 12 cause you to never shrink away from boldly proclaiming the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, for "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Cellular Blood Clotting and MRNA Vaccinations

I am not anti-vaccination. I am pro-investigation. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am a competent intellectualist. I believe in informed consent and liberty, not induced compulsion and tyranny. 

With those caveats, I invite you to watch a nine-minute video from world-renowned physicians, immunologists, scientific researchers, and medical ethicists. 

It is nine minutes long. It is not for the weak of heart, literally and figuratively. For those (like me) who don't like watching videos, a friend of mine transcribed all nine minutes (below). The key phrase is the following:

"The concern with that is that those people will probably all develop right-sided heart failure within three years and die because they now have increased vascular resistance through their lungs."

 The video is worth a listen. Science means knowledge. Science is never settled. Don't let your knowledge suffer by turning a deaf ear to conversations among scientists. What you do with your life and your body is your business. It is my business to make sure dissenting viewpoints are never forcibly silenced. Watch or read at your convenience. I've done my duty. 

Dr. Sam Dubé: You spoke to a potential mechanism of action of the injury and you mentioned to me the use of the D-dimer test, which we all know what it’s for, but we’re going to have to explain a little bit. Could you please speak to this a little bit and give the relevant context and  introduction because I think this is really groundbreaking and important?

Dr. Charles Hoffe: Yes. Thank you. So one of the key things that really bothered me when I started to see serious vaccine injuries in my own patients is that I had no idea what the mechanism of injury was, and therefore as their doctor, I had no idea how to treat it. As their family doctor I knew they would come to me for help and I needed to help them and I was clueless. This is an experiment and I was aware that there was literally more people … a medically induced disease being produced by this vaccine.

And so I had asked this in my open letter to Dr. Barney Henry, our provincial health officer, what is the mechanism of injury and how do I treat this as these people’s as their doctor. And of course nobody knew. The vaccine manufacturers had told us that the COVID spike protein does not go intravenously, it stays in the arm. The antibodies to the spike protein are produced in the arm and that’s what we have not found. Scientists now and Dr. Brody has actually very clearly revealed this, only 25% of the vaccine actually stays in the arm. The rest of these vaccines…these vaccines are a vast number of little messenger RNA strands.

The Moderna vaccine has 14 trillion messenger RNA molecules per vaccine dose. 14 trillion! So, these are wrapped in a little lipid capsule, the lipid capsule to enable them to be absorbed into the cells. So this is injected into the person’s arm, in their deltoid muscle of the shoulder, from there as I mentioned earlier 25% actually stays there, the rest is taken up collected through the lymphatic system and hence into the general circulation. And so it circulates around the entire body. And I think every doctor knows that absorption from the circulation occurs in capillary networks because that’s where the blood slows right down. It goes into tiny, tiny vessels so these little nano capsules containing these trillions of messenger RNA molecules are absorbed into the lining around the capillaries what medically we call the vascular endothelium. So these little packages are absorbed into the cells around the vessel, the package is opened, the body recognizes these messenger RNA strands as a gene and gets to work making COVID spike proteins.

So in a virus those COVID spike proteins form part of the viral capsule but the problem is they are not in the virus, they are in the cells around blood vessels, so as a result they become part of the cell wall of that cell. So normally the cells that surround your blood vessels have to be very, very smooth to enable good and unimpeded flow of blood, but as soon as you got all of these little spike proteins that become part of the cell wall, it is now a rough surface, it’s going to be like a very coarse sandpaper. It’s now what the platelets are going to interpret as a damaged vessel, it’s no longer smooth. It’s rough. So clotting is inevitable because the platelets that come down that vessel are going to hit a rough spot and assume this must be a damaged vessel. This vessel needs to be blocked to stop the bleeding. That’s how our clotting works.

 So, clots are according…because of this and because of the nature of this, clots are inevitable. Because of these spike proteins in the capillary networks. So I set out to then try and prove this. Could this theory be correct? And so the problem is these little clots in the capillary networks are microscopic and they are scattered. So they are not going to show on any scan, they are just too small and too scattered. It’s not like the big clots that cause strokes or heart attacks. They are too small and too scattered.

So how on earth can we know if the person clots? And the only way is through the blood test called the D-dimer. The D-dimer is the blood test that will show up a recent clot. It won’t show up an old clot. It shows up a new clot. And it doesn’t tell you where the clot is. It just tells you that the clotting mechanism has been activated.

So I have now been recruiting patients from my practice, people that have come have come into my office and others that have heard me speak about this, and have asked people to do this D-dimer within one week of their COVID shot. And so far and this study is ongoing these are preliminary results, so far I’ve got 62% positive elevated D-dimer, which means that the blood clots are not rare. That’s what the so-called experts keep telling us that clots are rare. The big ones are rare, but the small ones are clearly happening in the majority of people, 62%.

Now I will tell you what the real concern with this is, is that a clotted vessel is permanently damaged. That vessel never ever goes back to normal. So if this theory is correct, which it really looks like by these D-dimer results, and I am told it is being done in Australia and it’s being done in the UK and they also found elevated D-dimers. And they sort of discarded the information because they said there’s no clinical evidence of clots. The reason is because they are microscopic and they are scattered, and so you are not going to see clinical evidence. But in fact all of the frequent side effects of the shock which are headache, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, could all be signs of cerebral thrombosis on a capillary level. In those literally you could be having thousands and thousands of tiny, tiny little clots in your brain that won’t show on a scan but they will give you those exact symptoms.

So the concern is that I have now got six people in my medical practice that cannot exert themselves the way they used to be. what medically we call reduced effort tolerance. Six people who now get out of breath doing things that they could previously do without any problem. So I believe that these people who locked up thousands and thousands of capillaries in their lungs in these six people, so I believe that these people now have permanently damaged lungs because they have got…and that’s why they get out of breath. I have one fellow that used to walk two miles to my office every week for a shot for his arthritis and he says after a quarter of a mile he’s done. In other words his effort tolerance is reduced to 1/8^th of what it used to be.

I’ve sent some of these people for chest x-rays and CT scans to see what it shows. And all it shows is distorted architecture, what the radios reported, is described as increased ventriculation, it’s a very non-specific thing and it’s because it’s microscopic. But the concern is, because these vessels are now permanently damaged in the person’s lungs, when the heart tries to pump blood through all those damaged vessels there is increased resistance trying to pump the blood through those lungs. So those people are going to develop something called pulmonary oxic hypertension, high blood pressure in their lungs.

And the concern with that is that those people will probably all develop right sided heart failure within three years and die because they now have increased vascular resistance through their lungs, and lung tissue and heart tissue and brain and spinal tissue and all of that does not regenerate. In other tissues, it can regenerate, liver and kidneys and muscle and … but there are some tissues that cannot. So this absolutely explains what I have seen in my patients and that’s what I’m doing to prove it in my studies ongoing.

Self-Governance Brings Liberty and Ends Tyranny

Today, Saturday, July 24, 2021, is World Ivermectin Day. The American Journal of Therapeutics has declared Ivermectin an effective preventative and treatment drug for Covid-19, especially in symptomatic early stages. Clinical trials support AJT's conclusions. 

Several medical organizations are now organizing to raise public awareness of this cheap and safe anti-parasite drug which has been used decades by millions worldwide for parasitic diseases like malaria.

"We have an incredibly positive and uplifting message to share: Ivermectin treats and prevents COVID and it is the key to unlocking the never-ending cycle of pandemic peaks and personal restrictions and will help restart economies,” declared Dr. Tess Lawrie, the founder of British Ivermectin Development Group (BIRD).

But the CDC and government-controlled social media platforms continue an unprecedented attempt to censor, vilify, and ridicule board-certified doctors, immunologists, and epidemiologists who promote Ivermectin. When asked about such attempts, the head of a medical organization attempting to raise public awareness of Ivermectin declared:

"Abandoning our mission is not an option. Yes, it has been hell. But as Winston Churchill once said, ‘If you’re going through hell, keep going.’ We’ll march on. Your life matters that much."

The Biden White House says people who spread "misinformation" should be banned from all social media platforms. My question is "Who will ban the White House?" Oh, wait. That's already happened. It seems there are malevolent people who have taken over the government who are seeking to banish into silence (or jail) anyone who disagrees with them. That's the very definition of tyranny.

We are living in some amazing times. Every citizen of the United States must learn how to self-govern our bodies, our families, and our communities. Self-governance, also known as self-determination, is the basis of liberty. Demands to conform to government mandates with threats of punishment for nonconformity form the basis of tyranny. Give me Liberty or give me Death.

Go here for more life-saving information on Ivermectin.

The Death of Death in the Death of Jesus Christ

Voltaire once criticized Christianity as a “bloody religion."

The French philosopher felt Christians placed too much emphasis on blood, particularly the bloody death of its founder, Jesus Christ.

Many, like Voltaire, who read or hear the word "blood" only think of the red internal liquid of the human body. And thus, Christianity is called "a bloody religion."

Those who deem Christianity "bloody" misunderstand the significance of blood. In the Bible, blood is used as a synonym for life, and the loss of blood is a synonym for death.

For example:

"For life... is in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11)

"Without the shedding of blood (ie, loss of life), there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:22).

In the Old Covenant, the blood of the sacrificial animals played a prominent role in Jewish worship. 

From the priest dipping his fingers into the blood and sprinkling it on the ground and the altar to the various instructions for the use of the blood according to the kind of sacrifice being offered, blood was a predominant theme. 

However, there was no magic in the blood of the sacrificial animals, and there is no magic in the blood of Jesus Christ. 

The blood represents life, and the loss of blood represents death.

When Christians sing songs like Nothing But the Blood, or Are You Washed in the Blood?  or Oh, the Blood of Jesus, and There Is Power In the Blood, the thought processes of the worshipper often wrongly move toward the red liquid plasma in the body of Christ. 

We should be considering the death of Jesus Christ, not the red blood cells of our Savior. The shedding of Christ's blood is simply a synonym for His death. God, in His love for us, sent His Son to die in our place. 

It is not the actual blood of Jesus that saves us, it is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ - conquering death for sinners - that saves us from the punishment of sin, which is death.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried,that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (I Corinthians 15:3).

Christ died willingly (voluntary). No man took His life, He laid it down for us (John 10:18). 

Christ died and took the punishment for sin (penal). The word penal, as in 'the penal system,' means "punishment" for offenders. 

"God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:25-28). 

Christ died as a Substitute for us, the real sinners (substitutionary). 

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (II Corinthians 5:21). 

God punished the Son He loves with death so that He might remove the punishment of death for those who love His Son. He gives to those who embrace Christ the free gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23). 

Because the emphasis in Scripture is on God providing His Son to die for sinners, salvation from God's punishment is called "salvation by grace."

Sinners who believe in Christ "gain approval with God by faith" (Hebrews 11:39). 

Accountability to the Creator

Ultimately, the problem skeptics have with Christianity is the idea that God holds people accountable for their sins--or maybe to drill down even further--that there is even such a thing as sin.

 Yet, it is clear from logic and the logos (the Word) that God, that the righteous Judge of the universe, punishes with the sentence of death those who hate Him and harm others in this life.

What kind of judge would He be if He didn't?

Yet, God's punishment is not arbitrary or capricious. He is holy and righteous in all His actions. The punishment will always match the crime. 

This is why Scripture declares that the sentence pronounced by God for sinners varies according to one's sin (Matthew 10:15), but the end of all sinners is ultimately a death (Proverbs 14:12), called "the second death" (Revelation 21:8). This second death is different from the first death in that there is no resurrection - it is a final and eternal punishment. Notice, eternal punishment is a noun - once for all - not a verb. It is not eternal punishing, but eternal punishment. Death is final. 

John Stott came to the conviction that the judgment of God for sinners is eternal (eternal death). Stott believed God righteously judges sinners according to their sins, meting out sentences of judgment in various degrees and lengths, but in the end, every sinner experiences the second death. 

I am convinced that Scripture teaches eternal punishment (death), not eternal punishing (torment). The punishment is eternal; the punishing is temporal (after the Judgment). This difference is essential. 

On one hand, all the riches of God's grace are the possession of every believer in Christ. 

Christ died for our sins. He rose for our justification. All the rewards of Christ are ours because of His active obedience (His life) and His passive obedience (His death). As those who trust in the work of Christ, we become co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). 

But those who answer for their sins themselves will receive judgment "according to their sins" with the final result for every sinner being "eternal death."

So the next time you sing about the blood, reflect on what it is that you are actually singing. The emphasis in Scripture is not on the red corpuscles in the body of Jesus as if they possess some magical powers...

The blood of Jesus Christ is His death.

Are you thankful for the gift of eternal life? Give thanks to Him who conquered the sentence of death in your place by His resurrection from the dead. One day, the First Fruits of Resurrection (Jesus the Anointed One) will raise His people to life eternal, and the wicked to Judgment and ultimately eternal death.

There is the death of death in the death of Christ for those who believe in Him.

CCP Uses Social Scores to Identify 'The Discredited'

Photo Illustration: Christianity Today

In 2016, three years before Covid-19 existed, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), instituted a "Universal Health Examination" for the Chinese people. The purpose? To require Chinese citizens to give blood samples (DNA), fingerprints, speech recordings, and facial scans during their mandatory physical examinations. CCP officials then input citizen's data into millions of surveillance computers throughout China.

 
As outlined in a CCP government document, the Chinese government's goal was "to allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step." (Source: China Invents the Digital Totalitarian State, The Economist).

Who are the discredited in China? Those who oppose government mandates like "no smoking on trains," or "failing to leash pets while walking." Major offenses include criticizing government policies on social media and refusing to comply with Universal Health Examination mandates.

 
China's National Public Credit Information System (CCP) monitors and scores the "social standing" of each citizen. In 2018, the CCP prohibited 17.5 million citizens from buying plane tickets and 5.5 million citizens from buying high-speed train tickets because of their low social scores. Social credit controls are being used to prevent the "discredited" from buying real estate, insurance, or making financial investments. (Source: Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China's Drive for Global Supremacy by Bill Gertz, p. 86).

The "highly discredited" are rounded up and placed in concentration camps for re-indoctrination. Those captured and forcibly relocated include hundreds of thousands of Christians, Falun Gong members, and Muslims who have resisted the Communist state and its forcible mandates. If these "discredited Chinese" do not renounce their social activities and pledge allegiance to the State CCP, they will be tortured and killed and their organs harvested. (Source: Religious Persecution in China Must Be Called Out by Olivia Enos and Emilie Kao, The Heritage Foundation).

The CCP's pogrom slogan is, "once discredited, limited everywhere," until the discredited citizen is forcibly convinced to follow the state's mandates because "the state knows best." If the discredited remains non-compliant, the state will torture and eventually kill "the discredited individual" for the social good of the nation.

American young people, as you sip your chai lattes, trying to figure out if you wish to "identify" as a boy or a girl, and bitterly complain about your lack of "freedom," I wish to remind you that forced equality in the name of socialism/communism leads to the death of a nation. Statism and blind obedience to the state, all in the name of the "public good," destroy liberty. Liberty is not license or licentiousness (look it up). Liberty is the freedom to do what is right.

A desire for "equity" without merit, "honor" without effort, "recognition" without work, and "forced health measures" without the consent of the governed, is a CCP-inspired step toward national death.

We All Should Have Paid Attention in Greek Class

Back in the 1970s, the PUBLIC high school I attended offered Greek, Latin, and Western Civilization classes as core subjects.

Try finding a public high school in the United States that offers these core subjects in 2021. It's unfortunate we graduate our children and grandchildren with little understanding of the classics.

For example, when scientists talk about a "pandemic," the younger generations think it's a title for a classic horror movie.

Pandemic is a good word. It is a Greek compound word that vividly describes a process of growth.

Pan means "all." Demic is a contraction of the name for the Greek goddess Demeter. Her name  comes from the Greek elements “de” (δε) meaning “earth," and “meter” (μητηρ) meaning “mother." Thus, the word pandemic literally means "all over mother earth."

Pandemic by definition isn't a word for disease. We could have a pandemic of wealth, a pandemic of health, a pandemic of peace, or a pandemic of geese. 

Now let me show you something about the danger of elitism. Elites in power are dangerous for the people. They believe they have knowledge that greatly exceeds the populace. 

Elitists enjoy taking simple concepts that are easily understood by the general populace and bestow on them fancy words that persuade the populace that "those in control know better than we do."

That's not true. 

Elitist arrogance in the corridors of power produces government interventions, introduced with excessive confidence, that often lead to disastrous results for the people. The gap among elitists between what an elitist knows and what an elitist thinks he knows is astronomically higher than the gap in the general populace.

The average citizen is capable of figuring out what is best for him and his family by himself. But the elitist loves to take what can be simply understood and wrap it with bewildering and confusing terms. 

Let me illustrate. 

Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) began in a laboratory in China.

Soon, Covid-19 spread "all over mother earth" (pandemic). However, Covid-19 spread among various nations with differing speeds and intensities. 

It hit Britain before it came to South Africa. It hit Brazil after South Africa, but before India. It hit Peru after India. 

Rather than just talking to the general populace in easy to understand language, the World Health Organization began changing its language to Greek. 

Covid in Great Britain became the ALPHA VARIANT.  Covid in South Africa became the BETA VARIANT. Covid in Brazil became the GAMMA VARIANT. Covid in India became the DELTA VARIANT.

You can chart all the VARIANTS on the WHO website. 

Above my door, as I leave my office is a sign that says ESCHEW OBFUSCATION. In simple language, it means, "avoid confusion." Those in power should communicate with clarity and make sure the populace comprehends. 

So, I'll do what the government should be doing: 

"Covid-19 can cause serious symptoms among the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions. However, the risk of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome through reinfection is "very low." That means, once you've had Covid-19 and recovered, your risk of Severe Acutre Respiratory from catching Covid-19 again is very low due to your natural antibodies.

Covid-19 spreads around the nations of the world with various rates of transmission and degrees of intensity. Therefore, reports of severe sickness and death associated with Covid-19 from other nations come to us at different times. Deaths due to Covid-19 as a percentage of a nation's population remain low, but this rate varies according to the general health of a nation's populace. Covid will continue to come to the United States in various waves of Covid from other countries, similar to seasonal flu.

M-RNA vaccines will not prevent anyone in the United States from getting Covid-19 in the future. A vaccine may mitigate Covid symptoms.  Good health and nutrition in people with no pre-existing medical conditions will also mitigate Covid symptoms. Natural antibodies in those already infected with, and recovered from, Covid-19 form a natural barrier against the reoccurance of the disease, similar to a vaccine. 

The risk/benefit of receiving a laborartory vaccine against Covid-19 will vary according to one's age, health, and a previous recovery from Covid-19. 

Give respect to those who choose to be vaccinated and give respect to those who choose not to be vaccinated. Ivermectin is undergoing peer review scientic testing and may be prescribed to mitigate Covid-19 symptoms.

Covid-19 is a disease that will be around for a long time, and all Americans should pay more attention to their individual health."

I paid attention in Greek class. 

Oppression Olympics and Victimization as a Virtue

During my freshman year in high school, I took a Civics Class. The energetic teachers (there were two) of the class, a young man in his first year of teaching and an older woman,  nurtured a seedling love for politics within me.

One day they asked the question, "Define what it means to be a liberal."

Four decades later,  I still remember the discussion that ensued. Maybe my memory is clear because I could tell they had a fondness for my scholastic aptitude, and they called on me to answer their question. 

But I was stumped.

It was in the days of President Jimmy Carter, and my poor answer revolved around picking and choosing some things President Carter did that I heard people call "liberal politics" in the late 1970s. I gave a weak description of what I thought liberalism was.  I couldn't give a definition of what liberalism is.

The rebuttal my teachers gave me went like this: "You chose to define a liberal by his actions. You've not given us a definition of the word "liberal." The Patriots of the American Revolution were called "liberals" by the English Parliament in 1776, but today Americans deem 1776 American Patriots as "conservatives." One generation's liberal is another generation's conservative. Give us a definition."

After a flurry of back-and-forth, we eventually came to a definition of a liberal. 

"A liberal is one who believes in freedom." 

The root word of liberal is liberty. So a liberal is one who cherishes human freedom. The freedom to speak, the freedom to worship, the freedom to think, the freedom to live, and the freedom to pursue happiness as the individual pleases, as long as the pursuit of that personal freedom does not impinge on the freedom of others. 

Freedom is the key.

There seems to be a loss of true liberalism in America.

The political left is not liberal anymore. It is regressive in its pursuit of freedom. The regressive left is actually desiring to remove individual freedoms.

The regressive left categorizes people based upon victimization. They will place groups of people into classifications of victimhood, and then remove personal liberties for people not in that class. The regressive left has created a modern Olympics of Oppression.

Victimization has become the highest virtue in American leftist culture. 

If you are a minority woman who believes in abortion, then you can march in the Women's March on Washington, D.C. But if you are a pro-life woman, you're barred from the freedom of marching and expressing your views, regardless of your color.

If you are a Muslim refugee from Syria who's been victimized by radicals, then you are given American freedom without restriction. But if you are an American Muslim who speaks out against radical Islamic terrorism, then you are called a bigot, and your freedom to speak out against radical Islamic terror is removed.

If you are a minority transgender person, then you are exalted onto the platform of freedom of expression and given your own bathroom, but if you are a straight person with children, then the regressive left seeks to repress you from expressing your views in public and wishes to force you to take your children into a transgendered bathroom. 

If you think like the regressive left on university campuses, you are bestowed individual freedom to speak, protest and lead. But even if you are a black woman (minority), and you think like an evangelical Christian, your freedom to speak, protest and lead on a university campus is removed.

Freedom is given to only the virtuous in the regressive left, and the greatest virtue in their way of thinking is victimization. 

At some point, America will wake up and see that a true, classical liberal believes in freedom for every individual, regardless of whether or not that individual is in a category of victimization.

One should never be given freedom of worship if one's intention is to hide guns, bombs, and terrorists in a house of worship. Your freedom of worship cannot impinge on the freedoms of others. 

Ironically, even some true classical liberals in America are waking up to the fact that their individual freedoms are being removed by the regressive left.  

For one of the few times in my life, I find myself agreeing with the New York Times. 

CLASSIC liberalism exalted tolerance, reflected in a line often attributed to Voltaire: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”"On university campuses, that is sometimes updated to: 'I disapprove of what you say, so shut up.' Universities risk becoming liberal echo chambers and hostile environments for conservatives, and especially for evangelical Christians. As I see it, we (on university campuses) are hypocritical: We welcome people who don’t look like us, as long as they think like us."

The regressive left has left classic liberalism. They've embraced a form of intolerance that is eroding the freedoms of individual Americans who do not think like them. I will fight for my regressive left friends to express their views freely, but when they plug their ears to hearing a value system different from their own, I will freely point out they've left classic liberalism and become intolerant.

Oppression Olympics are games we Americans should never play.

(Note: This post was originally written by me FOUR years ago at the beginning of the summer Olympics. The past four years have proven my point. Back then we had never heard of Critical Race Theory. Back then we could not imagine the streets of America on fire due to riots. Classic liberalism (freedom) is in danger of being lost to radical activism that victimizes everyone. America is a meritocracy where everyone is free to make something of themselves if they work hard, surround themselves with good people, and live a life with full of Divine purpose and meaning)

Kayla Nichols, the Enid Library, and the Enid News

Enid's Public Library

Kayla Nichols is a mom in Enid who takes responsibility for teaching her children. She is smart, level-headed, and cares not to indoctrinate your children with her Christian values. However, she is clear and direct with anyone who seems to be encroaching on her maternal responsibilities by attempting to indoctrinate Kayla's children with a value system that is not hers.

This leads us to a problem that Kayla Nichols saw last week at the Enid Public Library, a library that Kayla funds with her taxes. She walked into the library and felt that displays promoted a particular brand of morality or secular religion opposite of what she teaches her children. The issue isn't the freedom for others to read, teach, or believe as they choose. The issue is the promotion of a particular set of moral values without equal representation. If the library is for all people, where are the books in the display that reveal the majority moral standard of citizens of Enid who fund the Enid Public Library? 

Kayla wrote a letter to the Enid Public Library,s board of directors and shared it on Facebook.  Activists who encroach on everyone else's freedom by demanding obeisance and acquiescence to their particular point of view were not happy with Kayla's dissent. 

Because some do not have access to Facebook and are unaware of the local controversy, I am publishing Kayla's letter to the library board, her answers to commonly asked questions, and her letter to the Enid News that the newpspaper promised to publish. 

Kayla's Original Letter to the Library Board

June 29, 2021

Re: Enid Public Library
120 West Maine
Enid, OK 73701

To All Concerned:

My name is Kayla Nichols and up until yesterday I had not been a regular patron of the Enid Public Library. I stopped using the library for my book needs many years ago due to frustration over the emphasis on technology, games, and poorly written literature in the children’s section. On June 28, 2021 I walked back into the library and was shocked by the displays I found. I am writing to you as a concerned citizen of Garfield county regarding the way my tax dollars are being used.

Directly past the library entrance was a display full of only pro-LGBTQ+ literature. Moving further on, the books displayed on top of the shelves in the teen section were all pro-LGBTQ in nature. I took the time to read the summaries of these books found on their jackets and was appalled to see how brazenly they were pushing a counter-Christian message onto our youth.

I am not writing to convince you to destroy these books. I do not believe in book banning and am a full supporter of libraries providing access to all books, even those I don’t agree with. I also understand that not all citizens served by our public library hold to my same political and religious views. However, I am asking that the library change their approach to book displays to accurately align with American Library Association protocol as well as state and municipal law. Doing so would ensure that our community is fairly represented. It is incredibly important to understand the difference between a book being available and a book or ideology being promoted (and to children none-the-less) through clever displays and marketing.

The American Library Association states on their website (Religion in Libraries Q&A), “Yes, religion is a legitimate focus of programming insofar as it reflects the interests of the library’s community and furthers the library’s mission. The purpose of such an event should be to inform, educate, and entertain rather than to proselytize or promote one set of religious beliefs over other religious beliefs. Libraries should strive to offer programming that reflects the diversity of religious belief or non-belief in their communities and to ensure that there is no perception that the library favors one religious group over another.” In the same section the ALA goes on to state, “Just as libraries curate their collections to ensure representation, libraries may also highlight resources in their collections, including those with religious themes, as appropriate. The religious resources included in displays should represent the library’s community accurately while being broadly inclusive.” They ended by remarking, “Libraries and librarians should respect the diverse religious traditions of their communities, libraries exist to serve the information needs of all users in their communities. Library policies should be applied equally to shelving of religious books, service to users, or access to religious websites as they would be to any other shelving, service or web access. In addition, privileging one religious tradition over others could violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment.”

I would like to take the opportunity to share the ways in which the displays I saw yesterday do not align with the protocol listed above, much less state and local laws which restrict public agencies from promoting only select political or religious traditions.

1) While the pro-LGBTQ books on display may reflect the views of a portion of our population, they do not in anyway help to further the library’s mission: “The Public Library of Enid and Garfield County provides access to materials and services in a variety of formats to meet the informational and recreational needs of the community. The Library values the dignity of individual beliefs and promotes the literacy and the empowerment of individuals through lifelong learning.” These books are not displayed in order to promote literacy. Everyone on both sides of the aisle is aware of this.

2) None of the books selected for display value the dignity of those who believe this lifestyle to be a sin against our God.

3) The very fact that the books on display were all pro-LGBTQ makes it extremely clear the purpose was not to entertain or inform. The displays were set up in order to proselytize and promote one set of religious beliefs over another set of religious beliefs. If this were not the case, the displays would have had a balance of books including those aimed at discussing the sinfulness of this lifestyle and support groups for those choosing to leave the LGBTQ+ lifestyle.

4) I am sure the librarians are aware that Enid is a community filled with many Bible believing Christians who are against the LGBTQ agenda. The displays I saw did not in anyway accurately represent the diversity of beliefs our community has on this issue. The books represented only one side of the issue and one portion of our community.

5) According to the American Library Association themselves, privileging one religious tradition over another violates the first amendment. What is occurring in our library is not only unwise or unappreciated, it is illegal. ask that the library stop using their displays to present only one side of political or religious topics.

I ask that immediately upon receipt of this letter, any remaining LGBTQ (or other political/religious) books be either removed from the displays or balanced out by books representing other sides of the issue in accordance with the diverse population you serve. I ask that the Enid Public Library follow the law and not embroil themselves in the promotion of select religious and political ideas. From now on I will regularly visit the library to verify that the displays are unbiased and accurately represent our community. I will be contacting all Enid Library Board members about this issue. Please do the right thing and keep religious and political activism out of our public library!

Sincerely,

Kayla

 

Kayla's Responses to the Most Common Questions Asked Her

 

1)      Are you a hate-filled, retarded *** with abused children? (*This is just one of the names those who disagreed called Kayla on social media). 

 

I am not retarded or any of the other profane words you were curious about. My kids are happy and well treated. I am not filled with hate for LGBTQ people.

 

2)       How can you possibly love a person AND declare their LGBTQ lifestyle a sin?

 

People are much more than their sexuality. They are not defined by who they have sex with or their genitalia. I struggle with being impatient and prideful. My husband loves me. He does not love my sins. I am more than my sins and so are LGBTQ people.

 3)       Is it hateful to call the LGBTQ lifestyle a sin?

 

It would be hateful to genuinely believe that a person is engaging in a behavior which separates them from the blessings of God and brings ill consequences and say nothing. You can scoff at this notion as absurd if you do not believe in God and His Word, but you must agree that the Christian is truly not trying to be hateful. They are doing what they feel is the most loving thing for that person. Still, we know we will be called hateful for this practice. We expect this. Christians have been persecuted for this very thing for millenia. And yet, Christ has asked us to speak truth. The Bible says, “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable…” (Leviticus 20:13).  As a follower of Christ, I follow the Bible. I hold it as divine truth. I must do this even if what it says offends others. If I do not, I am no follower of His. This brings me to my next point.

 4)      What does LGBTQ+ have to do with religion?

 

The LGBTQ lifestyle is a religious issue.  There is a definite case that could be made illustrating how the belief systems and practices of the LGBTQ community constitute a religion. However, this is certainly not an idea that is easy to prove to the public and was not the intent of my letter. My intent was to show that the LGBTQ lifestyle is a religious issue for Christians. The holy book for our religion directly instructs us on what we should believe about this practice. It is a religious issue for a large part of our community even if it is not a religious issue for all.

 

5)      How can you use statements from the American Library Association when the same organization directly promotes Pride celebrations in other sections of their literature?

 

That is an excellent point. The ALA does not even hold to their own beliefs about inclusion and equal representation of religious matters when the LGBTQ agenda is involved.

  6)      Why did you wait until the end of Pride month to write this letter?

 

I never set out to do this. I hadn’t been in the library in years and had not given this issue any real thought. On June 28 I needed somewhere to hang out while waiting between appointments in the downtown area. The library was the perfect choice. What I was met with upon entering spurred me to act. I could not in good conscience ignore what I saw and read. I knew I must not only let my voice be heard, but must inform fellow citizens as to what was going on in our public library.

 

7)      What is your end goal?

         It is three-fold:

 

a)       I want the library and any other publicly funded entity to realize that the taxpayers who support them do not wish for their money to be used to promote certain religious beliefs over others. We should not be forced to fund a celebration of a practice we disagree with on a religious basis. It has nothing to do with access to books on the shelves. It has everything to do with a deliberate attempt by our government to discredit the religion held by a substantial portion of the population they serve.

 

b)      I want to show Christians that they must not stay silent any longer. I want to show them that the prayers of the saints will outweigh the backlash of the opposition. I want to demonstrate courage in hopes that others will follow in my footsteps.

 

c)       I want to protect children in our community from having public officials feed them the lie that their identity is wrapped up in their sexuality and that a life of sin will lead to happiness and fulfillment. These issues are for parents to address, not public librarians, public school teachers or anyone else being paid a public salary.

 

8)      Can you fully explain the legal basis for your letter?

 

I am a simple mother. I do not claim to be a lawyer, nor do I have the skill to argue this in court. I am an educated citizen, however, and understand my rights under the establishment clause of the First Amendment. I also understand that municipalities and states are subject to the Constitution and spell this out in their own laws. If public schools are not legally allowed to lead prayers which favor one particular religion, public libraries should not be legally allowed to promote displays and programs which disfavor that same religion. Is my legal argument sound? Would it win in court if challenged? I do not know, but I still must stand up for what I believe is right.

 

Kayla's Letter to the Enid Newspaper

After being told by the newspaper that a second news story would run (Correction: The reporter who contacted Kayla only after the original story never promised a news story, that was an assumption, and our apologies to the newspaper.),  Kayla received word from the paper that no additional news story would occur. The reporter/editor asked that Kayla write an editorial letter (maximum 300 words). Kayla's July 4, 2021, letter to the Enid News and Eagle is below.

On the afternoon of June 28, I walked into the public library and was shocked at what I found. This is a small selection of the many books that were carefully chosen and displayed at children’s eye level near the entrance and in the teen’s section.             

“Maggie is fifteen and has spent basically every summer of her life at the one-hundred-year-old Camp Bellflower for Girls…After a split second of innocent physical contact during a lice inspection, Maggie falls into gut-twisting love with Erin, an older, wiser, and, most surprising of all (at least to Maggie), female counselor.” [Honor Girl; Maggie Thrash] 

“Macho drag king, magical queens, new love interests, and surprising allies will move Nina both painfully and hilariously closer to a self she never knew she could be…” [Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens; Tanya Boteju] 

“When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she’s not a boy. She knows she’s a girl.” [George; Alex Gino] 

Morgan (male): “…I’m trapped in this mixed-up body, in this wrong life…Maybe one day I’ll be ready to become the person I am inside. To become her…Six years of birthdays reveal Eric and Morgan’s destiny as they come together, drift apart, fall in love…” [Birthday; Meredith Russo] 

All the books on display were pro-LGBTQ in nature. It was not neutral or balanced; it was directly promoting one belief system over another. Many in our community do not wish to be forced to pay for the promotion and celebration of beliefs and practices which our own religion tells us to abhor. My original letter as well as answers to my most common questions can be found at www.wadeburleson.org. If I am to be hated, let it be based on the truth and entirety of what I have written. 

Kayla Nichols

I am appreciative of people like Kayla Nichols. Her desires are clear. She has no interest in controlling how you think, what you teach your kids, or how you live your life. 

This mother is simply saying, "Hands off when it comes to indoctrinating my children. That's my job."