The Fear of Your Death and of Our Immortal God

There is an abundant fear of death in our world.

The extent of that fear reaches absurd proportions when family members are prevented from being next to a loved one dying lest others die. 

If the public believed in the resurrection from the dead and God's promise of eternal life to those who trust Him and surrender their lives to Jesus' control, then one would demand to be next to a loved one dying because it is a "see you soon moment" rather than a fearful "this is the end of existence moment."

People fight dying because nobody likes non-existence. 

Most people either don't believe or understand the full impact of life, death, and the resurrection of the righteous to immortal life and for that reason, there is an inordinate fear of death.

Those afflicted with thanatophobia (e.g. "the fear of death") would serve themselves well be reading a few scholars who have recently written some seminal books on life, death, and resurrection.

It could change your life. 

Seminal writing is rare in the theological. The word "seminal" comes from the Latin word serere, which means "to sow." Writing that is seminal represents the seed (Latin: semen) of a future and greater harvest of truth that sets people free from the bondage of fear, for Jesus said, "When you know the truth, the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32).

An example of seminal theological truth is Luther's Ninety-Five Theses (1517). In those theses that Luther penned, he declared that it is faith in Christ's work justifies a sinner before God, not the sacraments. Luther's writings on justification, though biblical, were deemed heretical by the Roman Catholic Church.

Five centuries later Luther's heresy has become evangelical orthodoxy, widely accepted by Christians around the world, including many Roman Catholics. Seminal theological writings are rare because as Solomon once declared:

"Is there anything of which one might say, "See this, it is new"? Already it has existed for ages which were before us" (Ecclesiastes 1:10).

Truth exists independent of truth's discovery. The only thing ever lost is one's understanding of truth. "God's word is truth" (John 17:17), and it isn't lost. But rare is the individual who uncovers truth from God that has been lost by others. When men are in darkness, the comprehension of truth in the mind of one man is often ridiculed. 

The Dark Ages brought about a great loss of human understanding of what it means to be made right with God through faith in Jesus alone. Luther's writings were seminal in that it only uncovered pre-existent and eternal truth. The greatest opposition to Luther's writing on justification by faith came from church leaders who adhered to centuries of church dogma on the subject.

Though Luther's teaching on being right with God through trusting Christ seemed new, it was in reality quite old truth because it was found in Scripture. Accepted church dogma can sometimes be the greatest hindrance to uncovering eternal truth via sola Scriptura (Scripture alone).

So for those afraid of death, it is possible that some seminal theological writing has taken place in the late 20th century and early portions of this century that could help you. New Testament scholars such as F.F. Bruce, Edward Fudge, John R.W. Stott, Richard Bauckham, John W. Wenham, and others have written on the subject of death, resurrection, the judgment, and afterlife, rejecting Plato's separation of soul and body and holding to what they call the biblical truth of indivisible unity between body and soul.

To these writers, the Hebrew word nephesh describes the life of man as soul and body united, with the consequence of sin being death to the whole person, both body and soul. The Bible portrays every man as a mortal. The belief that there is an independent, immaterial soul that lives apart from the body is from Plato, and not the Bible, say these New Testament scholars. They point out that the unique and profound teaching of both the Old and New Testaments is the resurrection of dead persons to face either judgment and eventually eternal death (i.e. 'the second death'), or to escape the coming judgment and to be granted the gift of immortal life through Jesus Christ.

In summary, the seminal theological writing of these modern scholars revolves around the following biblical truths:

(1). God alone possesses immortality (I Timothy 6:16), and the gift of God is eternal life to only those whose names are "written in the book of life" via their union with Jesus Christ (see John 3:16 and Revelation 20:12).

(2). Death destroys every mortal human being and is called "the last enemy" of those who die in Christ (I Cor. 15:26). But, these scholars say, "there is coming a day when all those who are in the tombs will hear His voice" (John 5:29) and be resurrected to life (nephesh) by God's power.

(3). Everyone will be resurrected from the dead, both the righteous and the unrighteous, and will either be judged and righteously punished for their actions on earth (John 5:29), or will be credited with the righteousness of Christ via their faith in Him and graciously escape the 'day of wrath' (Proverbs 11:4), being given immortal life which Jesus earned by His actions when He came to earth (Revelation 20:12).

(4). The punishment of the wicked by God is both equitable and proportional. That Day of Judgment will reveal various sentences of length and intensity for individual sinners, some punishments being more severe than others (Matt. 10:15).

(5). Hell is a holy prison where God's wrath is measured out in direct portion and relation to one's sins and crimes committed by each creature judged, with the final end of the unrighteous being their utter destruction, called "the second death" (Revelation 20:14).

(6). The end of every sinner without Christ is eternal death and the end of every justified sinner is immortal life (Romans 6:23).

Ironically, Martin Luther had a hand in these modern seminal writings. 

Both Luther and William Tyndale believed that "the dead are asleep, and feel nothing at all." Time is inconsequential during death, taught Luther, so regardless of the passage of time on earth, the next conscious thought after closing one's eyes in death is the awareness of hearing Christ's voice and feeling the power of the Creator in being raised from the dead. So when Jesus says, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43) to the dying thief who believed in Him, it was indeed that day from the thief's perspective that he was with Christ in heaven. It's a little like going to sleep through anesthesia prior to surgery, only to wake up seemingly an instant later only to discover the long surgery is over. Time as measured on earth is irrelevant in the resurrection.

So, there is technically nothing wrong with a believer in Christ saying at his mother's funeral, "Mom is smiling in heaven today," even though the reality is his mom arrives in heaven the same day as he does. The general resurrection for all mankind occurs on that coming day when the voice of Christ will raise the dead (John 5:28). For those who wonder at the power of God to raise the dead after millenniums of corruption and cellular dissolution, one only has to look at the universe to see the majesty and power of the Creator to call into existence by fiat things that are. On that great day of resurrection, which is the central theme of New Testament Christianity, God's people will experience the perishable being clothed:

"...with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory" (I Corinthians 15:54 NIV).

John Calvin opposed Luther's views on the death of both body and soul, and at the young age of twenty-five, he published Psychopannchia, a refutation of Luther's conditional immortality. Calvin took the position that the soul is innately immortal, and most post-reformation evangelicals have followed Calvin's views since. Unlike 'justification by faith,' Luther's teaching on the conditional immortality of the soul never blossomed into evangelical orthodoxy, even though Luther's writings on this subject were comparable to his writings on justification by faith in both breadth and depth.

What if we are living in a new day of fresh discovery of the eternal truth that God alone has immortality and that the gift of God is eternal life to only those who trust Jesus? What changes? Answer: Our understanding of heaven and hell.

The Implications

The Bible's use of the word "reward" for believers is always singular in the New Testament. Contrary to modern church dogma that various 'rewards' are given to Christians for the way they lived their lives on earth, the New Testament speaks of a singular reward given to all believers in union with Jesus Christ. This reward is eternal life. Jesus earned this reward for us by His perfect obedience as Man. Though He is God, He became Man for us. Eternal life is granted to only those who trust Him:

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Notice, the wicked who die apart from Christ perish. If what these modern biblical scholars are saying is true, those who reject the only Savior given to mankind (Acts 4:12) will be raised from the dead to face the righteous condemnation of God for their sins against mankind and their Creator (Psalm 2:12), will serve penal sentences for their actions, and will then perish. Without question, the Bible teaches that hell is real and not imaginary, penal (punitive) and not corrective, and is eternal not temporal in terms of the end result of all punishments meted out by God.

The Bible's hell is the prison created by God where various sentences of divine punishment are served by those raised to judgment in order to die a second time as a consequence of their sins. However, it is in hell that God recognizes good things done in this life by giving a lighter sentence of punishment (Matthew 10:15). Degrees of punishment in hell is not mercy; it is justice. Righteous judges on earth never give the same sentence for different crimes. The punishment must always match the crime to be considered true justice.

So it is with the most righteous Judge of all. A person who dies without union to Christ, but has lived a moral, ethical, and selfless life as measured by the natural law in the heart of every man (see Romans 1:20), will receive a far less severe punishment from God than the rapists, serial murderers, and child abusers who also die without Christ. Therefore, the eternal part of hell is the end result of punishment (i.e. 'the second death') and not the process of punishing. The teaching of Jesus shows that the eternality of hell is not the torment, but the final punishment of destruction: 

"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

My friend, Kyle Williams, told me he was in a bookstore and saw a book cover with a picture of a man holding a beer in his hand with the title being I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. Christ isn't sitting behind that kind of bar when He judges man. It will be a solemn experience for those without a Savior, and the severity and intensity of divine punishment will be in direct proportion to the wickedness of the thoughts, actions, character, and life choices of the one judged by Christ (see Romans 2). The good news of the gospel is that all those in Christ escape this day of wrath (see Romans 8:1).

As a branch eventually dies after being separated from the tree, so too, every unredeemed sinner raised to life to face judgment before the Creator will be "cast out" from God's presence to eventually die again (Matthew 13:41-43). The process of dying the second death while in hell will vary in degree, intensity and time -- according to the sins and crimes committed on earth; but the final end will be the second death for all the wicked (Revelation 20:14). Let me make it simple and clear. According to the Bible, the wicked will be destroyed (Psalm 37:38).

Those evangelicals who have believed in the eternal torment of the wicked may find it rather shocking to consider that the 'gift of God," which is called eternal life in Scripture (John 3:16), is only given to believers in Jesus and never to those who die apart from Christ. Jesus says those without Christ will perish (see again John 3:16). There are numerous other biblical passages where the end of wicked is made just as clear.

A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.
(Psalm 37: 10-11)

The wicked are like chaff that blows away.
(Psalm 1:4)

The wicked will be punished with everlasting destruction
and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
(II Thessalonians 1:9)

As Edward Fudge writes,

"The wicked will not enjoy any of God's blessings that the redeemed enjoy, because they will perish (Romans 2:12). They are anathema, which means marked for destruction (I Cor. 16:22; Gal. 1:8-9). This is not a theoretical statement that might really happen and might not. No, God will destroy them (Rom. 2:12; I Cor. 3:17). Paul says it in every he can say it. The wicked will suffer destruction (Gal. 5:21; 6:8; Phil. 1:28; 3:19). That destruction will be sudden when it comes (I Thess. 5:3), and once accomplished, it will be everlasting (II Thess. 1:9)." (Hell: A Final Word, page 128).

For those Christians who object by saying, "But Jesus said in the parable of the sheep and the goats that These (the goats) will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal' (Matthew 25:46). 

"Doesn't eternal punishment mean eternal punishment?"

Yes, it does. But it is called eternal punishment, not eternal punishing. 

We read in the Bible of "eternal salvation" (Hebrews 5:9), "eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12), "eternal judgment" (Hebrews 6:2), "eternal punishment" (Matthew 25:46), and "eternal destruction" (II Thessalonians 1:9). 

These five works of God will not be fully known or experienced by individuals until the age to come. But there is something very interesting about these eternal activities of God.

(1). Eternal salvation is the result of saving
(2). Eternal redemption is the result of redeeming.
(3). Eternal judgment is the result of judging.
(4). Eternal punishment is the result of punishing.
(5). Eternal destruction is the result of destroying.

We Christians correctly point out that the Bible teaches the process of saving us is not eternal. God doesn't keep continually saving; He saved us at the cross. It is the results of saving which are eternal.  Eternal salvation is life. Yet, many Christians contradict Scripture and logic by not teaching that the process of punishing comes to end as well, and it is the end result of God's punishing that is eternal. Eternal punishment is death.  

Eternal salvation results from a saving that ends, but the sinner's salvation (life) is eternal. Eternal redemption results from a redeeming that ends, but the sinner's redemption (forgiveness) is eternal. So too, the punishing of a sinner (God's judicial review of one's life at the judgment) ends, but the sinner's punishment is eternal (the second death). God's eternal destroying of the sinner stops, but the destruction of that sinner is eternal. 

The Principle

The reward for every sinner who surrenders his or her life to Jesus Christ and trusts His work on the cross for sinners is the gift of eternal life. That life eternal is won by the perfect obedience of Christ on behalf of His people. The notion that there will be different degrees of enjoyment in heaven based upon one's meritorious works on earth is both contrary to the teaching of Scripture and the principles of grace.

But on the other hand...

The degrees of punishment, retribution, and vengeance in hell vary according to the actions of a person in this life. The moral, good and selfless person who rejects Christ will find the process of punishing and the progress toward his ultimate destruction (the second death) less painful, more tolerable, and ultimately unequal to that of a rapist, serial murderer, and other vile criminals. All the wicked will end up like ‘chaff blown away’ (Psalm 1:4), but the process of dying the second death will vary according to ‘the deeds done in the body.”

The Bible declares that this process of dying the second death in the prison of hell will include distress (Romans 2:9), fury (Romans 2:8), tribulation (Romans 2:9) and resentment (Luke 13:28). God’s wrath will be judicially measured and meted out according to the individual's crimes committed on earth (Romans 2:8; I Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9), but in the end, the Lord will remove the wicked."

"The face of the LORD is set against those who do what
is evil, to erase all memory of them" (Psalm 34:16).

After proofreading this article for me, my wife said, "Wade, it gives me a great deal of comfort knowing that Adolph Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and others who lived such wicked lives on earth will be destroyed by God and not live for eternity." I told her it also could bring great comfort to those who see the inherent beauty of justice, for God will not punish all the wicked the same. Of course, the ultimate plumb-line for truth is not our comfort. Truth will set people free. The truth of Scripture regarding death, resurrection, judgment and eternal life will free people to see the depth and beauty of both God's love and His justice.

Truth is eternal. 

Heaven is equal ground; hell is unequal ground. 

The reason there is such a fear of death in our world today is that people know intuitively and individually that this life is all there is for the wicked, other than a fearful waiting for the Judgment.

For indeed, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living (immortal) God (Hebrews 10:31). 

It is fearful, that is, unless you know that the immortal God has given to you the gift of immortal life. 

"For the wages of your sin is death, but the free gift of God is immortal life in Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23). 

The New England Journal of Medicine and Masks

I'll keep this short and to the point.

I'm for people wearing masks.

I will never wear a mask myself, except out of respect for the elderly and the vulnerable, but I'm for you wearing one if you choose. If a business requires me to wear a mask, I will always be respectful, but I will most likely go somewhere else that doesn't require a mask.

If there is a civil order for me to wear a mask in my home or my private business, I will defy the civil order.

In my research, I've determined that masks outside of a hospital environment may actually help spread infections and do not prevent infections.

You see, I agree with the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

They are the experts, and they've studied masks.

In their May 2020 online release of a peer-reviewed scientific study on the use of universal masks outside of hospitals, the New England Journal of Medicine comes to a few startling conclusions.

Please read the entire article for yourself, but I will highlight a few:

We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection.

The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal.

In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.

First and foremost, a mask is a core component of the personal protective equipment (PPE) clinicians need when caring for symptomatic patients with respiratory viral infections, in conjunction with gown, gloves, and eye protection.

Masks are not only tools, they are also talismans that may help increase health care workers’ perceived sense of safety, well-being, and trust in their hospitals. Although such reactions may not be strictly logical, we are all subject to fear and anxiety, especially during times of crisis. One might argue that fear and anxiety are better countered with data and education than with a marginally beneficial mask.

I respect that you choose to wear a mask. Because I choose to not wear a mask, please refrain from saying of me:

1. You don't know the science behind wearing a mask.
2. You don't care for other people.
3. You are only being political.

On the contrary, I know the science, I do care for people, and I care not what party, President, or platform supports mandatory masks.

I do not agree.

That's liberty.

And I'll fight for your freedom as much as my own.

Will I Listen to an Expert on the State of My Soul?

I recently spoke to the Enid City Council during what many deem a public health emergency.

While I was speaking, several individuals took to social media to express their opinions about a pastor speaking on a pandemic. I am accustomed to criticism, and I love and respect everyone who disagrees with me. I have no desire to make people believe like I believe, but I have a strong desire to prevent people from forcing me to believe like they believe.

Here's a sample of some of the comments from people who listened to me speak:

"This man will be the death of Enid."
"Why do we have to listen to a preacher on public health?"
"This guy, though a fantastic speaker, is no medical expert!"

I chuckled when I read these comments. I get their sentiment. The people who posted their opinions of wanting to hear "medical experts" are sincere, but they don't know the full implications of all that they're asking.

An attorney sat behind me during the city council meeting and suggested that we have a drinking game (acknowledging that drinking was not my forte). He suggested that we take a shot every time a certain councilman used the word "expert" and encouraged Enid citizens to listen to the medical experts and ignore everyone else.

I would have become drunk had I taken the attorney up on his bet.

I understand that some people don't like what this preacher says about mandatory masks. They don't deem me to be an expert on public health.

For the sake of this post, I will concede their point. I am no expert on public health.

But I am an expert on the Bible and the human soul. I've learned the original Hebrew and Greek of the Scriptures (Old and New Testaments respectively). I know the chronology of ancient nations and the history of all the narratives of the people and nations found in the Bible. I can quote for you the order of the books of the Bible forwards and backward, give you biographies and timelines of the authors, and speak to you authoritatively on what the Bible says about your soul and eternal state of your life.

I am an expert on the subject of God's judgment on human lives.

Are you ready to listen?

1. God says unless you repent of your sins, you will be judged and punished by Him after you die.  (Hebrews 9:27).

2. If you continue in your homosexual behaviors, adulterous sexual behaviors, pedophilia (sexual activity with children), bestiality, and other sexual deviancies, you will be punished by your Creator and die a second death (I Corinthians 6:9).

3. To actually save your life eternally, you must lose your life temporally. To escape the judgment of God, you must die to yourself and to your selfish desires, and follow Jesus Christ and His desires for your life (Matthew 16:24-26). 

4.  Unless you give up your dunken behaviours, and unless you resist your impulse to destroy another person's property and steal from them, you will experience God's judgment (I Corinthians 6:9-10). 

5. It is imperative that your hatred of people who believe differently than you evaporate, because unless you change your practice of cursing people who see life differently than you, you will experience God's judgment on your life after your death (Matthew 5:22). 

6. It is necessary for you to receive Jesus Christ as your Master (your Boss), and trust His work on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins, or you will die an eternal death after the judgment (John 8:24; John 3:18)

7.  Your love for people, even those who disagree with your positions, is the evidence that you have the gift of life eternal. If you say you know God but don't love people who disagree with you, you are a liar, and the Truth is not in you (I John 4:20). 

How many of you disagree with me, want to argue with me, or resist everything I've written above?

I'm fine with your disagreement, always have been, always will be. I protect your liberty to disagree and love you regardless.

You deserve as an American the freedom to disagree with me. We live in a free country. For me to force you to accept my biblical expertise would be wrong. My job is to be winsome and convincing, then trust you and the decision you make about following my expert advice regarding your soul and how to avoid God's judgment.

Yet, you're demanding that I accept  "medical expertise' and a proposed mandatory law for physically healthy people to wear masks? You demand my acquiescence to so-called medical expertise that healthy people cover their faces with a mask because Americans are in danger of physically dying.

Ironic, is it not, that you want the "advice of medical experts on public health," but you shut your ears to the "advice of biblical experts on spiritual health."  One's physical death is trivial compared to God's judgment and the experience of the second death (Revelation 2:11).  

I am a logical man.  I accept the denigration of my speech about public health by those who believe I am no expert on public health. But if your logic is valid, then you must be consistent and accept my expertise on your spiritual health.

Eternal life is far more important than your physical life.

I have fought for the civil rights of all Americans, including the rights of homosexuals to live without government interference in their private lives.  God clearly states in His Word that self-identified homosexuals who do not repent of their deviant sexual behaviors will experience judgment,  but I don't want my beliefs forced on you? And, by George, I'll not have you force your beliefs on me.

Yet out of fear of death, you wish to make laws that healthy people should mask-up, churches should close-up, and singers should shut-up.

Sorry.

You can't have it both ways.

Either accept the opinion of experts on public health and the opinion of experts on spiritual health, and press for mandatory laws to help people avoid physical death and God's impending judgment at the second death, or choose the path of freedom (which I do) and let both sides disagree and only establish those laws that protect the rights of individual liberty for every American.

Don't Play the Blame Game and Get On With Life

Nobody but you is in control of your joy in this life.

Last night the Enid City Council voted against a mandatory mask law in the city of Enid. The 5-2 vote came after a rousing flurry of speeches from intelligent, passionate citizens.

The people of Enid care for their neighbors. Still, they're smart enough to know that academics, scientists, and public health officials are in disagreement over the efficacy of masks, so why mandate a law that everyone must wear a mask and back violations with civil penalties? The entire nation of Sweden has never made lockdown or masks mandatory, and they've flattened the curve far better than the United States.

The chief of police courageously and publicly stated he would not enforce any civil penalties for citizens choosing not to wear a mask. His officers, he said, have more important things to do than to track down a person not wearing a mask and issue a citation of $100 for the first offense and $200 for the second offense.

Enid gets it. We want our leaders to tell citizens the truth and then trust citizens to do the right thing. The truth is, people are going to die from Covid-19, the flu, and other infectious diseases currently unknown to mankind. Educate yourself, take precautions, be considerate of your neighbor, but the idea that a healthy person should cover his mouth with a mask and be tackled by police and fined for not wearing a face mask is absurd. To mask the healthy, according to a flurry of recent scientific reports, doesn't work as a public health policy. Review the pertinent and medical literature for yourself. I heard medical "experts" last night give anecdotes about masks. We don't need anecdotes. I've got plenty that could confirm the other side of the story, but won't bore you with them. Research is done to find the truth.

The research data shows that the sick should isolate, mask and glove up if they must go out, always keeping their social distance, while taking personal responsibility for their illness.

Emmanuel Enid, the church I pastor, has a sign on the door that says anyone with a fever, cough, or symptoms of Covid-19 is to stay home and watch online. If they've tested positive and have no symptoms (asymptomatic), we would ask that they wear a mask, keep their distance. We provide masks for those who want or need them, sanitized soap at every entrance, and we disinfect the air and seats after every service. But we don't demand a mask over the mouths of the healthy and trust the sick to be good neighbors and stay away. For your information, that's the same thing we with the flu, Corona colds, and any other infectious diseases. We tell the truth and trust the people.

The word disease means "DIS- ease." If people have their physical ease "DIS -turbed," people should stay home until they are back at ease.

The American people must take responsibility for our lives, including our mental, physical, and emotional health and welfare. We should lose weight, get in shape, stop smoking dope and tobacco, limit our alcohol intake, eat right, work on our relationship with God, and refrain from blaming others for the state of our lives. Sweden gets this policy of personal responsibility and collective herd immunity. When the winter of 2020 dawns, Sweden's professional epidemiologists predict that their country will not have the boomerang nightmare of sick people everywhere (like their European neighbors) because they haven't isolated and masked the healthy.

The Governor of Oklahoma tested positive for Covid-19 this. He is "a little achy," but doing well. He is doing what any sick person should do - he's isolating from family and friends, taking precautions to not infect others, and getting on with his life. Soon, his body will develop antibodies to Covid-19. God made your body the most amazing machine in the universe. Trust Him and yourself, and when your time comes to die, commit your soul to Him.

Covid-19 cases in Garfield County are going to increase. More people are going to be hospitalized. The local hospitals, as we heard last night, have plenty of capacity. They need to get prepared for more hospitalizations this winter with Covid-19 and the flu season.

When those things I predict begin to happen soon, don't blame increased sickness on healthy people not wearing masks. Do your research. Verify the science. Take responsibility. And most of all...

Don't play the blame game and get on with life.

The Anecdotes and Science Behind Wearing a Mask

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

This will be a short read to prove a specific point.

Those who say they know how Covid-19 spreads, what cures Covid-19, and when Covid-19 will end are not telling you the truth.

1. Anecdotal stories are used when they conform to one's beliefs.

For example, New York's Dr. Vladimir Zelenko claimed to have kept hundreds of Covid-19 out of the hospital with a cocktail of antibiotics, zinc, and hydroxychloroquine. He says this treatment has given his hundreds of patients "excellent positive results."

Of course, the medical establishment excoriated Dr. Zalenko because there were no scientific peer reviews to verify Dr. Zalenko's claims. In other words, Dr. Zalenko's claims were anecdotal. By definition, anecdotal means "conclusions based on observations and not research."

Yet, when it comes to wearing a mask, we are told over and over again that someone "caught Covid-19 because they did not wear a mask." Even in alleged "scientific articles" about wearing masks, the article is filled with anecdotal stories about catching Covid-19 because someone didn't wear a mask.

Take a look at how "the spread of Covid-19" is reported after big rallies of people crammed close together.

Headlines of articles after Black Lives Matter massive rallies in every state blare "Black Lives Matter Protests Have Not Led To Covid-19 Spikes." But after one President Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the same headlines blared "Trump Rally Likely Contributed to Covid-19 Cases."

Anecdotal stories are used to prove a point.

I could tell you anecdotal stories all day about how people in our community who have caught Covid-19. My wife is a nurse. She hasn't tested positive for Covid-19. I've tested positive for antibodies. How can two people live in the same house and not both be positive for Covid-19?

I'm ministering to a couple where the wife has Covid-19, but her husband has tested negative. The husband cared for his wife for two straight weeks while she manifested symptoms - closely caring for her without protection - and he has not tested positive. He wore no personal protection.

There's an ethnic family in our community that has two members who have tested positive for Covid-19, but they live in the same house with over a dozen other members of their family, and all the rest of the family members have tested negative. None of them wore masks.

Dr. Joseph Fair in New York was hospitalized in the Covid-19 unit. The hospital assumed he had Covid-19 and did not protect him from other Covid-19 patients. After weeks in the Covid-19 unit with severe lung illness, the doctors discovered Dr. Joseph Fair never had Covid-19 and while exposed to it in the hospital unit, he never came down with Covid-19.

My point is nobody knows how Covid-19 is caught.

I'm not asking you to base any decision on my anecdotal evidence. I respect the decision that you make. If you feel led to wear a mask, then wear a mask. However, please know that those who wear masks will still get Covid-19. There is no scientific evidence that wearing a mask will protect you from Covid-19, and there is no scientific evidence that not wearing a mask means you will come down with Covid-19.

Pay attention to what people are saying who get sick with Covid-19. "We isolated. We wore masks. We don't know how we got Covid-19. We did everything we were supposed to do."

So far, everything about wearing a mask is anecdotal. People tell stories that conform to an agenda.

2. The United States Public Health Service and the U.S. Navy Scientific Study on the Spread of H1-N1.

But those who know history have an advantage.

When the most severe pandemic in world history broke out in the spring of 1918, people had no clue how H1-N1 was transmitted. They thought they knew. They thought it was spread via droplets from a sneeze, or a cough, or a through an infected person in close proximity spreading the disease in their aerosolized breath.  Thus, people were told they needed to wear masks to protect themselves.

More than 50 million people died of H1-N1. 1/3 of the world's population became infected.

But like today's Covid-19, all the evidence of how H1-N1 was spread came anecdotally.

Until late 1918.

It was then that the United States Public Health Service and the United States Navy performed a clinical and scientific study to test the transmission of H1-N1. They used 100 young volunteers who were not infected with H1-N1 and intentionally tried to infect them by placing dying and infected patients in the same room and having the sick H1-N1 patients coughing and sneezing and breathing on the 100 subjects, none of whom were masks. The scientists then took even more aggressive measures on the 100 subjects, attempting to infect them with H1-N1.

Of course, the young people thought they were signing their death warrants when they signed up for this scientific experiment, but they all volunteered because they wanted to help their nation.

You can read the results of the scientific research on the transmission of H1-N1 in this PDF report.

Not one subject in the clinical test by the United States Public Health Service and the United States Navy caught H1-N1.

Let me put that in simple language. The government attempted to infect 100 healthy patients with the most virulent disease in the history of man, but they couldn't do it.

The scientists involved in the clinical study summarized their findings in a compelling final paragraph of their report.

We entered the outbreak with a notion that we knew the cause of the disease, and were quite sure we knew how it was transmitted from person to person. Perhaps, if we have learned anything, it is that we are not quite sure what we know about the disease.

That's humility. We don't know what we don't know.

The problem with Americans in 2020 is that we are arrogant and believe anyone who disagrees with us is wrong.

My suggestion is that we all - including politicians, doctors, city officials, attorneys, and everyone else - find a little humility and stop demanding everyone agree with us.

Take personal responsibility. Follow individual ingenuity as you navigate your family, your business, and your life through these difficult days. And most of all, give other Americans liberty to see it differently than you.

The 4 Real Reasons For Mandating Masks in Public

A protest rally in Brooklyn during late June 2020

This post is about political leaders in a city or state who wish to mandate that everyone wear masks in public. This post is not about people who voluntarily wear masks.  Any person who chooses to wear a mask for health reasons should be respected and honored. Wearing a mask in certain situations is beneficial and wise. I'm writing in opposition to mandatory masks and to limiting the size of public gatherings.

Enid, Oklahoma's city council is scheduled this Wednesday afternoon/evening, 5:00 pm, July 15, 2020, to consider making masks mandatory for every person in public. The council will also consider limiting the size of public gatherings, including churches, sports activities, funerals, etc... An Enid city councilmen named Ben Ezzel, according to the Enid News and Eagle, has repeatedly pushed Enid Mayor George Pankonin for more mandatory measures as Covid-19 cases began spiking again after Enid reopened the beginning of June. 

 Enid has abundant ICU bed capacity

Here are the facts. Enid, Oklahoma serves as the county seat for Garfield County. There have been only 102 cases of Covid-19, with 75 recoveries and 2 deaths, in our entire county. According to recent public statements in the Enid News and Eagle by the leaders of our two major hospitals in Enid, we have 3 patients in the hospital with Covid-19, and almost 75% hospital capacity available. In other words, the number of Covid-19 cases have more than tripled since opening back up, but ICU beds available for treatment of Covid-19 patients remain at seasonal levels. We have plenty of hospital ICU capacity, and the number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 is not growing. They're being treated at home. 

In addition, nationwide the number of deaths due to Covid-19 has plunged while the number of Covid-19 cases has soared. The mortality rate for Covid-19 is very low according to the compilation of scientific studies by USA Today. 

Emmanuel Enid, the church I pastor, closed its buildings in March out of an abundance of concern for our local hospital capacity. We kept the buildings closed until the end of May, but during the time our buildings were closed, we went throughout our community helping people with food, transportation for doctor visits, and other needs that were called in to a Covid-19 hotline that we established.

But since late May, the buildings of Emmanuel Enid have opened and hundreds of people have come to our facilities every weekend, and large groups have gathered almost every day of the week for different events, including funerals. Even though we've averaged about 700 on campus on Sunday, that is only half of our typical attendance. Some come to the buildings, but some choose to stay home and watch online. Some wear masks, but some do not. We provide masks, but they are not mandatory. We disinfect after every service. 

Let's review the spread of Covid-19 in Garfield County since we opened the buildings in late May. Though cases have increased to 102 in Garfield County, hospital admissions have not gone up. Our church has purchased a van and our Pastor to Pacific Islanders, Yohanes Arwakon, has taken nearly 100 Pacific Islanders to be tested for Covid-19. We are ministering to two Pacific Island families who have Covid-19. We teach them how to take personal responsibility, how to distance from others, how to wash their hands, and provide masks for them. We are on the front lines with the ethnic group in our area that needs the most help. And they are doing quite well taking personal responsibility. 

A handful of individuals in our church have been diagnosed with Covid-19. The Oklahoma Blood Institute has told me that I have developed Covid-19 antibodies. My wife has not had Covid-19. In our ministry to people in Enid from the very beginning of Covid-19 (March 11), we've discovered that no matter what measures a person takes, some simply can't avoid catching Covid-19. 

Most of the people that we know who have had Covid-19 (about two dozen) all followed health protocols. They wore masks. They washed their hands. They socially distanced. They still got Covid-19. None of them has died, and all except for two were never hospitalized. 

Cases of Covid-19 throughout the United States and in Enid are indeed going to go up. Even more Americans are going to get Covid-19 in the weeks to come. What political leaders should be carefully monitoring is hospital capacity and the mortality rate. Those two indicators are in very good shape. 

Politicians who wish to make mandatory mask laws should be required to visit families with Covid-19 and to talk with business owners who must make a living during Covid-19. Doctors who wish to make laws for stopping the spread of Covid-19 should be required to make some house calls to families who already have loved ones with Covid-19 or to business owners.

We've been doing that every single day. A mandatory mask law and limiting the size of public gatherings are not needed, and in my opinion, such laws could even be more harmful than helpful in Garfield County.  Are they needed in Houston? Maybe. Maybe not. We're not Houston. 

There's a reason doctors aren't given the privilege of making laws and politicians are term limited. Doctors tend toward bias from only seeing the sickest and politicians tend toward bias due to power. We are grateful for doctors and politicians and the roles they play, but the people should be heard, for we are America's government.

People in Enid, Oklahoma, want to make our own decisions regarding wearing masks. The people in our county want to make our own decisions on how to operate our businesses during Covid-19. If a private business demands masks, we will respect them. But let the owners of that business make that decision. For example, it would be reckless for a privately-run nursing home or assisted living center not to require masks. They care for the most vulnerable. When these facilities open again and I make my weekly visits, I gladly will wear a mask for the sake of the citizens inside and out of respect for the requirements of that facility.

America thrives on the principles of personal responsibility, ingenuity, and liberty. The way to stop Covid-19 is for doctors to plead personal responsibility, politicians to encourage private ingenuity, and for all Americans to respect individual liberty.

Now to the four real reasons for mandating masks in public by political officials other than "the common good" reason which is the publicly stated one.

1. Some in political power think they're smarter than we are. 

A New York Times editorial from May 2018 suggested that liberals are not as smart as you think they are. The truth of the matter is even more precise. Liberal politicians aren't smarter than you are, though they often think they are. That's why they feel they can tell you what is best for you, what is best for your business, what is best for your family, and what is best for your community. They think they know better than you.

The city of Norman passed a mandatory mask law (Oklahoma University). The city of Stillwater passed a mandatory mask law (Oklahoma State University) last week. Tulsa's mayor is considering a mandatory mask law. Oklahoma City's mayor is considering a mandatory mask law. 

What do all these places have in common? They have mayors, city councils, and political leaders who may think they're smarter than the average citizen. Norman citizens are seeking a recall of their mayor and their entire city council through an initiative petition. 

But take a look at how the city leaders of Moore, Oklahoma, are handling the mask issue. Moore's mayor, who leads a city that sits just north of Norman, was recently asked about mandatory masks. He said,

 "We don’t want the government saying you have to wear certain clothes or wear your hair a certain way. We just don’t have any way to enforce this, and I don’t think Norman does either.”

The mayor of Moore gets it. By the way,  the city of Moore currently has the 11th highest COVID-19 case total of any city in the state, with 278 confirmed cases and nine deaths as of Thursday morning, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Enid, Oklahoma, is more than 300% lower than Moore in  the number of cases, hospitals, and deaths due to Covid-19. And Enid's mayor and city council are considering a mandatory mask law and limiting public gatherings? 

2. Change in November requires a chaos that voters remember. 

Last October 2019 I read a startling article from Market Watch that predicted Donald Trump would be re-elected as President in a landslide. 

Moody's Analytics and Market Watch have accurately predicted the re-election prospects of a sitting President since Richard Nixon by a statistical analysis of the growth of the stock market and the decrease in the unemployment rate. 

Bottom line: If the stock market goes up by a certain percentage, and the unemployment rate goes down by a certain percentage, the sitting President is always re-elected. 

The numbers in October 2019 suggested Trump would win in a landslide. The article stated: 

Trump is headed toward another four years in the White House. And, if the numbers are right, it won’t even be close. In fact, his Electoral College victory could very well be wider than the 304-227 margin he enjoyed over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

Then came March 2020 and the Covid-19 scare.

The stock market crashed. People were told to stay home. The unemployment rate soared. 

Listen carefully: I was never a supporter of Donald Trump. But what I've seen and heard since March 2020 has driven me toward support of our sitting President. 

Ask yourself the question, "Who is supporting closing businesses? Who is demanding mandatory masks? Who wants to close churches and public gatherings?" 

There's a rule in preaching that I've never forgotten. "He who shouts the loudest is typically the guiltiest."

3. There'll be billions for a vaccine when a public panic is seen. 

I am not anti-vaccine. I typically get a flu shot. However, I have a few friendships with scientists at the National Institute of Health, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. They've explained to me how big pharma makes money. 

For a vaccine to bring billions of dollars into the coffers of a pharmaceutical company, the general population must all agree to take a vaccine. It is an axiom of modern science that those scientists with patents on their medicine aren't happy with people who are healthy without their medicine. 

God created the human body as the most efficient virus fighting machine that mankind will ever know. What the laboratory invents, the human body prevents. Humans adapt far faster than any supercomputer. 

If the American people focused more on healthy eating, personal exercise, decreased smoking of tobacco, drinking of alcohol, and personal hygiene, America might be surprised how fast Covid-19 disappears. 

Big pharma should never be given a platform on television, particularly any person with financial ties to a potential vaccine for Covid-19.

4. If they don't like what you say, it will be you that has to pay. 

I find it incredulous that large gatherings were banned because of Covid-19 until Black Lives Matter rallies began taking place all over the United States.

Suddenly, public health officials began saying social justice mattered more than social distance. 

So the message sent, whether intended or not, is that the only people who should keep their mouths covered are those with whom politicians and public officials in power disagree.  

Churches were closed in California and people were told they could not sing....

But rallies and riots and protests and pandemonium were allowed in the streets in every state of the union because the message behind the protests was deemed meritorious by health officials. 

That's right.

You can beat your neighbor and destroy his business in California, but you darn not better sit next to your neighbor and sing. 

The national media gives reports after Black Lives Matter rallies that stating No Covid-19 Cases Traced to Any Black Lives Matter Mass Rallies Held Two Weeks Ago. 

But the President holds a public and civil rally in Tulsa and the national headlines: Trump Rally Perfect Storm for the Spread of Covid-19. 

Summary

I am not asking anyone to agree with what I've written. I always respect you if you disagree with me. The issue is whether or not you will respect me for pointing out that I do not believe mandatory masks or limiting the size of public gatherings is in the best interest of our community based on facts. If you do agree with the premise of this article, one that I trust is a balanced and fair,  it would be wise to let your city councilman and mayor know before Tuesday night.

Covid-19 and When God Strikes Down the Tall Tree

If you don't believe the Bible, you might want to stop reading.

On second thought...you might be the one person who should slow down and read this thoroughly.

The LORD makes a promise to the proud in Ezekiel 17:24: "I the LORD bring down the tall tree and I exalt the low tree."

In the Bible, people are often compared to trees.

"The person who delights in the LORD will be like a tree planted by streams of water" (Psalm 1:3).

When the LORD promises to "bring down the tall tree," He is repeating a theme that occurs throughout the Bible.

God promises to bring down the proud. He hates pride (Proverbs 6:16-19). The promise to bring down the proud person and to exalt the humble person is a promise that is repeated by the Messiah. Jesus said,

"For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled by the LORD, and those who humble themselves will be exalted by the LORD" (Luke 14:11). 

Let me show you an example from history how God strikes down the tall tree.

In 722 BC, a powerful and proud Assyrian king conquered northern Israel and other kingdoms. This Assyrian king wiped out Samaria, the capital of northern Israel. The king took captive the Hebrew men from northern Israel and brought them to Ninevah (capital of Assyria) as slaves. He then brought men from other nations into northern Israel and ordered them to take the Hebrew women as their wives.

The "half-breed" descendants of these marriages were the people called "Samaritans" by the Jews in Jesus' day. Jesus, born a Jew, did not follow the local custom of avoiding Samaritans. Humility never sees oneself as superior to others. Jesus went through Samaria rather than around it, and one of the classic stories of how Jesus heals wounded people is Jesus bringing real life to the Samaritan woman at the well.

But I digress.

The powerful king of Assyria ruled over an equally proud Assyrian people.  Listen to what this proud king said of himself and his accomplishments.

“By the strength of my hand I have done this,
and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.
I removed the boundaries of nations,
I plundered their treasures;
like a mighty one I subdued their kings.
As one reaches into a nest,
so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations;
as people gather abandoned eggs,
so I gathered all the countries;
not one flapped a wing,
or opened its mouth to chirp." (Isaiah 10:13-14).

Ancient Assyria reminds me of modern America.

Our land is filled with proud people and proud rulers. We boast of our economy and wealth. We brag about our sports teams and entertainment. We humbly serve no one but ourselves. We demand equal outcomes and in rage shake our fist at those who oppose us. Even demonstrations are filled with rage as tall trees bow to none and demand others bow to them.

We are a country of tall trees.

The LORD never changes. "I the LORD bring down the tall trees."

Listen to what the LORD did to the people of Assyria:

"The angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning--there were all the dead bodies" (II Kings 19:35). 

The LORD struck down the mighty and proud Assyrian people and their king.

When you were in Sunday School and read how "the angel of the LORD" came and struck down the Assyrians, you probably imagined some creature with two white wings holding a sword in his hand putting to death the Assyrians.

That's not how the LORD brought down the Assyrians.

The LORD used a disease.

In Isaiah 10 the proud Assyrian king flaunts his power to the proud Assyrian people. The LORD initially responds to the arrogant king by reminding him that the king and his proud people are in the LORD's hand and not the other way around. And then, true to His promise of "bringing down the tall tree," the LORD tells the Assyrian people how He will bring them down.

"Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it,
 or the saw boast against the one who uses it?
As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up,
or a club brandish the one who is not wood!
Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,
will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors...
and the remaining trees of his forests will be few." 

Ouch.

If the LORD over all nations can send a wasting disease to humble the Assyrian people of the 8th
Century before Christ, then surely He could send a wasting disease to humble the American people of the 21st Century after Christ.

185,000 people died in Assyria.
120,000 people have died in America so far.

After the plague, Assyria fell from power and was eventually conquered by Babylon in the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC.

It's yet to be seen what will happen to America.

Objections: 

1. Are you saying everyone who gets sick or dies of Covid-19 is guilty of personal pride?

Answer: No. Job experienced disease, economic collapse, and the death of all his sons and daughters, and yet he was a humble man. The evidence of his humility is in his statement after all the tragedies had occurred: "The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away, blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). At the end of Job's life, the LORD exalted Job, fulfilling His promise to "exalt the humble" (Job 42:12)

2. Is the LORD'S exaltation of the humble in this life or the next?

Answer: Sometimes this life, but always in the resurrection. Whether there is an exaltation of the humble in this life is the LORD'S prerogative, but the exaltation of the humble in the resurrection is the LORD's promise. After Jesus repeated the promise that the proud will be brought down and the lowly will be exalted, He said, "You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous" (Luke 14:14). If our only concern is that the LORD exalts us in this life, the Apostle Paul gives to us a strong warning: "If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be more pitied than anyone" (I Corinthians 15:19). 

3. Is the LORD bringing down every tall tree a guaranteed promise? 

Answer: Yes. This one fact alone should cause the proud person to tremble.  

"Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.” —Psalm 96:9-10

Your life is not in your hands. Trust the LORD. Humble yourself before Him and He will lift you up.

But if you keep thinking you're in control of your life and that you are the captain of this ship called life, then the LORD will eventually cut you down.

That's the lesson of Covid-19.

God strikes down the tall trees

How to Be Principled People in a World Gone Mad

Photo License: Adobe Stock

We are living in a time when social media masses will "cancel you" if you don't affirm their peculiar behaviors or if you express a principled belief that is opposite to mass culture's desires. Proposing any limitations on the behavior of others makes you persona non grata.

Meaning and purpose among America's young is now found in releasing oneself from God-ordained restraints, ancient religious prohibitions, and Judeo-Christian norms. The god of America has become an individually imagined therapeutic deity that encourages self-worship. The mind, the body, and the will have become the trinity of American worship. "My reality is my truth, and I'll do as I please, for my goal is to feel good in life."

The social shaming directed at a principled person who expresses any belief contrary to the wishes of the masses will lead to a phenomenon called cancel culture. To understand the history of the cancel culture movement, this link is worth reading.

The harm that comes to a person "canceled"  is illustrated by this story of young woman whose life has been threatened because she sought to identify with business owners boarding up their businesses to protect them from looters, rather than identifying with the looters stealing from the business owners.

Try expressing your belief that the Black Lives Matters organization is built on Marxist principles, and though you believe black lives do matter, you'll never support Black Lives Matter.

Try telling others that you believe the social and economic principles upon which Western Civilization exists are something that should be valued and cherished, not diminished.

Try voicing your conviction that the tearing down of historical statues representing Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, and a host of other historical American figures - while leaving up statues of Marx and Lenin - is a symptom of a deadly disease in the hearts of American people devoid of moral training.

Try proclaiming the truth that any sexual immorality - whether it be homosexuality, transgenderism, adultery, pedophilia, or any other sexual deviancy - is contrary to Nature and Nature's God.

You'll be canceled. You'll be called a bigot. You'll be attacked.

But if we believe that Jesus would have us love people as He loves us, then we must be willing to speak the truth in love. Don't sacrifice truth. Don't sacrifice love.

But how can both truth and love co-exist in a world gone mad?

We must remember THREE PRINCIPLES as followers of Jesus:

1. Acceptance doesn't mean affirmation. 

You can love someone without affirming their behavior. Be like Jesus with the adulterous woman at the well. Jesus loved her. But he never refrained from telling her, "Go now and leave your life of sin"  (John 8:11). You can accept someone while not affirming their behaviors. In a world gone mad, the madness only ends when principled people stand their ground and speak the truth in love and people leave their lives of sin. That's called An Awakening. 

2. My love doesn't mean no limitations.  

I am friends with a couple who unconditionally love a young man they are raising in their home. This young man is asking his adoptive parents to pay for hormone treatment to become a woman. He wants to dress like a woman and wishes to change his name to female. Mom and dad will not allow him, but they unconditionally love him. When he reaches 18, they've said to him, he can makes his own choices on how he lives. But as long as he lives in their house, there are boundaries on his behavior.

Unconditionally loving someone doesn't equate to unconditionally living with someone.  

You can love an abusive husband, but you don't have to live with him. Love does not mean no limitations. If there is such a thing as objective Truth (and there is), then love leads people to the Truth, and the Truth will set them free. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, nobody comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6). The Creator makes no mistakes when He forms the lives of His people. 

3. A delight in doesn't mean a devotion to. 

There is the imago dei (image of God) in every human being. The dignity of humanity is tied to the Deity. God created this world with rules, and those rules can be summarized in seventeen words: "Do everything you agreed to do and do not encroach on other people or their property." These are three principles of Nature and Nature's God. As a Christian, there are other principles by which I live, but America was founded on Nature's Law. 

A person of principle will not be intimidated to conform.

As we celebrate our great country and the freedoms we enjoy, we must realize that "cancel culture" is anti-Christ, un-American, and harmful to our nation.

A friend of mine recently wrote on Facebook after he disagreed with the way rural Christians in Oklahoma viewed healthcare (according to a poll that he'd read):

"I wonder why people think rural voters are petty and mean spirited. In spite of going to church and claiming to be saved in overwhelming numbers, most small-town folks don't really believe what Jesus says. They simply believe Jesus saves them from their shitty-ness. Christian churches are failing to teach Christianity, substituting a political religion based on the worst ideas of so-called conservatism."

I'm sorry, my friend, but social shaming will not change people of principle.

We will speak the truth. We will love like Jesus. For...

Acceptance doesn't mean affirmation. 

Love doesn't mean no limitations.

Delight in another person doesn't mean devotion to another's principles.

The 10th Lungaversary of Western Artist H. Holden

H. Holden

We held hands and prayed.

Oklahoma's most celebrated Western sculptor was dying.

It was the early spring of 2010.

I took hold of Harold's hand.  Edna Mae, Harold's wife, joined us in the circle of prayer. We bowed our heads. But before we prayed, I looked up and focused on them intently.

Frederic Remington once revealed the secret of his art by saying, "the more I looked, the more the panorama unfolded."

The artist from Oklahoma who most resembles Remington is a man named Harold Holden. His family and friends call him "H."

I remember the moment we held hands and prayed because, as I looked at H. and his wife Edna Mae,  the panorama of God's beauty unfolded before me.

We were in H's studio in Kremlin, just north of Enid.

H. and Edna Mae had asked me to invoke God's grace on behalf of H.

H. had a fatal lung disease. They were considering closing his studio at his doctor's suggestion and getting his "affairs in order."

But the three of us weren't convinced that God was through with H - yet.

So I prayed.

H. and Edna Mae have faith a deep in God. It's not the syrupy, slap-stick faith that you often see in religious institutions.

It's the deep, abiding faith that is "shut-up" in a person's private closet or personal dwelling.

It's real.

Just a few weeks after we prayed, on July 2, 2010, H. received a lifesaving single lung transplant at the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Center in Oklahoma City.

H. and Edna Mae received the call at 8:02 am, July 2, 2010. The family of an Oklahoman who'd died suddenly had donated their loved one's lungs.

It's been 10 years to the minute since that call.

Today, July 2, 2020, is the 10th Lungaversary for H. Holden.

The man who shouldn't have lived another month is celebrating another decade of serving the people of Oklahoma. He's finishing a T. Boone Pickens monument as I write this. He is waiting for the official approval of a sculptured buffaloe for Mo and Richard Anderson, a statue that will be placed in Waukomis, Oklahoma, at the beautiful Buffalo Point.

H. is working like a man of 20, sixty years less than his actual age.

Edna Mae is having a Lungaversary Party today for Oklahoma's most celebrated Western artist and sculptor to celebrate a decade long extension of his life. The Lord is making sure there's more to come from the heart, mind, and hands of H. Holden.

I am honored to call H. and Edna Mae Holden my friends. I am grateful for all they've done for the state of Oklahoma.

You may not know H. personally, but you know him through his art...

THANK YOU, LORD

Wade and H - with "Thank You Lord" mold behind (studio)

When you enter the west auditorium doors at Emmanuel Enid, or when you visit the gardens outside the Emergency Room of the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Center at Integris Hospital in Oklahoma City, you'll see the six-foot bronze statue made by H. Holden called “Thank You, Lord.” The "Thank you Lord" statue is a self-portrait that H. created.

H. made this statue after his lung transplant as a visual demonstration of his gratefulness to God for His goodness. Every time I see "Thank you Lord," I am reminded that the English name for "God" is nothing but a derivative and contraction of the English word "Good." 

God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

Thank You, Lord, at Emmanuel Enid (West Entrance)

Will Rogers International Airport

Every time you park your car and walk into the terminal of Will Rogers International Airport, you will see H. Holden's life-size statue of Will Rogers. 

H. Holden's Will Rogers Statue at Will Rogers International Airport, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Enid Event Center and BOOMER

Every time you park your car and walk into the Enid Event Center, you'll see H's lifesize statue of BOOMER, representing those cowboys who rode their horses to "stake a claim" of 160 acres of land in Oklahoma during the 1889 and 1893 Land Runs.

H. Holden's BOOMER in front of the Enid Event Center

BOOMER also grace the United States Postal Office 1993 stamp (very collectible). 

The U.S. Postal Service 1993 Stamp "Boomer" in Commemoration of the 1893 Land Run

The United States Federal Marshall Museum

Entering Fort Smith, Arkansas, driving over the bridge spanning the Arkansas River, you will see H. Holden's life-size statue of Bass Reeves. The United States Marshals Service National Museum is in Fort Smith, and the story of Bass Reeves is motion-picture worthy. It is H. Holden that made the art that commemorates the greatest U.S. Federal Marshal in history.

Bass Reeves Monument, Fort Smith, Arkansas, the National Museum of Federal Marshal's (H. Holden Statue)

This is a bronze that H. finished after his lung transplant. It was my privilege to be there at the dedication and to meet the grandson of Bass Reeves, now a U.S. Federal judge. 

Federal Judge Paul Brady, Wade Burleson, H. Holden at the dedication of the Reeves' Statue (Fort Smith, Arkansas (2012)

Remember the TEN

Every time you walk into Gallahger Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma, you'll see H's work in the lobby with the moving statue Remember the Ten.

T. Boone Pickens commissioned H for a bronze to commemorate the 10 people from Oklahoma State University's basketball team who died in a plane crash on January 27, 2001. 

Remember the Ten, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma

The Cherokee Strip Crucible, Representing the Pioneer Families

Every time you drive by the Smithsonian certified Cherokee Strip Heritage Museum on Highway 412 in Enid, Oklahoma, you will see another bronze that has been sculpted by H. Holden. It represents all the pioneer families that settled the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893. 

The Cherokee Strip Crucible, Representing the Pioneer Families of the 1893 Land Run

The Vision Seeker, Enid High School

H. Holden's second Native American monument is called The Vision Seeker. The statue depicts a Native American Plains Indian in full headdress, sitting cross-legged while looking into the distance as he ponders a vision. The original Vision Seeker is located in Altus, Oklahoma, and was commissioned by the National Bank of Commerce. The statue was unveiled in May of 1996. The second casting sits outside of Enid High School and was placed at the north entrance in 1998.

The Vision Seeker at Enid High School

H. Holden has many more works of art, both public and private. His commissions include:

National Bank of Commerce
United States Postal Service
Oklahoma Arts Council
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
Oklahoma State University
American Quarter Horse Association
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
Ranching Heritage Center
Ward Petroleum Company
Johnston Grain Company
Archer-Daniels Midland Company
City of Owasso
Air Force Association
Keystone Resort – Keystone Colorado
Hughes Drilling Company
Oklahoma Centennial Commission
City of OKC – Will Rogers World Airport
Oklahoma History Center
University of Central Oklahoma
Northwestern Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma Baptist University
Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association

H.'s great grandfather, Geoge E. Failing, invented the "bottle cap" that still sits on top of every glass beverage bottle. Every time I pop the top of a beverage or drive by a work of art made with the hands of H. Holden, I thank the Lord for His grace to H. and Edna Mae.

The H. Holden Art Studio is located in downtown Enid, Oklahoma, at 128 N. Independence. It's worth a trip to purchase some art from a man that is likely to be more known after the Lord calls him home than he is today. 

Tim Holden, H's son, is an exemplary artist himself, and Emmanuel Enid has supported Tim over the years as he shares the gospel of Jesus Christ through art to tribes that have no written language. 

Happy 10th Lungaversary H. Holden.

Edna Mae requested that I repost this tribute in honor of this significant date. July 2, 2020, is a day all Oklahomans celebrate God's grace in your life.

May your beautiful craft of remembrance continue for years to come for the common good of the great state of Oklahoma!