Listen to the Creator When It Comes to Your Life

When Apollo 16 astronauts landed on the moon on Friday, April 21, 1972, they offloaded a lunar roving vehicle. These moon explorers were to traverse the surface of the moon for three days riding the moon mobile.

But the lunar rover ran into problems. After a day of exploring, the rover lost a rear fender and moon dust blanketed the vehicle's instruments. The astronauts were to explore the surface of the moon for 48 additional hours, so they could not afford the lunar rover to be broken down. 

The NASA Command Center in Houston, frantic to get the vehicle going again, was stumped with what to do to repair it. Finally, someone had the bright idea to contact the original engineer/creator of the lunar roving vehicle. 

His name is Ferenc Pavlics.  This Hungarian scientist who worked for NASA in the 1960s and 70s is now 92-years-old and living in California. 

NASA reached Ferenc at his home in Houston and brought him to Command Headquarters. After listening to the problem, the creator/designer of the lunar roving vehicle provided a solution. The astronauts on the moon repaired the vehicle following the instructions of its creator and fulfilled the mission of Apollo 16.

A recent survey from Facts and Trends reveals that less than 1/3 of professing evangelical Christians read the Bible on a daily basis. 

In the United States, where church attendance at mainline denominations is declining and the word "evangelical" is almost a curse in the cancel culture climate, Bible reading is at its lowest in the history of our great nation.

There's no need to wonder why our culture is broken down. 

Nobody is listening to the Creator.

Know the Bible. 

It's your only hope to fulfill the design of your mission on earth.

Save Our Children, Justice, and the Bold Journalist Who Shook the World and Died on the RMS Titanic

W.T. Stead (1849-1912) 

There is a child sex trafficking pandemic taking place in the United States in 2020.

The moral depravity of a culture more focused on preventing Covid-19 than putting an end to covert sexual trafficking of children or preventing the deaths of innocent and powerless children through abortion should turn the stomach of every American.

The words of a London policeman about child sex trafficking, words spoken while being interviewed by the subject of this blogpost in 1882, are just as appropriate today as they were a century and a half ago:

"Although it ought to raise hell, it does not even raise the neighbors."

Pedophilia and blatant disregard for the lives of children infect the backrooms of Congress, the boardrooms of Wall Street, and the back alleys of small-town America.

To grasp the moral courage it takes to shut down child sex trafficking and the evil practice of abortion in our country, one needs to look no further than the most famous man to die during the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

His name was William Thomas Stead (1849-1912). His friends called him W.T. Stead.

In 2012, one hundred years after his death, the first biography of Stead's remarkable life came to the public market. Famous in his day, Stead's name had faded from the collective conscience of British and American societies.

Stead's anonymity is unfortunate. Tristam Hunt, a member of Britain's House of Commons, wrote of W.T. Stead in the foreword of that 2012 biography:

"Imprisoned for abducting a child in the course of exposing the vicious sex trade that existed in Victorian London, Stead realized, as few before him had, that governments are powerless to resist the coordinated voice of the public – when harnessed by a newspaper – to help put an end to such evils."

Substitute the words "social media" for newspaper and the words of Tristam Hunt are an inspiration for every person who uses social media to drive out evil through social activism on behalf of the powerless and voiceless.

W.T. Stead Memorial at Central Park, New York

My cousin and his wife live on 5th Avenue in New York City. Across from their townhouse, set on the east wall that surrounds Central Park, there is a bronze statue of W.T. Stead. Thousands walk by every day and have no idea who this man is. 

To know him is to grasp the courage it takes to change a culture of complacency.

Born the son of a clergyman on July 5, 1849, in Embleton, England,  William Thomas Stead learned to read and write both English and Latin by the age of 5.

Thought by loved ones to eventually follow his father's footsteps in becoming a preacher, Stead instead took an interest in journalism and worked his way up the newspaper management ladder. He became the youngest newspaper editor in England at the age of 22. 

Deeply spiritual and well-versed in the Bible, the day before his 26th birthday, W.T. Stead records in his journal how God called him that year to use his gifts and talents for the good of society:

"The great event of this year has been... (through) reading Victor Hugo's The Man Who Laughs, a sense of my prophethood returned. I felt once more the sacredness of the power placed in my hands, to be used on behalf of the poor, the outcast and the oppressed. It was a gift of renewed faith. I clearly and decidedly grasped the idea that everything is given to one to be employed on behalf of those that have nothing, and that only by the patient laborious unselfish labor of the good can the bad be extinguished, and that my mission was to labor unceasingly, by all methods and in every season, to help on the social regeneration of the people of the world."

For the rest of his life, W.T. Stead laboriously worked for the good of those who had nothing. He became Britain's first investigative journalist. 

In 1885, Stead shocked the world with a series of articles he wrote on the seamy practice of child prostitution in London, England. W.T. Stead spent months investigating child trafficking before publishing the articles that stunned newspaper readers of Victorian London. W.T. Stead researcher Owen Mulpetre observes about Stead's articles:

"(He wrote) in graphic detail about the entrapment, abduction and 'sale' of young under-privileged girls to London brothels. Written in successive installments, Stead's "infernal narrative", as he called it, revealed to a respectable readership a criminal underworld of stinking brothels, fiendish procuresses, drugs and padded chambers, where upper-class pedophiles could revel 'in the cries of an immature child.'"

London prosecutors had Stead arrested for breaking "decency laws" (his articles) and for "kidnapping" a child (his research and activism) that Stead had rescued from a child sex trafficking house. In jail for three months awaiting trial, the jury acquitted Stead of any criminal behavior in the infamous Eliza Armstrong case.

The fame of W.T. Stead spread after his acquittal. It wasn't long until Americans knew Stead's name too.  

In 1894, Stead traveled to Chicago to attend the World’s Fair. He was horrified by the conditions that he observed in the streets around the glamour of the 1892 Columbian Exposition, called by the people, the World's Fair. He decided to thoroughly investigate for himself the streets of Chicago. 

Stead's Vice Map of Ward 1, Chicago (1894)

W.T. Stead went block by block in Ward 1 of Chicago (see map), noting and mapping the brawling bars, the brothels, and the barbaric human behaviors behind the World's Fair. 

His findings, published in If Christ Came to Chicago!: A Plea for the Union of All Who Love in the Service of All Who Suffer (1894), is recognized by the prestigious Britannica Encyclopedia as a model of journalistic research.

Every article Stead wrote had the goal of reforming a society held hostage by "the powers of darkness in high places." 

It sounds like 2020.

One of the prized possessions I have framed in my writing office at home is a handwritten postcard to W.T. Stead from Charles Spurgeon, the famous London preacher and contemporary of Stead. Spurgeon congratulates W.T. Stead for his written portraits or character sketches in a magazine, profiling men and women of courage and character who were making a difference in the world during the 1880s and 1890s. Stead called the magazine he founded, and the one to which Spurgeon subscribed,  The Review of Reviews.

For 40 years, W.T. Stead laboriously worked through his writings to bring justice, to practice mercy, and to live humbly in the corridors of power. 

W.T. Stead made a difference for good in the world of child sex-trafficking in his day. We need more men and women of courage, people like W.T. Stead, in 2020.

Biographer Sydney Robinson recounts how William Thomas Stead spent the last hours of his life: 

Shortly before midnight on Sunday 14 April 1912, a stout, prematurely aged gentleman with crystal-blue eyes and a shaggy grey beard appeared on the foredeck of the Titanic. ‘What do they say is the trouble?’ he innocently enquired. No one seemed to know. ‘Well, I guess it’s nothing serious; I’m going back to my cabin to read’. These were the last recorded words of William Thomas Stead, the famous investigative journalist who, thirty years previously, had shocked the world by purchasing a thirteen-year-old girl on the streets of Victorian London. Two hours later he would be plunged into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean, never to be seen again.

It was a bizarre end for a man who had made his name smiting ‘the powers of darkness in high places’ on behalf of the ‘disinherited and outcast of the world’. The magnificent ship, legendary in its vast scale, luxury and exclusivity, represented everything he had campaigned against during his long career... It was somehow apt that W. T. Stead had last been seen turning the pages of a penny Bible in the first-class reading room of the world’s most expensive cruise liner. (Sydney W. Robinson, Muckraker, Kindle Edition)

 

William Thomas Stead is an inspiration for any who wish to drive out evil by laboriously doing good. Jesus made it clear that when we care for the fatherless, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, speak for the voiceless, and stand for the powerless, we are actually serving Him (see Matthew 25:40).

"This life will soon be past and only what's done for Christ will last." 

#SaveOurChildren

My Covid-19 Story Intended As An Encouragement

I'm sitting here listening to the local news. It's all about Covid-19. Oklahoma University has 9 football players who have tested positive for Covid-19. One school district in OKC has had 19 kids and teachers test positive. The newscasters sound like their announcing the end of the world.  I would tell you about what I've heard on the national news, but I stopped it weeks ago. 

So after hearing all the negativity on local news, I decided to tell you of my positive experiences (plural) with Covid-19. 

First, let me say if you have loved ones who've been very sick with Covid-19 (and there are some), or if you are one of those rare individuals who has had a loved one die with Covid-19, you do not want to hear any "good news" about Covid-19 right now.  You've already experienced hell on earth. I understand your feelings. I really do. Were I in your shoes, I'd feel the same as you. Therefore, if you've suffered deeply, let me encourage you to either stop reading this post, or at a minimum, remind yourself that life is different for each person. In God's providence, your experience with Covid-19 is one that none of us would wish on anyone else. 

But my story is different. I tell it to encourage you. In the overwhelming number of cases, Covid-19 is nothing to fear.  I've had Covid-19 at least once, possibly twice. 

Back in April 2020 I gave blood.  The Oklahoma Blood Institute tested my blood and said I had antibodies for Covid-19. Since then, the OBI has asked me to give blood to those in the hospital with a Covid-19 diagnosis. The COVID-19 antibody test I received had been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to indicate if the blood donor’s immune system had produced antibodies to the coronavirus, regardless of whether the donor (me) had developed symptoms. Donors who test positive for COVID-19 antibodies may have the unique opportunity to help patients fighting the disease.

Then, in late July I tested positive for Covid19. I had no fever. I had no nausea. I had what I thought were allergies, but otherwise,  I felt fine. The rapid test I took showed that I had Covid-19. I asked the clinician, "How can I get Covid-19 when I have antibodies?"

She responded, "Do you get the flu shot?" I said that I did. She asked, "Do you ever get the flu during the flu season even after getting the flu vaccine." I told her, "Yes. It's happened before." She said that it is the same with Covid-19. Antibodies are no guarantee that a person won't get Covid-19, just like a flu vaccine (or impending Covid-19 vaccine) will be no guarantee that a person will not get the flu (or Covid-19).

Of course, I kept my distance from people after my positive result. My wife, and three of my family members got Covid-19 as well. All five of us had no fever, and only symptoms similar to having allergies with mild fatigue. We isolated among ourselves, and after 12 days, went back to our lives as normal. 

I know at least 30 people in Enid who have been diagnosed with having Covid-19. I have a very close friend who is 90 and is doing great a month after his diagnosis. Most of those I know who received a positive diagnosis of Covid-19 are over 65. They are all recovering except for one, a 95-year-old long-time friend with Alzheimer's who died after being tested positive. 

My friend John Dwyer, writes movingly about his experience with Covid-19. John has battled heart disease and cancer, but he is doing quite well after his Covid-19 diagnosis.  I do have a couple of distant cousins who are in the hospital (on a vent), and their experiences with Covid-19 are traumatic, so I understand that John's story is different than others. 

We cannot shut down schools, churches, businesses, and cities because of Covid-19. The vast majority of people getting Covid-19 will be fine. People will die from Covid-19. But people die of the flu every year. People die from traffic accidents. People die from heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses. People die from suicide. More people will die shutting down the world to try to prevent people dying from Covid-19. The cure cannot be worse than the disease.

I offer five encouraging statements from my personal experience with Covid-19. 

1. Getting Covid-19 is not a death sentence.

Sure, you may get sick, but according to the World Data,  it is estimated that over 99% of those infected with Covid-19 (a different metric than known cases of Covid-19) will survive. Many people, like me and my family, will exhibit little or no symptoms of the illness.

2. We might delay spreading Covid-19, but we can't prevent it. 

No matter the precautions taken, Covid-19 is going to spread. No matter the precautions you take, you still might catch Covid-19. The question will be "sooner or later"? Covid-19 is going to be around for a long time. 

3. Developing your natural immunity through healthy living, good eating, and daily exercising is best. 

The big pharmacy companies would like you to believe that you need their medicine, or their vaccine, or their new drug, but God's given you a great ability to develop immunity yourself. 

4. Keeping people from seeing their loved ones who are sick, elderly, or vulnerable is a death sentence in itself. 

As National Public Radio reports, hospitals and nursing homes forced to keep loved ones away from  vulnerable or dying loved ones seems counter-productive. Restricting families from being near their sick and vulnerable loved ones out of fear of them catching Covid-19 is actually a death sentence in itself. Once you stop living, you've already died. 

5. Death is coming to all who live, but immortal life is a gift from God to some. 

Everyone is going to die. The Creator holds "the keys of life and death" (Revelation 1:18) and He alone determines the day, hour, and moment of your death (Psalm 139:16).  "But the gift of God is life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).  It's far better to trust Christ than to fear Covid-19. Loving Christ and following His instruction is evidence that God, by His grace and for His glory, has given you the gift of eternal life. 

But the wicked perish. 

Americans need to grasp that this life will soon be past, and only that life lived for Christ will last. 

3 Things to Focus On If Attacked on Social Media

 This short 4-minute video will be a help to you (or others) if you ever experience someone attacking you on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). The world has changed in the last 20 years, and applying grace in tough situations is an important part of who we are as followers of Jesus Christ in a world filled with hate. Don't take it personally.

Mourning Sin and the Man in Linen Marking You

9:11. 

That's the number you dial when you sense trouble.

We all find ourselves in trouble at one time or another. Our actions bring pain and sorrow upon ourselves and others.

We are selfish. We lie to enhance our standing with others. We steal what is not ours. We minimize God and His Word in our lives. We're envious, jealous, and haughty. We live the way we desire and refuse to acknowledge our allegiance to God.

We get angry when we don't get our way. 

In short, we are sinners. 

However, the Good News is that God loves sinners and sent His Son to deliver us from our sins.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst." (I Timothy 1:15)

So it would be prudent for all of us to ponder this important question. 

Does God accept every sinner regardless?

The Bible reveals that Jesus accepts and blesses only those sinners who dial up 9:11.

Ezekiel 9:11 is the Bible's 9:11.

"And, behold, the Man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, "I have done as You have commanded me." (Ezekiel 9:11). 

I'll explain why this Bible verse is so important for the deliverance of your soul from God's judgment.

Ezekiel 9 records a vision that God gave to the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel had been captured by the King of Babylon and is now living in exile as a prisoner. The year is 591 B.C. and the Temple in Jerusalem is still standing.

But not for long.

Five years later (586 B.C.) God would use the wicked Babylonian army (e.g., "the Chaldeans") to destroy His Temple and the city of Jerusalem because of the wickedness and sins of the people.

The Glory (God's Presence) was departing Jerusalem (see Ezekiel 8).

In Ezekiel's vision, he sees seven men enter the city, "and one Man was in linen with an inkhorn around His waist" (Ezekiel 9:2). An inkhorn was a container full of ink, sometimes the horn of an animal. A feather with a pointed stem would be the natural pen.

The Man in linen was sent by God to "mark with ink" the people in Jerusalem who were "grieving, weeping and in deep sorrow" over the detestable things they'd done (Ezekiel 9:4). The other six men were executioners who were to "destroy by death" those without the mark (Ezekiel 9:5).

God told the six men:

"Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark."

The Seventh Man, the Man in linen with the inkhorn around His waist, is an Old Testament type of Jesus Christ. The Man in linen had a specific mission.

"Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it." (Ezekiel 9:4) 

The people of Jerusalem had done some abominable things. All of them. But there are some who are "grieving, weeping and in deep sorrow" over the detestable things they'd done (Ezekiel 9:4).

Ezekiel 9:11 tells us the Man in linen did as He was commanded, and all those marked with ink were saved from destruction.

God delivers only those sinners who grieve over their sin.

The "mark" that the Man in linen puts on the foreheads of those in mourning translates the Hebrew word TAV (also spelled "taw" or "tau" when transliterated into English). In addition to meaning a "mark," this is the name of the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The TAV is an equal-armed cross + (as in the upper right corner of the diagram to the right). The Man in linen with the "cup of ink" or "inkhorn" (KJV) marked people with a sign in the shape of a cross.

The Man in linen died for those who mourn over their sin.

The only people delivered from destruction via "the mark of the cross" are those who mourn over sin.

"Blessed are they who mourn," Jesus said, "for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4).

To be a Christian doesn't mean you've never done anything wrong.

No.

To be a Christian - to be one who is saved from the coming destruction - means you've been marked by the Man in linen with the cross because you mourn over your sin.

America Is Paying Attention to Enid, Oklahoma

Enid, Oklahoma, remains the only city in America whose local government (the mayor and city council) has voted down a mandatory mask mandate for her citizens. Some cities have refused to consider the question, but Enid is the only American city to vote mandatory measures down.

This Tuesday, August 4, 2020, an Enid city council member named Ben Ezzell is once again bringing up a proposed ordinance to demand citizens cover their faces in public and to impose civil penalties for violations of his mask mandate.

The police chief of Enid has publicly said that if the ordinance passes, his officers will not be enforcing it. I've made it known that we will never shut down worship services under order of the government. If we shut down, it will be our choice because we are persuaded it is the best course of action for our city. 

I pastor a church of 3,000 members in Enid. We have three Sunday morning worship services, a private Christian school, and dozens upon dozens of different local ministries. We have enhanced our online ministries, moved all our worship services into the main auditorium for more spacing, and urged people to take personal responsibility for their health while giving freedom to others to do what they deem best, and that means "don't come" if you're fearful of catching Covid-19. That said, in a day when death is nearer than you may know, it would seem listening to an expert on the state of your soul is something you should be doing. 

Amazing how the liberals cry "listen to the experts" when it comes to the body, but "ignore the experts" when it comes to the soul. Jesus made it clear in Matthew 10:28 who we should be listening to:

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

Masks have never been mandatory at Emmanuel Enid. We will respect those who choose to wear a mask and we will respect those who choose not to wear a mask. If you think that "all the medical experts agree that mandatory masks are necessary," it will take you five seconds to do a Google search and come across reams of material that suggest mandatory masking may actually harm people. The medical community and professional epidemiologists are divided on the issue of mandatory masks. 

For example, the country of Sweden has obtained herd immunity through no lockdown and no mandatory masking. While countries all around Sweden are having a second wave of Covid-19 cases, Sweden's leading epidemiologist is trumpeting lockdown free Sweden's positive corona virus declines and the pointlessness of mandatory masks.

Enid's number of corona cases has risen, and it will continue to rise. I know at least three dozen people who have had Covid-19. Only two have been seriously ill, and even those two have now recovered. Death rates remain low, but that doesn't mean Covid-19 should be taken lightly. Some people will get very sick, and some people will die.

I believe Americans are smart enough to figure out for themselves what needs to be done. The government should persuade us and then trust us. I trust the American people and the good citizens of Enid to do what is best. I trust the local businessman. I trust the local pastor. I trust the local school administrators. I trust the local family units.

Let the people be free to do as they see.

Ben Ezzell sent me an email asking me to support his mandatory mask mandate. I responded:

"I am solidly, 100% against a government mandate for masks. I believe private citizens, private businesses, and private entities have enough intelligence to determine what is best for their unique situation. I have no problem wearing a mask around the vulnerable. We encourage social distancing. But I do not believe the government should mandate a law and enforce civil penalties."

Ben Ezell is a city leader who is motivated by public health concerns, as am I. He responded with an email that contained the following sentence:

"I wish that you were correct, that private citizens and businesses and entities were intelligent enough."

There's the issue in one sentence. 

We have a city leader who does not believe that the citizens of Enid are intelligent enough to do what is best. It's not enough to persuade us and then trust us. The average citizen isn't intelligent enough to see the light, so he or she must be forced to see the light and do what is right.

The liberal elitists follow Plato’s model, believing that they know better than anyone else. Plato’s ideal separated the elite, the guardians of society, from the dross below them. This concept of intellectual elitism is infused in the hearts and minds of the liberal left.

Anyone who disagrees is so undermining to the liberal left’s agenda as to be intolerable. Or, in the common left vernacular, he who disagrees is “deplorable.” Leftists are tolerant of only those in agreement with their positions. Their opponents deserve to be persecuted and ostracized. Failure to conform to the liberal left’s ideology is subversive and must be defeated at all costs.

America is watching Enid.

America is watching, Enid. 

Pay attention, citizen of Enid, to that comma in the sentence above. 

America is watching you.

The Wizard of Oz and Skyrocketing Silver and Gold

One of my earliest memories as a child is being sick in bed and having my mother read to me The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum, a book most people know by its shortened title The Wizard of Oz.

Rachelle and I have attended the award winning West End theatre presentation of Wicked in London, England. Wicked is the musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz. Fellow Oklahoman and Broken Arrow friend Kristen Chenowith played Glinda the Good Witch of the South when Broadway brought Wicked to the Broadway stage in New York in 2003.

Few people have actually read The Wizard of Oz. Most people are familiar with the book through the Broadway play adapted from it or the classic Hollywood 1939 film version starring Judy Garland. 

The differences between the the book, written in 1900, and the later film and Broadway adaptations of the book may at first seem minor, but as is the case in many attempts to bring written material to life through the visual arts, small changes impact the overall theme of the original author.

For example, in order to showcase new improvements in Technicolor, movie producers changed Dorothy's silver shoes in the book version to ruby slippers for the 1939 film version.

Unfortunately changing silver slippers to ruby caused the public to miss the⁹ economic and financial lessons of Baum's book. 

Most see the The Wizard of Oz as a cute morality play for children. But Frank Baum wrote The Wizard of Oz in the late 1890's as a powerful allegory of the economic problems faced by the United States. Our country's economic and financial problems in 2020 are very similar to the issues of the 1890s, as I'll explain.

Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz is to economics what John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress is to Christianity. If you understand Baum's allegory, you will know why America and European countries are in their current economic crises and why we are headed toward a financial panic in America the likes of which our country has rarely seen. 

To understand the allegorical parts of The Wizard of Oz, you must have some historical background regarding the economic crisis throughout America during the 1880's and 1890's. You will not regret reading carefully this post, even if you don't like history or economics. Your retirement savings and your economic future are in the balance.

In what is now called The Crime of 1873, the United States government took silver out of monetary circulation and went to gold as the standard for the American dollar.

From the formation of the United States in 1776 until the year of the 'crime' of 1873,  the United States had been on a bimetallic standard. For approximately one hundred years after America's founding as a country, an American citizen could go into a reserve bank, hand over any amount of paper currency (i.e. $10, $20, $100, $1,000, etc...) and be given either gold or silver in return. You would be given about 15 times more silver than gold in terms of weight (for silver traded to gold at a ratio of about 15 to 1).

So an American could choose the metal (e.g. "silver OR gold") to exchange for the American dollars. But in the "Crime of 1873" the U.S. government decided to take silver out of monetary circulation. That meant you could no longer get silver for your dollars.

Therefore, the amount of money in circulation shrank after The Crime of 73. .

Beginning in 1873 the government only issued dollars and increased the money supply in proportion to the amount of gold it held in reserve. Silver no longer served as a reserve metal for dollars. Therefore, beginning in 1873, the collective pool of money available for the exchange of goods in the American economy decreased. A decrease in the available money supply will always lead to deflation.

Less money in circulation means lower prices.

Let me illustrate how a decreased money supply lowers prices. Let's say you are on the game Survivor and you and your fellow contestants have not eaten food for 20 days. On the 21st day you and the other 10 contestants are each are given just $20 to bid on 11 different dishes of sumptuous food that have been prepared and brought to the camp. You can also choose to bid on new bedding materials which will make your night's sleep more comfortable.  Everyone with $20 in hand sees what is available for purchase because it is all laid out in front of all the contestants.

There's a steak and baked potato, there's a cheeseburger, a chicken salad sandwich as well as blankets, pillows, air mattresses, etc...   You're limited as to what you can buy since you have a limited supply of money.

Due to the small amount of money in circulation the price of everything goes down!  

However, if you and each of your fellow contestants had been given $100 each instead of $20, then the price of everything goes up! Why? Because the money supply has gone up, and when more money is in circulation, the price of goods for cheeseburgers and other commodities soars.

Prices always eventually go up (i.e. inflation) in proportion to an increase in the money supply, and prices always eventually go down (i.e. deflation) in proportion to the decrease in the money supply.

This Survivor illustration helps you understand The Crime of 1873.

The government declared that silver could no longer be used as government money. Silver was taken out of circulation. It's like contestants on Survivor having a large portion of their money taken away before they can bid on goods.

The government decreased the money supply in 1873 and prices for goods across the nation fell as did the demand for those goods by the American public because Americans no longer had access to silver coins.

For the next 25 years, from 1873 to 1898, the United States experienced an average yearly deflation of 1.5%.

The people who were hurt the most by the government's decision were farmers from Kansas and the Midwest. The prices people were willing to pay for the farmers' crops decreased. Even worse, because farmers were already in debt (as most farmers are), they were having to use the dollars from the shrinking money supply to pay off their old debts. 

Think back to Survivor illustration and imagine trying to buy food and bedding materials when you have to pay a past debt with the limited $20 you have in hand. It would be much easier to pay off your old debts if your supply of money is greater. Many farmers in the late 1800's were facing bankruptcy because their debts was high, prices were too low, and there was not enough money in circulation for them to survive economically.

There is an important economic principle that can be derived from the 1873 government decision to remove silver from circulation, a principle that will shed light on today's economic problems and the allegory behind The Wizard of Oz.

The economic principle simply stated:

When people or nations  (governments) are in debt, the more money pumped into circulation (i.e. "inflation"), the easier it is to pay off  those debts. 

The more massive the debt, the more critical the need for a massive increase in money supply.  If deflation is occurring when there is indebtedness, then the debtor will struggle to pay old debts with scarcer, more valuable dollars. Debtors always need an ever increasing money supply.

 Enter Frank Baum and The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy and her cast of characters represent farmers (the Scarecrow), industrial workers (the Tin Man), and fearful politicians (the Cowardly Lion), and they all need help.

They follow the Yellow Brick Road (the gold standard) to the Emerald City (Washington D.C.). Oz is the abbreviation for the measurement of gold (i.e. "ounces" or oz.), and the Wizard behind the curtain represents the politicians pulling the strings to decrease the money supply by using only gold as a monetary standard and not silver,  harming all the weary travelers.

What Dorothy and her friends need is the addition of silver back into the money supply. The entire Oz narrative is the struggle between the common man and the powerful Washington elites over the supply of money.

In the Emerald Palace Dorothy and her friends enter 7 passages and climb 3 flights of stairs ( 73 representing The Crime of 73). Silver is found throughout the Wizard of Oz as the answer to the problems at hand, including the Tin Man receiving "a new ax with a handle made of gold and a blade polished so that it glistens like burnished silver and a silver oilcan to oil himself," a statement by Baum which describes his belief that the industrial worker will be helped with the addition of silver to the monetary supply.

And of course, Dorothy's passage back to her farm in Kansas is to click her "silver shoes" three times together, representing that the power to solve the farm girl's problems was there all the time (adding silver to the currency).

There are so many more economic principles in The Wizard of Oz, and for further study I would recommend that you read The Fable of the Allegory: The Wizard of Oz in Economics.

Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz,  was an economic activist. He was considered a progressive, someone we might call 'liberal,' today.

One of his political friends, William Jennings Bryan, was the Democratic nominee for President in the 1896 and 1900 Presidential elections. Bryan rocketed to fame at the 1896 Chicago Democratic National Convention where he delivered his famous Cross of Gold Speech.

Bryan, who was a devout Christian and went on to infamy in the Scopes Trial, was also a liberal economist, and he closed his famous speech by declaring,

 "Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." 

Bryan and Baum eventually got their wish of a bimetal standard for the American dollar, for the U.S. government reversed course early in the 1900's and added silver back as part of the American currency. You probably remember paper bills with the words "Silver Certificate" etched on the top.

When the government increased the money supply in the early 1900's, the motive was to help the western farmers, just as Frank Baum and William Jennings Bryan requested.

 But for the last 100 years the government has continued to RADICALLY and RECKLESSLY increase the money supply in America. Why? Because the U.S. government began taking on massive debt of its own. With World War I and then World War II the U.S. government became a debtor nation. However, with the addition of massive social programs in the mid-to-late 20th century, U.S. government became swamped in debt. 

The U.S. government has become the Kansas farmer of the late 1800's. Our national debt has crossed the  twenty-six trillion dollars mark. How do you ever get enough cheap dollars to pay off that kind of debt while continuing to spend for an annual operating budget? Is it even possible? Do you add another precious metal as a standard to the American dollar? No. The United States government did something mind-boggling.

The United States government decided in the 1970's to move the American dollar OFF BOTH THE GOLD AND SILVER STANDARD.

What was once an argument in Frank Baum's day over a bimetal standard (silver and gold reserve for the dollar) versus a mono-metal standard (a gold reserve only), became an argument and an ultimate decision by our government to remove the dollar completely from any gold, silver or precious metal reserve standard.

Frank Baum, William Jennings Bryan and every other 19th century economists--both liberal and conservative--would have never dreamed the U.S. government could or would do such a thing.

 But it is exactly what our government has done. Try to go into any bank with a $100 bill today and ask to get paid in silver and/or gold for that $100 bill.

It won't happen.

It can't happen.

The government's decision to move the dollar off any precious metal standard had its genesis in a highly secretive meeting of bankers and politicians in 1910 as they met on an island off the coast of Georgia called Jekyll Island.

You may read about the extraordinary results of the government's decision in a highly readable book entitled The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Look at the Creation of the Federal Reserve.

What we now have in America is a system where the supply of money is controlled by the United States Federal Reserve and not by the amount of silver and gold we have in reserve to back those dollars.

European countries also have this same kind of currency system. The supply of euros is dictated by European Central Banks, all controlled by European governments.

There is no precious metal backing for currencies. If governments need an increase in the money supply, then governments simply create paper money. Remember that the people who benefit most with the high inflation caused by an increase in the money supply are those people (or governments) who are in debt. Those harmed by an increase in the money supply are the frugal and the savers. In other words, what Frank Baum wanted in 1900 for western farmers in debt, we now have in spades for western governments drowning in debt.

Baum wished to add silver to gold as a metal reserve to increase the amount of dollars in circulation, but he never dreamed of a government currency WITHOUT A STANDARD. Now we have NO precious metal standard.

The government cannot have the money supply bound by the amount of gold and silver we have in Fort Knox (if in fact any is still there), because the government needs MASSIVE AMOUNTS of dollars in circulation for the government to pay its massive debts.

The American dollar today is what is called a fiat currency.

The government prints it. People trust it and use it. If the government wishes to increase the money supply, they do so by simply allowing the creation of more paper dollars, in a process called fractional reserve banking, where the 'reserves' are paper money deposits, not metals!

The only thing that guarantees the fiat money has value is the trust of the people in the currency.

What happens when people begin losing trust in government currency?

The dollar becomes worthless.

This is beginning to take place in the United States as investors flee the commodities. When people  lose trust in the U.S. government and turn away from the government's fiat currency, economic collapse soon follows.

When that happens, the U.S. will face bankruptcy like Italy, Greece and other European countries.

The worst possible case scenario is for a government to be forced to pay back their debts in another government's currency. When this happens the money supply of the debtor government shrinks because the debtor country's currency is considered worthless by the lender country.  The indebted government is then forced to pay its debts using another country's stronger currency (think China).

This is why people find protection in precious metals or a stronger government's currency when governments are swamped by debt. The massive expansion of the supply of money which has no metal standard behind it is recklessly endangering a country's freedom and future.

 To say what is happening in America today is ultimately highly inflationary is a gross understatement.  One day soon people will lose complete confidence in the American dollar because the government hands out trillions of dollars to non-working people, causing people to depend on a bankrupt government's social programs than individual work.

As the Bible says, "The borrower is a servant to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7).

Our problem today is the very opposite of the one Dorothy faced in The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy needed an increase in the money supply. Deflation was ruining the economics of the Kansas farmer. The farmer couldn't get a good price for his crop, and he couldn't pay off his past debts with a shrinking money supply.

But over the last four years we have received as a nation a far greater money supply (printed money) than Dorothy (Frank Baum) ever wished.

We have had a grotesque growth in the money supply because silver and gold have both been REMOVED as a reserve for the American dollar.

With the Feds doing everything in their power to fight to keep money cheap to pay off government debt and support non-working people, there is coming very soon a rate of inflation the likes of which America has never seen. 

Silver and gold are spiking.

Where are the economic John Bunyan's of our day? Where are the Frank Baum's of our day? Where are the people with enough sense to know that America is in need of being taught lessons that are much more profound than cute children's fables suitable for Broadway and the big screen?

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.