A few years ago my brother-in-law loaned me a set of DVDs. I watched all of them. Kent Hovind takes on the matter of Biblical creation and evolution in the DVD set. You can watch much, if not all, of the seminar on the internet. Google Kent's name.
Kent went to jail in November of 2007. He is still there. He was sent there because he came into conflict with the IRS over their rules. They prosecuted him using laws created to discipline drug kingpins.
Watch the youtube above. Kent is obviously not a drug kingpin. He is a gifted communicator/teacher who responded to the call of God to preach the gospel. In doing so he didn't shrink from developing a persuasive critique of modern "science," specifically the theory of evolution.
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| Kent Hovind |
From everything I have seen and read this is true of Kent. Christians from all over the world supported Kent's mission with their prayers and finances. Kent ran his ministry as a church.
Chuck Baldwin observes in a column entitled, Kent Hovind: Political Prisoner, "Kent considered his ministry a church and the people who worked for him as missionaries. He did not incorporate under the 501c3 non-profit organization status. Of course, the Internal Revenue Code states that churches are not required to do so; that, as a church, they automatically have tax-exempt status. Accordingly, Kent believed his ministry was tax-exempt."
Almost all churches choose to incorporate as 501c3 with the IRS even though it isn't required. This practice has created an ignorant body of Christians, and directly led to the imprisonment of Hovind.
Hovind's eight year imprisonment is exhibit one for me of the failure of American Christians to think and act rightly. We have joined the American herd that increasingly puts more faith in the federal government than in God and our own duties before Him.
One man I know has been doing a lot of good thinking, writing and acting. Coach Dave started a project called the Salt and Light Brigade a few weeks ago.
Coach decided to lead his Brigade into battle on the latest legal twist in the Hovind case. Believe it or not the government decided to try to keep Kent in prison for the rest of his life based on charges of mail fraud. The trial was scheduled to begin this coming week with jury selection. We learned last night, due in part to Coach's involvement, that the prosecutor decided to drop the charges. The trial is cancelled.
Praise God.
But Kent is still in jail.
He isn't the first Christian to spend time in jail. Here's what happened to two Christian leaders in the first century.
The judges went along with the mob, had Paul and Silas’s clothes ripped off and ordered a public beating. After beating them black-and-blue, they threw them into jail, telling the jailkeeper to put them under heavy guard so there would be no chance of escape. He did just that—threw them into the maximum security cell in the jail and clamped leg irons on them. -- Acts 16:23 (The Message)Christianity is not the government. When governments fail Christians have a duty before God to challenge them. Our government has been failing for a long time -- especially on sexual morality issues, but also on education. Public schools are nothing more than atheist indoctrination centers.
Kent was effectively challenging the government's rabid atheism with his words and actions. And they didn't like it anymore than King Herod did in the times of Jesus. John the Baptist stepped up and challenged him on the issue of sexual morality. He was setting an evil example. John ended up in jail.
Kent's been in jail, separated from his family, for eight long years.
The American government has visited a grave injustice on the Hovind family. Perhaps in his grace and mercy He will see fit to abolish only the IRS, and not the American nation.
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