CSE Blogs

by Kent Hovind
(Written from the Federal Prison Camp Edgefield, South Carolina)

God: Good morning, son. I’ve been watching you sleep all night. I love you.

kh: Good morning, Lord. Thanks for protecting me and being so awesome. I can’t believe that the great God of the universe would care about me. I’ve failed You so many times. Why do You still put up with me?

God: You are my child. I promised to save you and take care of you. I have great plans for you, son (Jeremiah 29:11). I love you. You seemed a little down last night as you prayed. I’ve got a young man I’d like you to knee-mail for me this morning. He could use someone to talk to and he may help cheer you up as well. He’s sitting in his car in a parking lot. He’s been crying pretty hard for a while and needs someone like you to listen to him.

kh: Sure, Lord. Where do I send it?

God: Pontiac, Michigan; General Motors Truck and Coach Division, Plant #6; 8:15 p.m., May 20, 1974.

kh: What should I tell him?

God: Just let him talk at first. You’ll know what to say when he’s done.

kh: OK, God.

KH: Hey, young man, it looks like you’ve been crying your eyes out. What’s wrong?

Young Man (YM): Oh…I’ll be okay.
I’m just torn up inside right now. I’ve had some really big, life-altering decisions to make in the last year and especially in the last week.
I’m only twenty-one and it’s a little overwhelming to think that my decisions now will effect me for years and even forever!

KH: Yes, I know what you mean. That’s the way life is, though. What’s on your mind now?

YM: Well….I came up here to go to Bible college. I feel like God has called me into His service somewhere. I’ve been working here at this truck plant for two years now, second shift, while I went to school full-time, first shift. I got married last summer, and my sweet wife also went to school for a year. I also worked on a church bus route and taught a Sunday school class for the last two years. I graduate this Friday and I’m pretty overwhelmed with emotions right now. I’m pretty tired as well, bone tired.

KH: What is the biggest burden you carry?

YM: I guess the decision I made last night.

KH: What was it about?

YM: Last week the general foreman at work talked with me. He said they have watched me work and wanted to offer to send me to foreman school. It would mean a very secure future at General Motors. I already get paid pretty well working on the assembly line; but as foreman, I would start at about $350.00 per week plus lots of benefits and perks and bonuses. It was a dream offer for such a young man as I.

KH: So did you take it?

YM: Well….I also got an offer to work at my home church as assistant pastor for $100.00 per week plus a bare-bones medical plan. There are a lot of reasons to stay here. We have a real nice trailer we are buying just two blocks from church. It is on a beautiful river with lots of ducks, swans, and fish that my wife and I feed every evening. We love our church. We have lots of friends here, and she could finish her degree.

Many people come here for Bible college and then stay on at GM. They end up as deacons or Sunday school teachers in their local churches, make real good money, and seem very happy. We could afford to start a family and buy a bigger house if I stay.

KH: So what’s to decide? It looks like God is opening all the doors.

YM: Or Satan is—to distract me from my calling. I didn’t come here to work at GM and build trucks. I came here to train for the ministry. Do you know where these shiny new trucks will be in thirty years?

KH: Ah….yes I do. They will be rusting in a junkyard or recycled into a fence post or train track.

YM: That’s right! Don’t you see the real issues here? I want to invest my life in things that last forever. If I do that, God’s promise in Matthew 6:33 will apply to me. God can out supply GM any day.

KH: So what did you decide?

YM: I told the general foreman, “Thanks for the offer, but I must decline.” I called my home pastor and said, “Yes, I’ll take the job as assistant pastor.” We move next week.

KH: So why are you crying?

YM: Lots of reasons. God gave me such an amazing wife! She supports me either way. I’m crying for joy because I have her. I also have seen kids I went to school with decide this week to stay at GM. Yet they were called and trained for full-time Christian work in mission fields or ministries where the need is so great. Now the need will go unmet. That burdens me greatly as well. I don’t understand why anyone would invest their life in things that will all burn, rust, or be stolen. It breaks my heart.

KH: I know exactly what you mean. Say, what’s your name, young man?

YM: Kent Hovind, sir. What’s yours?

KH: It’s not important. You made the right choice, young man. Quit crying and start packing. You won’t believe how God will supply! I have been young and now am old and have never seen God’s kids begging bread (Psalm 37:25). Thanks for reminding me. It has greatly encouraged me.

YM: You are welcome. Thanks for listening.

kh: Thanks, God.

God: You are welcome, son. I’ve got your back.

To God be the Glory! This evening the 24th of August, one week before Mrs. Hovind was scheduled to begin her sentence that was handed down by Judge Rodgers, a stay was granted that will allow Mrs. Hovind to remain on release pending her appeal. The following is a portion of what Judge Rodgers ordered today.

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Pending Appeal (doc. 234) is GRANTED as to defendant’s release pending appeal and
DENIED as to the stay. An order regarding defendant’s release status will be entered
promptly following notification of the Eleventh Circuit’s disposition of defendant’s appeal.

DONE this 24th day of August 2007.

s/ M. Casey Rodgers

M. CASEY RODGERS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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We will be posting more information as allowed.

Thank you all for your prayers! We are so greatful to God for working in this situation. He receives all the Glory and all the Praise!

For those who have been enjoying the knee-mail, there will be many more coming soon.

The CSE team

6:00 A.M.       Awoke after a good night’s sleep

6:10 – 6:30      Ate breakfast of toast, ham, hot grits, banana, and milk

6:30 – 7:40      Had the 25′ x 30′ chapel room to myself to read my Bible, pray, play the piano, and sing to the Lord

7:40 – 8:00      Walked back to room about 100 yards away to clean for the weekly inspection

8:00 – 8:15      Read in Flyboys by James Bradley while rooms were inspected

8:15 – 9:15      Helped a fellow inmate who is a good friend and huge black man with his math as he prepares for his GED

9:15 – 10:00     Went outside to picnic area to read mail and write responsesBecause I have about thirty letters to answer, I decided to write this “Day in the Life…” as a generic response to mail and to update friends and enemies of my life here.

10:00            Listened as “Yard Recall” was announced over the PA system, which means we all go back to the dorms for all the inmates to be counted, and then to be called out for lunch in the order of the cleanest dorm first to last.  My dorm, D-2, is typically second or third.  Some of these guys didn’t have a mom like I had to teach them to clean.  There are four dorms in this camp housing about 140 men each. 

10:00 – 10:40   Relaxed in dorm reading and writing and drinking my three-times-a-week coffee — and I know about that causing babies to be born naked!

10:40 – 11:00   Waited ten to twenty minutes in line for lunch.  

The weather here is gorgeous!  About 100 of the guys seem to be Christians, so there is a lot of good fellowship standing in line or walking around the one-third mile track or sitting in the open pavilion at the picnic tables.  This camp has a nice baseball field, basketball court, four handball courts, ten treadmills or exercise bikes, a ping-pong table, a small but well-stocked law library, regular library, and chapel library with lots of good videos and books.  We also have a barber shop, snack machines, dentist and doctor, and a commissary “store” where we “shop” once a week for items from cake to tennis shoes, ice cream to glasses.   There are no fights or violent incidents of any kind here.  Everyone, well almost everyone, is friendly and tries to get along.  Many men spend their free time in recreation, exercise, walking, taking classes, reading, talking, or watching TV.  There are six TVs in each dorm’s TV-viewing room.  All are set to different channels and everyone listens with their own radio headphones. 

We have six different Christian services or Bible studies every week and a Christian volleyball game on the other day.  We also have a Christian movie every Sunday night with snacks at intermission.   Every man has a job here.  About twenty of the men walk next door to the warehouse to work every day for Unicore.  They pack and ship bullet-proof vests for police and military.  About seventy of the men go next door to work in the other warehouse that provides food for both our camp and the medium security prison with 1,500 men next door.  Some of the men also work at “Facilities” to provide services like ground maintenance, welding, and the power house.  Other men, like me, work in the kitchen or have various jobs in the camp.

Today, like most days, rather than stand in line to eat, I went into the chapel to watch thirty minutes of T.D. Jakes’ incredible message, “He Knows Where You Are.”  I had heard of T.D. Jakes before but had never heard him preach until last week.  I differ with some of his theology, but so far, his powerful preaching has been a real blessing to me.

11:20            Went last in line to eat, a BLT sandwich – very good!

11:30 – 12:00   Worked with our four-man crew in the 20′ x 30′ dish room fast and furiously to clean up from lunch, disassemble and clean the giant dish-washing machines, and clean the floor, done and out the door by 12:02 p.m.

12:02 – 12:07 P.M.   Ran to the dorm to change to my jogging shorts and eat my almost daily Snickers bar—my almost only vice. Ha!

12:10 – 12:40   Took time to sunbathe behind the library, fifteen minutes on each side to absorb Vitamin D.  

During this time I consider the ants, the ravens, and the lilies as commanded in the Bible.  I consider my goals in life like the ant, the way God always provides food as for the raven, and the way God always provides clothes as for the lily.  I also consider the heavens as in Psalm 8.  It is a warm, partly cloudy, breezy day.  If God can make the wind, clouds, atmosphere, sun, stars, and more, He can watch over me in here and you out there!

12:40 – 1:10     Walked the track and talked with a Christian brother about the things of God and prayed for my family and staff

1:10 – 1:45      Played the piano and taught another inmate, Earl, basic music theory and how to read a little music.  By the end of our session, he could pick out “America the Beautiful” and was so excited!

1:45 – 2:30      Studied in the library, reading encyclopedias to learn more and get ideas for my seminar and Dinosaur Adventure Land.

2:35 – 2:50      Walked to dorm for a shower.  In the shower I shave, brush teeth, wash hair, sing “This World Is Not My Home,” and pray for those being persecuted for their faith around the world.  The shower reminds me of Hitler’s gassing the Jews. 

2:50 – 3:20      Went back to my “room” to read another chapter in Flyboys and rest.  Some days I get a ten-to-fifteen-minute power nap.

3:20              Dressed for work

3:26              Reported for work again

3:30 – 3:40      Set up machines for work

3:40 – 4:00      Read and wrote

4:00 – 4:20      Ate an early supper of fried chicken, beans, rice, and cake Read a little more in Flyboys, a great book!

4:20 – 6:30      Worked fast and furiously again in the dish room.  The waste of food here is incredible!

6:30              Got out of kitchen just in time for mail call

6:35 – 7:05      Read carefully and tearfully all twelve of the letters I got tonight.  In my nine months in prison, I’ve only had a few negative letters.  Hundreds have been so encouraging and supportive!  It is a joy to know so many are praying for me and especially for my wife.  Proverbs 25:25!

The sentencing guidelines called for zero to six months probation for her.  The judge called the Sentencing Commission in Washington, D.C. and they also told her zero to six months probation was appropriate, but she chose to sentence Jo to one year and one day in Federal Prison.  Unless a Stay or Appeal is granted, she must go to prison on August 31st.  The judge also granted Forfeiture of the Church Ministry property to pay the amount that was claimed by the Prosecution to have been “structured.”  This Forfeiture is based on Title 21 drug laws!  Our attorneys are working to right this incredible wrong.  Please keep praying as this case goes to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

7:05 – 7:45      Finished letter to my wife.  Jo gets personal letters.  Sorry that most of you are only getting “generic letters” right now.   Last Saturday was our 34th anniversary and she was allowed to come visit me!  It was great!  My daughter and her friend, Paul, came as well.  We got to visit both Saturday and Sunday!  

I was able to make an attorney call yesterday, the first one in several weeks.  He said that the District Judge must rule on one more motion before our case goes to the 11th Circuit.  It has been nearly nine months since the end of our trial, at which time we ordered the transcripts.  They have still not been produced!  The attorneys say that this is unusual and that the 11th Circuit has reprimanded Judge Roger’s court twice and fined her once already.  Please pray for this issue as well.  We cannot file an appeal without the court transcripts.

7:45              Went out to walk the track before the 8:00 p.m. prayer meeting, but a thunderstorm stopped that, so I went into the TV room and watched T.D. Jakes’ “It’s Not in the Field; It’s in the House.”

9:00              Went to walk the track one more time, but stopped to feed the racoon and the fox that come to the fence every night to beg for food.

9:20              Heard “Yard recall” announced over the PA, so I came inside to read the CSE blogs’ comments sent to me by my office.  I wish I could give a personal response to some of those committed evolutionists!  When I get out and challenge them to a public debate, watch them quiet down!  Time to organize some of the motions filed in my case.  If you have not read the latest motions by my attorney and my wife’s attorney (all denied, of course), you should!  I do feel a little like Naboth these days (I Kings 21) minus the rocks!  God will be sure all issues are judged righteously one day.

10:00            Reported for “Count Time” – Everyone must go to their “room” for a counting of all inmates.

10:10            Prayed in our prayer circle with a few other Christian brothers

10:30            Finished letters to mail out tomorrow morning when mail is collected at 7:00 a.m.

10:40 P.M.   Read until I was tired and went to sleep

Thank you for continuing to pray for my release!

Kent