From: Kent Hovind
Sent: December 2, 2008
To: Pedro
Subject: Burdens
kh: Lord, I missed my daughter’s wedding and Thanksgiving with my family. I haven’t seen my wife in over a year. The prosecution is trying to seize the ministry property. The 11th Circuit denied my motion for release pending appeal. My back hurts every day from the two inch foam pads we sleep on here, and I’m tired of hearing all the loud cursing every day. Why have you put such a heavy burden on me? I’ve tried to serve You for forty years now.
GOD: Let’s go for a walk, Son. Pedro will explain it to you…
kh: Where are we, Lord? This is beautiful!
GOD: We are in Central America, Son. Do you see that family walking down the jungle trail toward that small river?
kh: Yes, Lord.
GOD: Just watch them for a minute as they come across the river and then talk to the dad. That’s Pedro. He’ll explain.
Pedro: OK, kids. Line up by the river to get ready to cross over. Maria, put as many rocks in the kids’ backpacks as they can carry. OK, now Jose, give everyone a big rock to carry in their arms, too.
OK, I think we are ready. Let’s go, everyone. Don’t get too close together as you cross. Go slow. Watch your step. Very good everyone! Drop all your rocks in a pile so that we can carry them back when we come back later.
KH: Excuse me, Pedro. I watched your family cross that river. Why did you make all your children carry those heavy rocks?
Pedro: Oh, Señor, I love my children very much. We must cross that river every time we go to town. We will also cross it later when we return. I don’t want any of my children to be swept away by the river. It is not too deep here, but the river runs very fast.
KH: I know rivers can be dangerous to cross, especially for children. I saw you load them down with rocks until they could hardly walk. Why did you put such a heavy burden on each one?
Pedro: On, Señor! The heavier the burden they carry, the more it pushes their feet down to the bottom. The heavier the burden they carry, the less likely they are to be swept away by the current. This even works if they do step into a really deep place—as long as they hold tight to their burden—they can walk right out (Galatians 6:5).
KH: Why did you tell them not to get too close together?
Pedro: Each one must bear his own burden across the river. If they get too close, they may stop too much water. The water pressure could be too much and sweep them away together.
KH: I see. Thanks, Pedro. Enjoy your time in town.
Pedro: Si, Señor. Hasta luego.
GOD: Let’s go home, Son. Now do you understand?
KH: Yes, Lord. I still don’t like it, and the burden seems like way too much to carry, but you know what lies ahead and I trust You.
GOD: Good. Hold on to your load for a few more steps. I’ll tell you when to drop it. I’ve got your back (Matthew 11:30).
Dr. Kent E. Hovind is currently at the Edgefield Federal Correctional Institution in South Carolina. Please send postcards and letters to:
Kent E. Hovind #06452-017
FPC Edgefield D-2
P.O. BOX 725
Edgefield, SC. 29824 USA
Feel free to send Dr. Hovind a letter or postcard. Please understand he is not able to answer every letter he receives, but he certainly appreciates any support and encouragement. He can also receive new books, but only directly from bookstores. And no hardcover books are allowed. No DVDs, CDs, or anything hard or sharp such as staples, etc (no tracts with staples in them). Do not send more than one tract at a time, as all gifts containing more than one tract will not be allowed. Do not put “Dr.” on his name, or it may be discarded by the guards. They do not always return postal items that are not delivered to inmates, so you may want to save a copy before mailing, so that you might try again in the event that he was recently moved for example.
Mrs. Hovind is currently at the Federal Correctional Institution in Marianna, FL. Because of prison regulations, Mrs. Hovind can only receive letters. Please refrain from sending stickers, stamps, books, or media of any kind. If you would like to write her letters of encouragement, please send them to:
Jo D. Hovind #06453-017
FCI Marianna, Satellite Camp
P.O. Box 7006
Marianna, FL 32447
Please write with the understanding that whatever you write could be subject to monitoring by the guards. Please do not write politically-charged or tax-related comments, etc. In the event that Dr. or Mrs. Hovind is moved to another facility, one can always check for current addresses by using the Inmate Locator on the Bureau of Prisons website:
http://www.bop.gov/
From the CSE team,
Thank you for your continued support.
Kent hang in there! I sent a letter to Jo the other day, just everyday stuff to help keep things as normal as possible. Steve sent a funny Christmas card to you hope you liked it. Our whole family prays everyday about what is happening to you all.
PSALMS 43 reminds me of you* Judge me O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For thou art the God of my strength; why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me;unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy; yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. The Jonesfamily
Wow, what a wonderful lesson to learn. I’m sure before we make it to Glory we will need this lesson.
Bro. Hovind, you are a wonderful testimony of how a Christian should go through trials. You are not only growing through this but helping us to prepare for when it is our turn.
Our prayers are with you,
Tori Leslie, wife to Missionary Johnny Leslie
Brother Kent, I want you to know that we’re praying for you. By we, I don’t mean just me or my family, but thousands of folks across the US (and beyond I’m sure) keep you in their prayers daily. I wish you didn’t have to go through these things. If you or I could change it, we would, which is why God is so much greater than you or me. He sees something, maybe MANY things, that can be accomplished by you being right where you are, right now. I can’t speak to the charges that were brought against you, and honestly, at this point, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is you are where you are, and God can use ANYTHING for His glory, as long as we continue to love and trust him. I won’t pretend to understand where you are, as I’ve never been there, but at my place of business, I am surrounded by many forms of ungodliness, and yes, many times it seems too much to bear. I urge you to remind yourself that each of these noises is simply a seed calling out to be watered. These souls are crying out for someone to show them the way of salvation. You are the gardener that’s been put in place to tend that mission field, and most certainly the brightest light in a very dark place. Hold strong! We’ll keep praying for your strength and increasing faith!
My heart aches at your plight Dr. Hovind… Your material, though I came across it quite a few years ago, has changed my life for good.
Learning that your wife too is apprehended…makes me sick to the stomach, but also brings to mind a supernatural nature of this whole thing.
I wish, hope, pray, desire that you will be soon reunited with your family.
And if persecution is coming to America ( the land of the free?), I surely have lost hope in every system!
I reside in one of the most tyrannous governments of the world….I long for freedom & justice…..I sure hope the roll is called up yonder soon….
Thanks Kent for your clear documentations! My son in law found it difficult to believe in our brother Jesus Christ.
Your explanations of creation versus evolution (his father raises him with evolution-believe) brought him the last monthts closer to our Lord….
I’m busy in Holland (the Netherlands) to spread your information.
Thanks a lot!
We pray for you, your wife and Jesus work in this created world.
(excuse my bad English!)
Hope to hear soon from you!
Questions and answers (7b) is very good.
Keep your eyes on Jesus!!!
Stephan
Hey, Kent. I skimmed over that first sentence and nearly missed the content! Are we to assume that Marlissa has found another good man? If our Lord has blessed her with a guy who makes her as happy as Paul seemed to, then I’m thrilled for her. Though it is sad that you could not officiate again and, perhaps, get another ‘clip’ on the TV.
My prayer is that God will continue to bring glory to his great name through all that you and Jo are bearing. The darkness of night get less as the Dayspring gets nearer.
Ron Denton
Brother Hovind,
the LORD has given you some profound insights. Praise God for His awesome love & faithfulness!
I remember a sever trial that I was going through while in the ministry where I had this desire to throw rocks up in the sky just to get God’s attention, yet I knew He was with me through the whole ordeal. Sometimes the ones who hurt you the most are the ones who think to themselves that they are the most spiritual. {and that sounds like what the LORD went through.) It takes time to heal wounds, but you know you are mended when you find yourself praying with a heart of compassion for those who have ‘beat you to a pulp’. {and that also sounds like something the LORD would do.) We’re suppose to give thanks in everything, but that’s easier said than done. I’ve started to thank God for His wisdom that is behind whatever the trial is that He is allowing at the moment. My determination is to trust Him, no matter what the trial is. There is nothing that can separate us from His love.
Dear Dr.Dino,
I’m praying for you and your wife. Like Joseph in Genesis, you are going through trying circumstances. This is what I do to encourage myself in tough times.
1. Remind myself that God’s goal is to make me into the image of His Son -
“Our life on Earth is a dress rehearsal” As believers, we are strangers and pilgrims
on our way to Heaven. That is the place where eye has not seen nor ear heard the things God has for those that love Him
2. I remember that God will never leave me or forsake me, with every temptation there is a way of escape
3. I know there is hope – God’s mercies are new everyday, We are daily loaded up with benefits
4. I don’t want to lose my joy – the joy of the Lord is my strength
5. I don’t want to lose an attitude of gratitude. The enemy got Eve to focus on the 1 tree that was off limits. Take time to thank God for all the blessings that you still have:including the spiritual blessings. Like the song says Count your blessings, Name them one by one
6. I need to stay filled with the Spirit. A Porsche or a space shuttle out of gas can’t do much. We live that overcoming life plugged into God, filled up with His Spirit. Eph 5:18-21, Gal 5:22-23
7. I need to feed myself God’s Word. Know the verses you need to stand on when the time comes. To fight anxiety, have the Bible verses about that topic memorized so you can quote them when the time comes. Eve didn’t do this and lost it all.
8. Knowing God has a different set of priorities than the world does. We should glory and rejoice in the Lord
9.Life is a vapor, we know that when Jesus returns we want to be found faithful!
10. Keep praying or journalling. King David really vented with the Psalms. God hears you and God loves you.
I’m praying for you and your wife. Thanks for your wonderful ministry!
Love in Christ,
Yetunde
Thank you for such a wonderful, encouraging post, I was getting a little flustered today and your post so encouraged me! Thank you so much! Your bearing you burden has encouraged me also to bear mine!
God Bless you!
Ben
Kent, I’m praying for you every day, that the Lord would do a miracle! I’m from an oppositely facing denominational background (calvary chapel), but I have been praying pretty fervently (as fervently as multiple inter-familial suicide attempts and death within my family have allowed) for your RELEASE. I want you to get OUT! You will get OUT! Obviously! You have not been given a LIFE sentence, for crying out loud- as Mary Winkler ought to have gotten when she murdered her pastr/husband with a shotgun- she only got a couple months jail! You were unwise to stand up for our founding fathers against the bad idea that was the income tax- instituted by Woodrow Wilson. But I want you out of there sooner than later! In the meantime- and I’m sure you’ve already thought of this- get yourself a PHD in something. That has always been the charge against you- “He’s not even a PHD”. Think ‘Count of Monte Crist’. You are locked into finishing that. It is possible. Maybe that is the one and only reason for you being in there. Don’t be discouraged- you are my brother and I’ll embrace you in heaven, at the very least. But I’m convinced there will be things more temporal than this. Who else has this unique position? You can minister to those who are at the very bottom of the barrel- who have no hope of ever seeing heaven. In Seattle there is a church now forming, called ‘Mars Hill Church’, and I sense God saying ‘come up here’ to you. Kent, my beloved brother, endure hardship like a good soldier of Christ Jesus- and you have done so. Kent, there are MANY of us, from many different denominations, praying for you and your safety. If you are up to it, and are willing to humor me and many other ‘Gen X’ Christians, go to marshillchurch.org. Kent, my dear brother, we have not forgotten you. You will get out eventually. I have not stopped feeling that burden on my heart, from the moment I first heard the news that deeply grieved me, so please do not give up. You will be out soon.
To: LocalizedDisturbanceinthelargerQuantumField Thankyou for encouraging Dr. Hovind. You are an encouragement to me also. I hope Dr. Hovind will take your message to heart! Dr. Hovind let us pray for God’s strentgh to serve HIm. I continue to pray for your RELEASE. Love, in Christ
Dear Kent: I am still kneeling and praying for you and your wife’s safety and peace. I know that you have hardships we can’t even imagine. I am going to put your site on my myspace. I will sum up that you are incarcerated for truth-telling, legal tax evasion methods that lesser lucrative people get away with, and for generally being too smart, and faithful. The only fault I see you having is that sometimes you overstep the boundary of saying who goes to hell. I would not do this myself, as it always remains an open case to the Judge of all with whom we have to do. He know the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Perhaps Mr. Darwin has repented before he died? You don’t want to judge, remember what the Lord said….”judge not…. (I say this in my most humble and respectful way I can to you and out of love)…..I remain your grateful sister in Christ.
Kent,
I am sorry for all the things happening to you. I tell others that you are in a worse shape than I am in one way but then again not in another. I am not in prison like you are, my wife deceived me into getting out of the house and she moved her boyfriend in. She is living in open rebellion before the king of the universe. My two small kids are in the midst of it. They are only 8 and 9 years old. She has the money, she got the judge to keep me from seeing my kids. I raised them mostly by myself for the first 5 and 6 years of their life. I was with them almost constantly and now I haven’t seen them for almost three years. It is a big time pain in my being. I keep crying out to God since I KNOW that the Lord is the only one who can turn this thing around for the good. I hurt for her and many others going through some super hard times. I make judgements about her and her situation all the time to others and to the Lord. I know we all judge but we better be judging righteous judgments based on the word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us to judge righteously because he knows we all judge. I have read some who judge Darwin as getting saved before he died but his wife didn’t know about it from what I read. I have heard others judge that he died and is in hell which fits the facts better. I personally believe that he is in hell from the things I have read concerning the later days of his life. I know that if we judge that he went to hell or to heaven we must judge based on the word and the facts as they are presented to us. One judgement is as wrong as the other if it is not based on the word of God.
Ekkman
The Lord knows all you’re going through brother Kent. Known unto Him are all his ways from the beginning. He knew you would be in this situation & He has also made provision for this situation. I pray you will receive every provision He has made for you for this situation in Jesus name. I also pray that the purpose for whick He permit this situation will be fullfilled in Jesus name. All things work together for good to those that love the Lord Jesus. It is for good beloved Brother Kent Hovind.
We in England are praying for you.
Sade Tennyson