The statistics are as sobering as they are predictable.

According to Family Research Council, between 2018 and 2024, there have been 1,384 documented hostile acts against churches in America, including vandalism, arson, fire bombings, bomb threats, and shootings. This represents an eight-fold increase from just five years prior.

The dragon is making war against those who refuse to bow to the spirit of the age.

But for those with eyes to see, this surge was never a matter of if but when.

When a culture systematically abandons the God who gave it birth, when it tears down every sacred institution and mocks every holy thing, the inevitable result is not peaceful co-existence with God’s family but war. And that war has now come, quite literally, to our church doors.

The most recent and egregious example comes from Seattle, where 28-year-old Lebron Givaun — a newlywed who had recently surrendered his life to Christ — was gunned down in broad daylight as he arrived for a young adult service at Pursuit Church. Two masked assailants fired over 30 rounds from illegally modified automatic weapons into a crowd of families gathering for a church barbecue.

Let that sink in: Criminals with a “code of honor” that Pastor Russell Johnson rightly noted wouldn’t “shoot a man in broad daylight while he is at a house of worship, while he is with his wife and kid,” have been replaced by something far more sinister. This was not random gang violence spilling over into a sacred space — this was a targeted assault on the very concept of sanctuary itself.

The symbolism could not be clearer. After the shooting, the attackers abandoned and torched their vehicle at another church’s parking lot to destroy the evidence. The scene sent its own grim message: No church is beyond our reach.

The pattern emerges

This Seattle shooting did not occur in a vacuum. Pursuit Church had already been marked for hostility after hosting a prayer rally defending biblical sexuality and the family. When Christians gathered lawfully to proclaim God’s design for marriage and gender, Seattle’s political establishment and radical activists united in opposition, with Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell (D) characterizing the prayer gathering as “far-right” extremism.

Here, we see the progression with crystal clarity.

First, biblical Christianity is redefined as political extremism. Then, those who hold to historic Christian faith are demonized as threats to public safety. And finally, violence against such “threats” becomes not only acceptable but morally justified.

The pattern repeats itself across blue America. In Washington state, Natasha O’Dell traveled from Texas to burn down the Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church, causing over $3.2 million in damage. She had openly expressed her rage against churches and specifically planned to “burn a nearby church.” The same spirit that drove her to destruction drives the masked gunmen who spray bullets into church gatherings.

RELATED: Our churches are sitting ducks. Here’s how to fight back.

Blaze Media Illustration

This is not new but is part of a growing pattern. In the fall of 2022, a pro-abortion terrorist group, Jane’s Revenge, threatened to carry out a mass shooting at two churches in Nebraska, explicitly naming the use of “AR-14 rifles” if a local abortion ban passed.

These threats were a part of a wave of over 100 violent attacks on churches and pregnancy centers that have occurred since May 2022, when the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dobbs case overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked.

And since May 2020, there have been at least 518 violent attacks on Catholic churches across 43 states, including arson, smashed statues, satanic graffiti, vandalism, and assault — often with explicitly anti-Catholic and pro-abortion messages.

The spiritual reality behind the statistics

Make no mistake: This is spiritual warfare manifesting in physical violence.

When the apostle Paul warned that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12), he was describing precisely what we witness today.

The enemy’s strategy is both ancient and obvious: If you cannot corrupt the church from within through compromise and false teaching, destroy it from without through intimidation and violence. John’s vision in Revelation 12:17 captures this perfectly: “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

This scenario is precisely what we see unfolding in Washington state and across America. The dragon is making war against those who refuse to bow to the spirit of the age, who insist on keeping God’s commandments regarding marriage, sexuality, and the sanctity of life and who maintain their testimony of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation.

These attacks are not random acts of violence. They are manifestations of an ancient hatred directed specifically at those who bear the image of the One who crushed the serpent’s head.

A call to courage

This moment is not a time for the church to retreat into a defensive crouch, hoping that if we just keep our heads down and our convictions quiet, perhaps the storm will pass us by. That storm is not passing — it is intensifying. And our Lord Jesus never called His people to cower in the face of persecution; He called us to count it all joy (James 1:2).

To the pastors reading this: Your congregations need to hear the truth about what is happening, and they need to be prepared — spiritually, mentally, and yes, practically — for what may come. This is not fearmongering; this is biblical wisdom. “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3).

To the men in our churches: You have been called to be protectors and defenders, not just of your families but of your congregations. The times demand masculine courage rooted in biblical conviction. Study your scripture, strengthen your bodies, and prepare your minds. The sheep are under attack, and shepherds must be ready to confront the wolves.

These attacks confirm that the light of Christ still shines brightly enough to provoke the rage of those who love darkness rather than light.

To every believer: Understand that in a post-Christian culture, simply being Christian is increasingly viewed as an act of aggression. Your commitment to biblical truth — on marriage, sexuality, the sanctity of life, and the exclusivity of Christ — marks you as an enemy of the prevailing order.

This is not a cause for compromise; it is a call to clarity.

The government’s abdication

What makes this crisis particularly acute is the systematic abdication of civil government from its God-ordained role.

When Seattle’s mayor effectively takes sides with violent protesters against Christians exercising their First Amendment rights, when 75% of homicides in Seattle go unsolved, and when churches must hire private security because public officials will not protect houses of worship, the social contract has been shattered.

Scripture is clear that civil government exists “for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good” (1 Peter 2:14). When government instead punishes good and praises evil, it has forfeited its divine mandate and revealed itself as an instrument of the very chaos it was ordained to prevent.

This is why the principled Christian must simultaneously pray for governing authorities (1 Timothy 2:1-2) while refusing to grant them the ultimate allegiance that belongs to God alone. We submit to legitimate authority while recognizing that no earthly power can command us to deny our Lord or abandon His truth (Daniel 3:16-28).

Victory through faithfulness

The rise in anti-Christian violence is both a sign of our culture’s spiritual darkness and, paradoxically, evidence of the gospel’s power. The enemy does not waste ammunition on territory he already controls. These attacks confirm that the light of Christ still shines brightly enough to provoke the rage of those who love darkness rather than light.

Our response must be thoroughly biblical: We fear God and fear nothing else. We love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, even as we prepare to defend the innocent and vulnerable. We proclaim the truth in love, knowing that the same gospel, which is “the power of God unto salvation,” is also our only hope for cultural transformation.

As Jesus told us in John 16:33:

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

The church has survived Roman persecution, Islamic conquest, and communist oppression. It will most certainly survive the tantrums of a dying secular culture that has mistaken temporary political power for ultimate authority.

Our King reigns, our victory is certain, and our duty is clear: to stand firm, speak truth, and trust the sovereignty of God, who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

The dragon may rage, but the Lamb has conquered. And in His strength, so shall we.

This article is adapted from an essay originally published at Liberty University’s Standing for Freedom Center.

​Church attacks, Christianity, Christians, Violence, God, Jesus christ, Jesus, Bible, American church, Faith 

In these wild political and cultural times, maybe we can allow ourselves a moment to “have some fun just for the fun of it.” Let’s take an off-beat look at Donald Trump’s 2024 comeback through the lens of Rube Goldberg, the cartoonist who turned everyday tasks into ridiculous, roundabout contraptions.

Goldberg, born July 4, 1883, became famous for illustrating convoluted chain reactions: a ball drops, a lever tilts, a cat jumps, and eventually, the napkin wipes your chin. His crazy spirit seems to have animated the past four years of American politics.

Take the self-operating napkin:

Wikipedia/Public domain

From the waning days of 2020 through November 2024, Democrats and their allies in the media and deep state plotted a simple game. They thought they could topple Trump like dominoes. Line up the indictments, knock over the first tile, and watch the rest fall neatly into place: Trump would give up, his supporters would grow weary, and one or more cases would stick, leaving him ineligible for office and likely even in prison.

Democrats trusted in dominoes. Reality looked more like a Goldberg machine — and divine providence.

The Democrats’ gambit did not pay off.

Instead of dominoes falling in precise order — A into B into C into D — events spun out in unpredictable ways. As I wrote in my 2023 book, “Obvious”:

Instead of things falling domino-style in precise order — A into B into C into D, and so on — life is more like A hitting G falling into C popping up H accelerating M … all the way to Z. We take an action, start the ball rolling, and through many unseen and sometimes quirky circumstances, incredible results materialize.

That’s what happened. Democrats didn’t set off dominoes. They set loose a Rube Goldberg machine.

Trump’s Goldberg moment

One of the strangest, and most powerful, moments came in Butler, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 2024. An assassin’s bullet nearly took Trump’s life. Instead, Trump sprang up and shouted, “Fight, fight, fight!” That image electrified the nation.

Add to that miraculous scene a wave through a McDonald’s drive-through window, a campaign dump truck plastered with Trump signs, even headlines about people “eating cats and dogs,” and you begin to see the Rube Goldberg contraption click along — until it delivered not chaos but victory.

Courtroom dramas fizzled. Character assassination failed. Even physical assassination attempts backfired. What Democrats had hoped would be Trump’s undoing became the very chain of events that returned him to power.

Rube Goldberg is spinning in his grave (perhaps literally).

The hand behind the chain reaction

Through another lens, the lesson is simpler: “All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). What looks chaotic to us is under His direction. He arranges the pieces, sets events in motion, and brings about His will.

Democrats trusted in dominoes. Reality looked more like a Goldberg machine — and divine providence.

The game is not over. More events lie ahead, more unexpected turns in the chain reaction. The real question is not whether the machinery keeps moving but whether we will find ourselves on the winning side when the final result arrives.

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at American Thinker.

​Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Butler pennsylvania, Assassination attempt, 2024 presidential election, Rube goldberg, Machines, Divine providence, Democrats, Fake news, Media bias 

Whether it’s enforcing discipline or training our children up in the gospel, being a godly parent is incredibly difficult.

But there’s one commandment that most moms and dads would agree is harder than them all: keeping God above our children.

We love our kids so much that we desperately want to have strong relationships with them. And this is a good thing. But it quickly becomes sinful when our desire to be close with our children becomes more important than obeying God.

“The ideal, of course, is to maintain forever a loving and a close relationship with your kids and obey the Lord. … That’s every Christian parent’s hope,” says Allie Beth Stuckey.

But “if one has to give — either it’s obey the Lord or get my child to like me … then you’ve got to go with obeying the Lord. That’s the call for the Christian. That’s part of the dying to self.”

Allie admits that one of the most challenging verses in scripture is Jesus’ words in Luke 14:26, where he says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

Jesus isn’t mincing words here: True discipleship requires prioritizing devotion to Him above even the closest family relationships — not literally hating our family but elevating our commitment to following Him above all.

“I do believe in trying to maintain those relationships [with our children] as much as possible, but if something has to give … it has to be obeying the Lord, who is kinder and better and wiser than we are,” Allie reiterates.

She criticizes Georgia Pastor Andy Stanley and other progressive-leaning church leaders for encouraging parents to be LGBTQ+-affirming when it comes to their children. She condemns his decision to invite a gay married couple to speak at his church on several occasions, misleading his congregation to disagree with God on what is sinful.

This is equivalent to telling parents to “reject God’s authority when it comes to sex, marriage, [and] gender,” Allie explains.

She points to the powerful testimony of Laura Perry, whom God redeemed from transgenderism, as an example of how godly parents should behave when their children stray. Laura’s parents “never compromised,” she says.

“And because of that, because they continued to tell her God’s word … while also being kind to her … she was brought back to a place of repentance.”

She brings up Rosaria Butterfield as another powerful example. “She’s the former queer theory professor, former lesbian, who tried every way she could 20-plus years ago to unite her homosexuality with her Christianity. But the Holy Spirit, because this is what he does, he wouldn’t let her do it,” she says.

Parents need to be reminded that Jesus, once he enters a person’s heart, “kills sin,” which He alone gets to define.

“He is a king taking dominion over your heart and your mind and your soul and, yes, your sexuality,” says Allie, “and this is just as true in all of us as it is true with people who wrestle with same-sex attraction or gender confusion” — even if those people are your own children.

To hear more of Allie’s commentary, watch the episode above.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Relatable, Allie beth stuckey, Blazetv, Blaze media, Christianity, Progressive christians, Progressive christianity, Andy stanley 

A whistleblower has reportedly come forward to confirm claims that the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., has been manipulating crime data, a scandal that has led the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to launch its own investigation.

In August, President Donald Trump initiated a federal surge on D.C. streets, citing high crime rates despite the MPD reporting a decline.

‘The Committee has obtained credible, alarming information that MPD leadership falsified crime data to deceptively show a decline in violent crime in the District.’

While Trump faces backlash from critics for taking matters into his own hands, a scandal is unfolding regarding whether the police department manipulated the data to make it appear as though crime rates have been declining.

The D.C. Police Union has long accused the MPD of manipulating crime data. Following the union’s allegations, the department placed Police Commander Michael Pulliam on paid administrative leave in May. The department is investigating the claims.

“When our members respond to the scene of a felony offense where there is a victim reporting that a felony occurred, inevitably there will be a lieutenant or a captain that will show up on that scene and direct those members to take a report for a lesser offense,” Gregg Pemberton, the chairman of the D.C. Police Union, previously explained to WRC-TV.

“So instead of taking a report for a shooting or a stabbing or a carjacking, they will order that officer to take a report for a theft or an injured person to the hospital or a felony assault, which is not the same type of classification,” Pemberton added.

RELATED: DC police commander under investigation for allegedly manipulating crime stats

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The allegations of underreported crime trace back to 2020 when MPD Sergeant Charlotte Djossou shared internal documents from two cases with WUSA.

The first case involved an alleged assault in which a man was accused of slashing a woman’s face and neck with an unknown object. While the alleged attack could have been classified as an “assault with a dangerous weapon,” it was instead recorded as a “simple assault.” The first offense is a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, while the second offense is a misdemeanor, carrying a maximum sentence of six months in jail.

The second case involved an incident where a man was accused of putting a knife to the neck of his partner. This also could have been classified as a felony assault; instead, it was reported as a misdemeanor “simple assault.”

The cases were not prosecuted, according to WUSA.

“It’s not OK to lie to the community about what’s going on around them,” Djossou told the news outlet during her 2020 interview. “That’s what I saw happening.”

“The commanders and the captains get promoted, and they get awards, when the crime stats are low,” she remarked.

Djossou filed a lawsuit against the MPD, claiming that she had faced retaliation for disclosing the alleged underreporting to her supervisors. The lawsuit was settled in June.

Djossou stated that reporters have contacted her since, but she “can’t talk to them until I retire” because she is “still a sergeant with the Metropolitan Police Department.”

RELATED: Fact-check: Legacy media’s bogus defense of DC’s safe-streets narrative crumbles under scrutiny

Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

The Oversight Committee announced on August 25 that it launched an investigation into allegations of manipulated crime stats, revealing that a whistleblower had come forward.

According to the whistleblower, the manipulation was “widespread,” directed by “senior MPD officials,” and potentially impacts all seven patrol districts.

The Oversight Committee sent a letter to the MPD the same day, requesting information to aid its investigation, including the unredacted settlement agreement between the MPD and Djossou.

The committee has requested transcribed interviews with Pulliam and the current MPD commanders for all seven districts.

“Building on President Trump’s successful efforts to restore law and order in the District of Columbia, the House Oversight Committee is carrying out its constitutional duty to oversee D.C. affairs and ensure our nation’s capital is safe for all Americans,” Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) told Blaze News.

“The Committee has obtained credible, alarming information that MPD leadership falsified crime data to deceptively show a decline in violent crime in the District. MPD has a duty under federal law to accurately report crime to the public, and the Committee is now taking action to investigate these allegations and ensure the safety of D.C. residents and visitors is never compromised,” Comer stated.

The MPD did not respond to a request for comment from WUSA.

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​News, Washington d.c., Washington dc, D.c., Dc, House committee on oversight and government reform, House oversight committee, Oversight committee, James comer, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, Metropolitan police department, Mpd, D.c. police union, Dc police union, Crime stats, Crime data, Politics 

President Donald Trump announced earlier this month that he was federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., and deploying the National Guard there in order to “re-establish law, order, and public safety.”

While Democrats and other liberal pundits reflexively denounced Trump’s intervention, their critiques were premature. Since Trump took action, violent crime in D.C. reportedly is down 45%, and carjackings are down 87%.

‘He is CRAZY!’

Having demonstrated just how quickly order can be restored with will and determination, Trump now is looking to help other crime-ridden cities across the country.

But during a press conference last week, Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker criticized the president’s efforts to make cities safer, claiming what Trump is doing “is illegal, it is unconstitutional, it is un-American.”

“Mr. President, do not come to Chicago,” added Pritzker. “You are neither wanted here nor needed here.”

But Trump noted in a Saturday evening Truth Social post, “Six people were killed, and 24 people were shot, in Chicago last weekend, and JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME.”

The president added, “He is CRAZY!!! He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!”

RELATED: DC Dems are furious at Mayor Bowser for admitting Trump’s troops are lowering crime

Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Underscoring Trump’s concerns, Chicago kicked off the Labor Day weekend with — you guessed it — another spate of shootings.

Police indicated that as of Sunday morning, at least 32 people had been shot in the city — three fatally — WLS-TV reported. Among the victims was a 43-year-old woman who was approached then reportedly riddled with bullets at the hands of five male suspects.

The Windy City is no stranger to bloody weekends — or weekdays, for that matter.

Chicago Police Department statistics indicate that so far this year there have been at least 266 murders, 1,141 reported sexual assaults, 4,003 robberies, 10,774 motor vehicle thefts, 11,488 felony thefts, and 3,971 burglaries.

Chicago — which has secured the top spot on Orkin’s list of America’s rattiest cities for the last 10 years — has a 5-rating on Neighborhood Scout’s crime index in which 100 is safest.

Yet while Pritzker has criticized the idea of Trump deploying the National Guard to assist Chicago, the city’s Mayor Brandon Johnson — who has an approval rating of 26% according to a recent poll by the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation and the National Opinion Research Center, both at the University of Chicago — is especially opposed.

RELATED: ‘Stop talking and get to work’: Trump blasts Democrat Gov. Wes Moore over Maryland crime

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Johnson signed an executive order Saturday “denouncing any attempts to deploy the United States Armed Forces and/or the National Guard and/or militarized civil immigration enforcement in Chicago.”

In the order, the unpopular mayor demanded that Trump and agents under his authority “stand down from any attempts” to deploy troops in the city and vowed to ensure the Chicago Police Department remains a locally controlled law enforcement agency under mayoral authority.

‘Cracking down on crime should not be a partisan issue.’

Additionally, Johnson said federal agents and troops cannot wear masks while performing their duties.

“We have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks before our city sees some type of militarized activity by the federal government,” said Johnson. “We must take immediate, drastic action to protect our people from federal overreach.”

The White House reportedly has written off Johnson’s executive order signing as a “publicity stunt.”

— (@)

“If these Democrats focused on fixing crime in their own cities instead of doing publicity stunts to criticize the President, their communities would be much safer,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to the Independent. “Cracking down on crime should not be a partisan issue, but Democrats suffering from [Trump Derangement Syndrome] are trying to make it one.”

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​Crime, Chicago, Illinois, Pritzker, Brandon johnson, Donald trump, Dc, Winning, Law, Order, Violence, Politics, National guard, Federalizing local police, Shootings 

Christopher Wolfe’s thoughtful essay at the American Mind on Booker T. Washington, leisure, and work stirred some fond memories from years ago of making a friend by reading a book.

He was an old black man, and I was an old white man. We were both native Angelenos and had been just about old enough to drive when the Watts riots broke out in 1965. But that was half a century and a lifetime ago, and we hadn’t known each another.

If you read ‘Up from Slavery,’ you will be reading an American classic and will be getting to know a man who ranks among the greatest Americans of all time.

Los Angeles is a big place, a home to many worlds. Now we were white-haired professors, reading a book together, and we became friends. His name was Kimasi, and he has since gone to a better world.

We were spending a week with a dozen other academics reading Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, “Up from Slavery.” Washington was born a slave in Franklin County, Virginia, just a few years before the Civil War began. He gained his freedom through Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Union victory in the war. With heroic determination, he got himself an education and went on to found the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, where he remained principal for the rest of his life.

After Frederick Douglass died in 1895, Washington became, without comparison, the most well-known and influential black American living. By the beginning of the 20th century, as John Hope Franklin would write, he was “one of the most powerful men in the United States.” “Up from Slavery,” published in 1901, sold 100,000 copies before Washington died in 1915.

It is a great American book. Modern Library ranks it third on its list of the best nonfiction books in the English language of the 20th century. But there was a reason why Kimasi and I were reading this great book when we were old men rather than when we were young men back in the riotous 1960s.

Even before Washington died, and while he was still the most famous and influential black man in America, other black leaders began to discredit him and question his way of dealing with the plight and aspirations of black Americans. These critics, whom Washington sometimes called “the intellectuals,” were led by W.E.B. Du Bois, the first black American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

So successful was this criticism that by the time Kimasi and I were in high school or heading off to college, the most fashionable opinion among intellectuals — black or white — was that Booker T. Washington was the worst of things for a black man. He was an “Uncle Tom.” (How “Uncle Tom” became a term of derision rather than the name of a heroic character is a story for another time.) And so, if Washington’s great book was mentioned at all to young Kimasi or me, it was mentioned in this negative light.

But fashions change, and, as Washington himself taught, merit is hard to resist. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address were dismissed and scoffed at by some “intellectuals” in his day; they are now generally recognized by informed and intelligent people around the world as the great speeches they are.

“Huckleberry Finn” scandalized polite opinion when it came out, because it was about an illiterate vagrant and other lowlifes and contained a lot of ungrammatical talk and bad spelling. A couple of generations later, Ernest Hemingway himself declared that “all modern American literature comes from one book” — Huckleberry Finn.

A couple of generations later still, in our own times, skittish librarians started removing the book from their shelves because it used language too dangerous for children.

The study of the past should shed light on what deserves praise, what deserves blame, and the grounds on which such judgments should be made. Americans being as fallible as the rest of mankind, as long as we are free to air opinions, there will be different opinions among us. Some of them may actually be true. And they will change from time to time, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for no reason at all.

RELATED: Why can’t Americans talk honestly about race? Blame the ‘Civil Rights Baby Boomers’

Photo by Graphic House/Getty Images

In recent years, several scholars have helped bring back to light the greatness and goodness of Booker T. Washington. Even fashionable opinion is capable of justice, and no one wants to be deceived about what is truly good and great, so I hazard to predict that it will sometime become fashionable again to recognize Booker T. Washington as one of the greatest Americans ever.

Washington never held political office. But his life and work demonstrated that you don’t have to hold political office to be a statesman and that the noblest work of the statesman is to teach. The soul of what Washington sought to teach was that we, too, can rise up from slavery. It is an eternal possibility.

This was the central purpose of Booker T. Washington’s life and work: to liberate souls from enslavement to ignorance, prejudice, and degrading passions, the kind of slavery that makes us tyrants to those around us in the world we live in.

Washington saw that this freedom of the soul cannot be given to us by others. Good teachers and good parents and friends, through precept and example, can help us see this freedom and understand it, but we have to achieve it for ourselves. When we do, our souls are liberated to rule themselves by reflection and choice, with malice toward none, with charity for all.

If you read “Up from Slavery,” you will be reading an American classic. You will be getting to know a man who, in the quality of his mind and character, and in the significance of what he did in and with his life, ranks among the greatest Americans of all time — even with the man whose name he chose for himself. When we read this great book together in the ripeness of our years, Kimasi, who always winningly wore his heart on his sleeve, wept frequently and repeated, shaking his head, “I lived a life not knowing this man.”

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at the American Mind.

​Opinion & analysis, Race, Racism, Booker t. washington, Up from slavery, Literature, Memoir, Race relations, Slavery, Autobiography, W.e.b. du bois, Naacp, Equality, Uncle tom, Frederick douglass, Mark twain, Huckleberry finn, Library, History, Truth 

For decades, numerous people declared clinically dead have miraculously awakened with vivid descriptions of the heavenly realm. Stories of being enveloped by brilliant, warm light, strolling through indescribably beautiful landscapes, and reuniting with deceased loved ones (and even Jesus) are the subjects of many books written by people who have had near-death experiences. Many Christians view these heavenly visions as either true or at least plausible, believing that scripture corroborates such experiences.

But what about the opposite? What about visits to hell?

On this episode of “Strange Encounters,” a podcast that explores spiritual warfare from a biblical perspective, Rick dives into a wild story that’s gone viral: A woman named Queen Okeoma who claims to have seen the pits of hell — and the most iconic, influential rapper in history, Biggie Smalls, consumed by flames in a cell guarded by giant demons.

Okeoma is an author who has gained significant attention for her book, “Testimony: Life Changing Encounters in the Supernatural,” in which she claims to have experienced multiple out-of-body visits to heaven and hell.

On a recent podcast that’s gone viral, Okeoma shared one of her out-of-body experiences in which, she said, Jesus took her into hell and told her several things — that “the darkness is alive and it is its own separate evil entity,” that the flames of hell are “20,000 times hotter than the fire on the earth” and “are fed with brimstone night and day,” so “they will never go out,” and finally, that if she did not follow Him, He would “use [her]” to save others but that she would “die and go to hell.”

“I was physically out of my body in hell, standing beside Jesus Christ himself. It was pitch-black, and these demons had to be 13, 14, 15 feet tall, and they were standing in front of a jail cell. … And Biggie was holding the bars, but he was on fire from the inside,” she said, adding that Jesus told her that the rapper had rejected Him and instead “went to a fetish priest and got charms he carried around in his pocket to become famous.”

“When [the demons] put him back in his cell and closed the door, [Biggie] exploded on fire. And when my feet was an inch, maybe two inches, from that fire, I was back in my body,” she concluded, sobbing in gratitude that Jesus “let [her] live.”

Okeoma’s testimony has spurred much controversy. Some write her off as a kook, while others are driven to their knees in prayer.

Rick, who admits he doesn’t know anything about Okeoma or her faith, evaluates her harrowing testimony with biblical truth. “I don’t hear anything in what she’s saying that is now giving us some new revelation,” like “there are many ways to heaven,” which would automatically disqualify her story as false, he says.

“What she takes away from [her alleged divine encounter] is that Jesus is real, Jesus is the only way we can be redeemed, and hell is a very real place” — all truths confirmed by scripture. Further, Okeoma was driven to repentance following her experience — another factor that adds credibility to her account.

On top of that, her testimony has sparked significant online discussion and engagement, with many viewers sharing that either they or their friends and family have repented and professed faith in Jesus Christ after hearing her story.

“When I look at that, I’m not sure I’m ready to be so critical as some people have been,” says Rick.

To hear Okeoma’s first-person account and join Rick as he explores several other topics in the realm of spiritual warfare, watch the episode above.

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​Strange encounters, Rick burgess, Heaven hell, Biggie, Biggie smalls, The notorious b.i.g., Queen okeoma, Christianity, Spiritual warfare, Angels and demons