Prior to 2016 I couldn’t have imagined a second civil war coming to the USA during my lifetime. Five years later, in late 2021, I can’t foresee this nation avoiding a civil war within the next few years. Melodramatic hyperbole, you say? Well, here’s some of my evidence pointing to America’s imminent civil war.
The most prominent current point of conflict is the debate over the COVID virus. Conspiracy theorists have questioned and/or openly denounced easily verifiable facts about the virus’s origins, its threat, and the standard, science-based mitigation protocols. And then, those conspiracy cranks have taken direct aim at the most important weapon in the fight against a mindless-but-relentless virus that has killed at least 635,000 Americans—vaccines.
God Told Me, So No Room for Debate
Leading the fight against COVID vaccines are evangelical pastors and leaders, particularly white evangelical leaders. This morning I watched a YouTube “sermon”—in truth more of a rant—by a “pastor” named Hank Kunneman.
The title for the Kunneman video is “Watch What God Said About the Vaccine.” Well, there you have it: God said it, so any debate over the matter is over before it can begin. Who dares to argue against God? Certainly not me. But I will argue against Hank Kunneman. The man is, like so many of the current crop of evangelical “pastors,” a shyster getting rich by declaring himself God’s confidential conduit to common folks. Once these snake-oil salesmen convince their gullible flock that they have that special connection to God, they can declare day to be night and night day, and their followers will rearrange their entire lives to align with God’s word as spoken through His “anointed” mouthpiece.
This war we’re about to start is not just about a virus or vaccines; it’s about protecting our freedoms as Americans.
Setting the Stage for Battle
In the above-mentioned video, Kunneman intertwines biblical passages with his peculiar interpretations of those passages and then ties those quirky interpretations to his views on COVID vaccines. He begins his “sermon” by asking the congregation if they “are under attack.” Right from the start, he sets the stage for a combative, persecuted, us-versus-them attitude. Next, he invites the congregation to come forward to the stage as he says, “You’re in a fight; you’re in a battle; you need a breakthrough.” More militant language.
As the folks file forward, Kunneman states, “This is not a time to give up.” He’s setting the stage for the impending invective. “Why is it when Jesus returns, the Bible says in the book of Luke, that the question is, ‘Will He find faith in (sic) the earth?’ … The Bible says that the enemy knows his time is short.” Here, Kunneman is beginning to link the devil to what comes next in his rant. “We are not under; we are over. You can be under if you submit yourself to what the devil’s doing. Don’t tolerate it. That’s putting yourself under the enemy’s control. He has no right to your body….” Implication: Those who want you to get vaccinated are in league with the devil.
Then, as his volume rises noticeably, Kunneman declares, “Whatever you bind upon earth—in other words, whenever you say no, I don’t permit it, and I’m not going to accept it—it will be bound in the heavens.” (He took that passage out of context and blatantly misapplied it.) “Sometimes you gotta put your foot down and say, 'No, no, no, I’m not under because I have the covenant of Abraham'. … You are the head and not the tail. … You don’t have to take it. That’s the power of the new covenant.” By this point, Kunneman is shouting, gravelly-voiced and nearly breathless as he gesticulates frantically.
The Battle for “My Rights”
From there, he turns to the ancient Hebrew King Hezekiah, using the king as an illustration and an example for his huge congregation to emulate. Tell God all the good things you’ve done, Kunneman advises the crowd. “So, I have a right, Father [referring to God], to what I come to you about.” Then he tells the crowd to tell God, “I have rights through the blood of Jesus, and I’m not going to be pushed around. This—not defining “this,” but building toward his proposition—"is a violation of our blood covenant.”
And then comes the zany zinger of a disconnected connection: “Just like what they’re doing with this COVID vaccination. Listen to me. I was awakened by the Lord about three o’clock in the morning a week ago, and He said, ‘It’s not just a COVID experimental vaccination; it’s an experiment. They’re seeing how much they can get by with. And what does it really come down to? How much freedom they can take.” Yes, Kunneman said that was God's message.
“I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t take the vaccine,” he says, trying to appear objective. (But just a moment before he’d called the vaccine “an experiment.” He’d already implied it’s unsafe.) “Don’t let the enemy take your freedom,” he declares. And that’s how the coming battle—the cause worth fighting for at all costs—will be framed: They—the others who are not like us—want to take our freedoms. This war we’re about to start is not just about a virus or vaccines; it’s about protecting our freedoms as Americans.
Liberty and Death
Six-hundred thirty-five thousand Americans have been buried or cremated, victims of a virus that could have been beaten by now if enough Americans had heeded medical experts rather than self-serving quacks like Hank Kunneman. Six-hundred thirty-five thousand American families have mourned the loss of a loved one taken by a microscopic virus that has no regard for any human’s belief system or political party affiliation. And Hank Kunneman and thousands of other evangelical “leaders” primary concern is the potential loss of their freedoms.
“Give me liberty or give me death” will be the battle cry as anti-vaxxers by the tens of thousands march to war against their fellow Americans. And their quest for an unreasonable liberty will reward them—and God knows how many others—with death.