Early June 2025 Updates.

 

 

The Oklahoma City bombing caused an estimated $625 million worth of damage.  A rescue worker was killed by being struck on the head by falling debris after the bombing. The effects of the blast were equivalent to over 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) of TNT and could be heard and felt up to 55 miles (89 km) away. Seismometers at the Omniplex Science Museum in Oklahoma City, 4.3 miles (6.9 km) away, and in Norman, Oklahoma, 16.1 miles (25.9 km) away, recorded the blast as measuring approximately 3.0 on the Richter magnitude scale. The collapse of the northern half of the building took roughly seven seconds. As the truck exploded, it first destroyed the column next to it, designated as G20, and shattered the entire glass facade of the building. The shockwave of the explosion forced the lower floors upwards, before the fourth and fifth floors collapsed onto the third floor, which housed a transfer beam that ran the length of the building and was being supported by four pillars below, as well as supporting the pillars that hold the upper floors. The added weight meant that the third floor gave way along with the transfer beam, which in turn caused the collapse of the building. 

Of the dead, 108 worked for the Federal government: Drug Enforcement Administration (5); Secret Service (6); Department of Housing and Urban Development (35); Department of Agriculture (7); Customs Office (2); Department of Transportation/Federal Highway Administration (11); General Services Administration (2); and the Social Security Administration (40). Eight of the federal government victims were federal law enforcement agents. Of those law enforcement agents, four were members of the U.S. Secret Service; two were members of the U.S. Customs Service; one was a member of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and one was a member of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Six of the victims were U.S. military personnel; two were members of the U.S. Army; two were members of the U.S. Air Force, and two were members of the U.S. Marine Corps. The victims also included 19 children, of whom 15 were in the America's Kids Day Care Center. The bodies of the 168 victims were identified at a temporary morgue set up at the scene. A team of 24 identified the victims using full-body X-rays, dental examinations, fingerprinting, blood tests, and DNA testing.

After the evil Oklahoma City bombing, the FBI and the federal government raced to find the suspects. Many Americans were shocked that the murderers weren't of Arabic descent, because many folks back then had the racist view that terrorism was exclusively done by people of a certain race. The murderers were white men from rural and suburban America. Initially, the FBI had three hypotheses about responsibility for the bombing: international terrorists, possibly the same group that had carried out the World Trade Center bombing; a drug cartel, carrying out an act of vengeance against DEA agents in the building's DEA office; and anti-government radicals attempting to start a rebellion against the federal government. McVeigh was arrested within 90 minutes of the explosion, as he was traveling north on Interstate 35 near Perry in Noble County, Oklahoma. Oklahoma State Trooper Charlie Hanger stopped McVeigh for driving his yellow 1977 Mercury Marquis without a license plate and arrested him for having a concealed weapon. For his home address, McVeigh falsely claimed he resided at Terry Nichols's brother James's house in Michigan. After booking McVeigh into jail, Trooper Hanger searched his patrol car and found a business card that had been concealed by McVeigh after being handcuffed. Written on the back of the card, which was from a Wisconsin military surplus store, were the words "TNT at $5 a stick. Need more." The card was later used as evidence during McVeigh's trial.

While investigating the VIN on an axle of the truck used in the explosion and the remnants of the license plate, federal agents were able to link the truck to a specific Ryder rental agency in Junction City, Kansas. Using a sketch created with the assistance of Eldon Elliot, owner of the agency, the agents were able to implicate McVeigh in the bombing. McVeigh was also identified by Lea McGown of the Dreamland Motel, who remembered him parking a large yellow Ryder truck in the lot; McVeigh had signed in under his real name at the motel, using an address that matched the one on his forged license and the charge sheet at the Perry Police Station. Before signing his real name at the motel, McVeigh had used false names for his transactions. McGown noted, "People are so used to signing their own name that when they go to sign a phony name, they almost always go to write, and then look up for a moment as if to remember the new name they want to use. That's what [McVeigh] did, and when he looked up I started talking to him, and it threw him." After an April 21, 1995, court hearing on the gun charges, but before McVeigh's release, federal agents took him into custody as they continued their investigation into the bombing. Rather than talk to investigators about the bombing, McVeigh demanded an attorney. Having been tipped off by the arrival of police and helicopters that a bombing suspect was inside, a restless crowd began to gather outside the jail. McVeigh's requests for a bulletproof vest or transport by helicopter were denied, but authorities did use a helicopter to transport him from Perry to Oklahoma City.

Federal agents obtained a warrant to search the house of McVeigh's father, Bill, after which they broke down the door and wired the house and telephone with listening devices. FBI investigators used the information gained, along with the fake address McVeigh had been using, to begin their search for the Nichols brothers, Terry and James. On April 21, 1995, Terry Nichols learned that he was being hunted and turned himself in. Investigators discovered incriminating evidence at his home: ammonium nitrate and blasting caps, the electric drill used to drill out the locks at the quarry, books on bomb-making, a copy of Hunter (a 1989 novel by William Luther Pierce, the founder and chairman of the National Alliance, a white nationalist group) and a hand-drawn map of downtown Oklahoma City, on which the Murrah Building and the spot where McVeigh's getaway car was hidden were marked. After a nine-hour interrogation, Terry Nichols was held in federal custody until his trial. On April 25, 1995, James Nichols was also arrested, but he was released after 32 days due to a lack of evidence. McVeigh's sister Jennifer was accused of illegally mailing ammunition to McVeigh, but she was granted immunity in exchange for testifying against him.

A Jordanian-American man traveling from his home in Oklahoma City to visit family in Jordan on April 19, 1995, was detained and questioned by the FBI at the airport. Several Arabic-American groups criticized the FBI for racial profiling, and the subsequent media coverage for publicizing the man's name. Attorney General Reno denied claims that the federal government relied on racial profiling, while FBI director Louis J. Freeh told a press conference that the man was never a suspect and was instead treated as a "witness" to the Oklahoma City bombing, who assisted the government's investigation.

Tim VcVeigh, the murderer, showed no remorse for his evil actions. McVeigh later acknowledged the casualties, saying, "I didn't define the rules of engagement in this conflict. The rules, if not written down, are defined by the aggressor. It was brutal, no holds barred. Women and kids were killed at Waco and Ruby Ridge. You put back in [the government's] faces exactly what they're giving out." He later stated, "I wanted the government to hurt like the people of Waco and Ruby Ridge had." McVeigh was wicked. 

 

The response to save lives was massive from state local, and federal government services. Citizens did their part of save lives and help the victims of the terrorist attack too. At 9:03 a.m., the first of over 1,800 911 calls related to the bombing were received by the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA). By that time, EMSA ambulances, police, and firefighters had heard the blast and were already headed to the scene. Nearby civilians, who had also witnessed or heard the blast, arrived to assist the victims and emergency workers. Within 23 minutes of the bombing, the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) was set up, consisting of representatives from the state departments of public safety, human services, military, health, and education. Assisting the SEOC were agencies including the National Weather Service, the Air Force, the Civil Air Patrol, and the American Red Cross. Immediate assistance also came from 465 members of the Oklahoma National Guard, who arrived within the hour to provide security, and from members of the Department of Civil Emergency Management. Terrance Yeakey and Jim Ramsey, from the Oklahoma City Police Department, were among the first officers to arrive at the site. 

The EMS command post was set up almost immediately following the attack and oversaw triage, treatment, transportation, and decontamination. A simple plan/objective was established: treatment and transportation of the injured was to be done as quickly as possible, supplies and personnel to handle a large number of patients was needed immediately, the dead needed to be moved to a temporary morgue until they could be transferred to the coroner's office, and measures for a long-term medical operation needed to be established. The triage center was set up near the Murrah Building and all the wounded were directed there. Two hundred and ten patients were transported from the primary triage center to nearby hospitals within the first couple of hours following the bombing.

Within the first hour, 50 people were rescued from the Murrah Federal Building. The injured were sent to every hospital in the area. The day of the bombing, 153 people were treated at St. Anthony Hospital, eight blocks from the blast, over 70 people were treated at Presbyterian Hospital, 41 people were treated at University Hospital, and 18 people were treated at Children's Hospital. Temporary silences were observed at the blast site so that sensitive listening devices capable of detecting human heartbeats could be used to locate survivors. In some cases, limbs had to be amputated without anesthetics (avoided because of the potential to induce shock) in order to free those trapped under rubble. The scene had to be periodically evacuated as the police received tips claiming that other bombs had been planted in the building. At 10:28 a.m., rescuers found what they believed to be a second bomb. Some rescue workers refused to leave until police ordered the evacuation of a four-block area around the site. The device was determined to be a three-foot (.9-m) long TOW missile used in the training of federal agents and bomb-sniffing dogs; although inert, it had been marked "live" in order to mislead arms traffickers in a planned law enforcement sting. On examination the missile was determined to be inert, and relief efforts resumed 45 minutes later. The last survivor, a 15-year-old girl found under the base of the collapsed building, was rescued at around 7 p.m. 

In the days following the blast, over 12,000 people participated in relief and rescue operations. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated 11 of its Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces, bringing in 665 rescue workers. One nurse was killed in the rescue attempt after she was hit on the head by debris, and 26 other rescuers were hospitalized because of various injuries. Twenty-four K-9 units and out-of-state dogs were brought in to search for survivors and bodies in the building debris. In an effort to recover additional bodies, 100 to 350 short tons (91 to 318 t) of rubble were removed from the site each day from April 24 to 29. Rescue and recovery efforts were concluded at 12:05 a.m. on May 5, by which time the bodies of all but three of the victims had been recovered. For safety reasons, the building was initially slated to be demolished shortly afterward. McVeigh's attorney, Stephen Jones, filed a motion to delay the demolition until the defense team could examine the site in preparation for the trial. At 7:02 a.m. on May 23, more than a month after the bombing, the Murrah Federal building was demolished. The EMS Command Center remained active and was staffed 24 hours a day until the demolition. The final three bodies to be recovered were those of two credit union employees and a customer. For several days after the building's demolition, trucks hauled away 800 short tons (730 t) of debris a day from the site. Some of the debris was used as evidence in the conspirators' trials, incorporated into memorials, donated to local schools, or sold to raise funds for relief efforts. People in the Salvation Army, regular people, and other people donated a historic amount of humanitarian aid to help the victims of the OKC Bombing. Over 9,000 units of blood were donated, 131 were used, and the rest were stored in blood banks. People gave wheelbarrows, bottled water, helmet lights, knee pads, rain gear, and football helmets to people. The Salvation Army served over 100,000 meals and provided over 100,000 ponchos, gloves, and hard hats to rescue workers. President Bill Clinton and Governor Frank Keating worked together to declare Oklahoma a federal emergency state. He spoke to the nation in these terms, "The bombing in Oklahoma City was an attack on innocent children and defenseless citizens. It was an act of cowardice, and it was evil. The United States will not tolerate it, and I will not allow the people of this country to be intimidated by evil cowards." 

 

My 3rd great-granduncle William P. Turner (b.1872) married Romine Spurlock (1877-1972) on March 31, 1897, at Southampton County, Virginia. Their children are Eveline Turner (b. 1897), Nettie Louise Turner (1899-1986), George Turner (b. 1903), Mark Hanner Turner (b. 1903), Maud Turner (b. 1905), Richard Lee Turner (1907-1984), Earlie Turner Hughes (1908-1989), William Perry Turner Jr. (1909-1991), Corly Turner, Willie Roosevelt Turner (b. 1910), Millie Turner Harris (1913-1988), and Johnnie Everett Turner (b. 1917). William P. Turner's parents were my 4th great-grandparents, Millie Turner and Morefield Hurst Turner. The daughter of William P. Turner and Romine Spurlock was Nettie Louise Turner. Nettie Louise Turner married Percy Sugars on February 6, 1921. Their children are Romine Sugars (1921-1944), Eunice Mae Burke (1923-2001), and Annie Sugars (b. 1925). Eunice Mae Burke married Willie Frances Burke Sr. (1924-1990) on November 17, 1941, at Princess Anne, Virginia. Their children are James Allen Burke (1944-1944), Ashton Burke (1945-2006), Nancy Burke (b. 1958), James Edward Burke (1949-2021), and Willie F. Burke. James Edward Burke married Chrystal Kaye McAdoo (1955-2024) on April 26, 1974, in Norfolk, Virginia. Their children are my 4th cousins of Alfonso Fergerson Burke (b. 1975), Shequila Kaye Burke (b. 1979), Chrystal Kaye Burke (b. 1981), and Rashan E. Burke. My 4th cousins are related to me via Zilphy Claud (1820-1893) via Sarah Claud, including my 4th great grandparents Millie Turner and Morefield Hurst Turner. 

 

The Inquisition was one of the most wicked actions of the Roman Catholic Church. It was evil and immoral because you don't use torture, murder, and other forms of sadistic abuse to force people to believe in your creed. The Inquisition was a Catholic judicial procedure where Catholic judge would initiate, investigate, and try cases in their jurisdiction. The problem was that torture and murder were commonly shown in the Inquisition. The judges in the Inquisition claimed to want to combat heresy, apostasy, blasphemy, witchcraft, etc. Many people were forced to undergo penances if they submitted to the Vatican. Those who refused to renounce their views during the Inquisition faced execution or life imprisonment by the Vatican using secular courts.  People have the right to peacefully agree or disagree with any religion or creed in a free and open society. The Dominican Order was created in 1220 as the Dominican Order helped to execute the Inquisition. Pope Gregory IX initiated the Medieval Inquisition by 1231 A.D. The Inquisition attacked the Cathars (or Gnostics), the Waldensians, and religious dissidents.  The Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions often focused on the New Christians or Conversos (the former Jewish people who converted to Christianity to avoid antisemitic regulations and persecution), the Marranos (people who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will by violence and threats of expulsion), and on the Moriscos (Muslims who had been forced to convert to Catholicism), as a result of suspicions that they had secretly maintained or reverted to their previous religions, as well as the fear of possible rebellions, as had occurred in previous times (such as the First and Second Morisco Rebellions). Spain and Portugal also operated inquisitorial courts not only in Europe, but also throughout their empires: the Goa Inquisition, the Peruvian Inquisition, and the Mexican Inquisition, among others. Inquisitions conducted in the Papal States were known as the Roman Inquisition. The activities of Bernard Gui, inquisitor of Toulouse from 1307 to 1323, are better documented, as a complete record of his trials has been preserved. During the entire period of his inquisitorial activity, he handed down 633 sentences against 602 people (31 repeat offenders), including: 41 death sentences, 69 burning of remains of people who disagreed with Roman Catholicism, 308 prison sentences with confiscation of property, etc. Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer, author of the Malleus Maleficarum, in his own words, sentenced 48 people to the stake in five years (1481–1486). Jacob Hoogstraten, inquisitor of Cologne from 1508 to 1527, sentenced four people to be burned at the stake. A notable former inquisitor, Jesuit Friedrich Spee, published a book Cautio Criminalis (1631) which helped end witch-hunting and the reliance on torture, highly regarded in Catholic and Protestant circles. These inquisitors were sadistic and wicked people who gloried in human suffering. 

By 1478, Pope Sixtus IV authorized the Spanish Inquisition. Pope Leo IX instituted the pre-press censorship, but it isn't enforced. The Inquisition continues after the Protestant Reformation existed and after the Jesuit Order was founded in 1540. Bernardino Ochino left Italy and converted to Protestantism by 1542 AD. Pope Paul III formed the Roman Inquisition. There were limited press censorship that banned Ochino's works. Pope Paul IV's Pauline Index was created. The Inquisition became the Congregation of the Index by Pius V. Pope Sixtus V formed the Congregation of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition or Holy Office. The Inquisition burned Giordano Bruno after his trial, Galileo's trial happened in 1633. The Spanish Inquisition ended in 1834. Later, the Inquisition became the Holy Office in 1908. By 1965, Pope Paul VI reorganized the Holy Office and renamed it the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. The Index of Forbidden books was abolished in 1966. The Index of Forbidden book is like the Catholic church using book bans to restrict Catholic followers from reading certain books which is against the freedom of speech and the freedom of conscience. Pope John Paul II on March 12, 2000, apologized for the Catholic Church's role in the Inquisition. He wanted forgiveness for many sins involving the Inquisition. Some feel that the apology wasn't enough as many inquisitors were praised by the Catholic church like Peter of Verona and there is the beatification of anti-Judaism Pope Pius IX (along with kidnapping a six-year-old child and Jewish person Edgardo Mortara to be raised in the papal household). The Inquisition was evil period, and we should always show religious views in peaceful means. 

 

Before the Protestant Reformation, the Vatican was filled with superstition and false doctrines. Believers in God worldwide existed, and many people in the Catholic Church and outside of it desired the Vatican to come to the simplistic Gospel without falsehoods. The leadership of the Roman Catholic Church refused to change during the eras of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Therefore, some leaders were preludes to the actual Reformation that existed in stages. By the days of the Waldensians in the 1100 A.D., the Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy was filled with corruption, false doctrines, immorality, hypocrisy, and tensions. So, many people wanted reforms or outright changes to reflect the glory of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. One such leader who promoted the Gospel was John Wycliffe of England. He was born in Yorkshire, England in ca. 1328 A.D. He was ordained to preach in September 1351, he was the Master of Balliol College in 1360 and was warden of Canterbury College in 1365. He was the Rector of St. Mary's, Lutterworth from 1374. John Wycliffe is earliest known teacher of evangelical ideas in England and a translator of the Bible into the vernacular Middle English. He is popularly known as the morning star or stella matutina of the English Reformation and both he and his followers (the Lollards) were much invoked by later reformers. While the Lollard influence on the Henrician Reformation was negligible, nevertheless, Wycliffe's writings did influence Jan Hus, who in turn influenced Martin Luther. The Lollards are also a key topic of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and their story did much to solidify the self-understanding of the 16th-century reformers. The Vatican hated John Wycliffe so much that they got his bones and burned them in the water. The Black Death from 1348 to 1350 ravaged England, inspiring more followers of Wycliffe and proto-Protestants. John Wycliffe wanted the church to own no property, and no member of the clergy should exercise political or judicial power (which is part of the separation of church and state). Pope Gregory XI in 1377 censured Wycliffe and wanted an Inquisition in Oxford and London. 

On February 19, 1377, John Wycliffe was summoned by William Courtenay, Bishop of London, for an examination of heresy. In attending, he was accompanied and supported by John of Gaunt, Henry Percy, Earl Marshal of England, and four theologians representing the four major mendicant orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and Augustinians). The session ended in aporia over the question as to whether Wycliffe should stand or sit to answer questions. The event showed how useful Wycliffe's theories might be to the aristocracy, who had good political reason to support reformers who might undermine the powerful and wealthy church. The English monarchs also had a strained relationship with the Avignon Papacy and its supporters, the French monarchy, because of the ongoing conflict of the 100 Years War. For these reasons and others, in the early days of Wycliffite Lollardy, many of the institutions of secular authority were supportive. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, was a strong supporter of Wycliffe in the early days as too was Joan of Kent. In 1382 the Mayor of Leicester personally attended the sermon of the Lollard William Swinderby. The ideas Wycliffe was under investigation for would return as a major theme of the 16th-century reformation when the idea of a secular requisition of church property would again prove popular with authorities. John Wycliffe believed that direct scriptural backing ought to validate theological issues. This was Sola Scriptura. Wycliffe in ca. 1379 published De Eucharista to attack transubstantiation as it has no basis in scripture. The Peasants' Revolt started on May 30, 1381, to spread Lollard views. In ca. 1383, Philip Rpyngdon was deprived of his position at Oxford for defending Wycliffe's teachings. Finally, the Wycliffe Bible was completed by 1384. The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards were presented to Parliament and posted on the doors of Westminster Abbey and Old St Paul's. In 1399, the tolerance of Lollardy ended. De heretico comburendo is passed by parliament, which required forfeiture of all property, both for themselves and for their children, for all those found in possession of copies of Wycliffe's Bible or some part of it. Back then, the Vatican refused to send the Bible to the people in their own language, which is immoral. The Lollards were persecuted in the 1400's. Thomas Cranmer was killed by Mary I for believing in reformist views in 1489. Erasmus was a Catholic humanist scholar who criticized the Catholic Church. He was part of the New Learning movement that wanted the Catholic church to reform and get rid of indulgences. This New Learning loved to study Greek and Latin works. He visited England constantly. Agnes Grebill and other 4 women Lollards were burned in 1511 too. Erasmus' first edition of the Greek New Testament was published in 1516 being part of the Textus Receptus script and many future English translations of the Bible. Many pro-Protestants included Wessel Gansfort (who rejected transubstantiation and indulgences), Jan Hus, and other people. 

After being ordained as a Catholic priest, Jan Hus began to preach in Prague. He opposed many aspects of the Catholic Church in Bohemia, such as its views on ecclesiology, simony, the Eucharist, and other theological topics. Hus was a master, dean and rector at the Charles University in Prague between 1409 and 1410. Alexander V issued a Papal bull that excommunicated Hus; however, it was not enforced, and Hus continued to preach. Hus then spoke out against Alexander V's successor, Antipope John XXIII, for his selling of indulgences. Hus' excommunication was then enforced, and he spent the next two years living in exile. When the Council of Constance assembled, Hus was asked to be there and present his views on the dissension within the Church. When he arrived, with a promise of safe-conduct, he was arrested and put in prison. He was eventually taken in front of the council and asked to recant his views. He refused. On July 6, 1415, he was burned at the stake for "heresy" (it wasn't heresey but Jan Hus rejected many of the false views of the Vatican) against the teachings of the Catholic Church. After Hus was executed, the followers of his religious teachings (known as Hussites) refused to elect another Catholic monarch and defeated five consecutive papal crusades between 1420 and 1431 in what became known as the Hussite Wars. 

  

The Protestant Reformation was one of the most important events of the history of Christianity. The Protestant Reformation did a lot of good in the world, from spreading the Bible more efficiently in multiple languages to promoting the rule of law and due process. Yet, it had weaknesses. The original spark of the Protestant Reformation in my view was of God, but later fallible people didn't go far enough to make more revolutionary changes spiritually as heroic Anabaptists and Baptists have advocated. The Reformation existed in phases. Long before the Reformation, the remnant of God's church has always opposed the false doctrines of the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church from Benegarius to Peter Waldo. With the growth the movable type during the days of Gutenberg and the advances of technology, we see more people saw the truth about the folly of the selling of indulgences and other myths. Martin Luther was the founder of the Reformation. Many Baptists and Catholics disagree with Luther, ironically enough, for different and similar reasons. The Catholic Church believed that man must do works to be saved, which is not found in the Scriptures (as the Bible says that God alone is the author of salvation, but people still must do good works after salvation). Many Baptists and Anabaptists disagreed with Luther for agreeing with infant baptism and other Vatican doctrines. Martin Luther was a former German priest and biblical studies professor who exposed the evil of selling indulgences to the Roman Catholic Church. Indulgences were done in an attempt to obtain forgiveness of sins, which is offensive, false, and heretical. Luther wrote the Ninety Five Theses to oppose indulgences and the corruption found in the Roman Catholic Church. That was done in 1517. Later, after debates, the Pope excommunicated Martin Luther, kicking him out of the Roman Catholic Church forever. Luther led a bonfire burning the Papal bull that condemned his writings by 1520. Luther started to translate the Bible into German, which was historic as in Europe, most people read the Bible in Latin (primarily priests and the rich read the Bible in a regular basis). 

Many authorities protected Luther's life from being killed by Vatican authorities. The Reformation spread all over Europe. This was bigger than the Orthodox schism of 1095 A.D. The Reformation spreads to Switzerland with former priest Huldrych Zwingli being its leader there. Zwingli opposed religious fasting and believed that priests should be allowed to marry. He and Luther agreed on many theological issues and disagreed with other theological points. By 1525, Martin Luther publicly disagreed with other religious reformers on the isssues of theology. These groups that loved that the Reformation opposed many false doctrines of the Vatican, but they wanted the Reformation to be even more revolutionary. These groups like the Baptists, Mennonites, the Anabaptists, etc. would oppose infant baptism, believe in the separation of church and state, some wanted pacifism, and some desired to help the poor with mercy. Luther opposed the Peasants' Revolt in Germany as Luther unfortunately became more reactionary as time went on. In 1531, Laurentius Petri became a Protestant archbishop in Sweden. He is one of the leaders of the Reformation in that country. Eventually, most of Sweden converts to Lutheranism. By the end of Martin Luther's life, Martin Luther unfortunately would go down the evil path of anti-Semitism, hatred of believers' baptism, embrace of baptismal regeneration (or the false belief that baptism, not the blood of Jesus Christ, saves human souls), and a hostile attitude about people who disagreed with him. In 1534, England's King Henry VIII broke with the Pope. He forms the Anglican church with him as its leader. By 1536, French lawyer John Calvin in Switzerland published Institutes of the Christian Religion. It was a very prominent book of the Reformation. John Calvin was right to promote the absolute sovereignty of God, but he was wrong to believe that God doesn't want all people to be saved, he was wrong to have an union of church and state (in his dictatorship in Geneva), and he was wrong to allow authorities to persecute religious dissidents like Michael Servetus (he was a heretic, but heretics shouldn't be murdered). Petri and others published the first Swedish translation of the Bible in 1541. William Tyndale of England made a very important English translation of the Bible. He wanted the working class and the poor to have access to read the Bible in their own language. William Tyndale was more theologically correct than Luther, because Tyndale believed in no prayer to saints, he believed in a symbolic view of the Lord's Supper (Luther believed in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist), and the Scriptures is not only interpreted by clergy. William Tyndale was unjustly murdered because of his religious views. The Reformation spread and different groups (like the Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, etc.) were found in the Reformation. Some wanted a split from the Vatican but retained some of the false doctrines. Other people wanted the Reformation to be more revolutionary, following the Anabaptist and Baptist views of allowing priests to marry, people should be baptized not as infants but believing first, and following the separation of church and state. Both Protestants and Catholic persecuted Anabaptists and Baptists, because they refused to support infant baptism. We know of the strengths and weaknesses of the Protestant Reformation. One positive aspect of the Protestant Reformation was that it helped to facilitate the translation of the Bible into German, French, English, and other languages in a more efficient way. 

The Catholic Church created the Council of Trent, the Jesuits, and the Counter-Reformation to fight the Reformation. Some people convert to Catholicism in Germany, but the spread of the Reformation couldn't be stopped. John Knox formed the Protestant religion in Scotland by 1547. The Peace of Augsburg in 1555 allowed German princes to decide whether their territories would be Catholic or Lutheran. The Thirty Years' War happened for religious reasons from 1618 to 1648. 

 

The ideology of MAGA is cruelty, monopolies, and the erosion of democracy as promoted by people behind the scenes like Curtis Yarvin. Yarvin is allied with the far-right Claremont Institute. He wrote a book called The Dark Enlightenment, where he admits that he wants societies to be run by a strict group of hierarchy without democracy. The far right is the same old enemy that we have confronted for decades and centuries now. Our ancestors defeated them in the American Civil War and World War II. Today, many of them are in this new accelerationist movement. This movement desires the modern, Western democratic state to end to promote a white racist society. Many people who accept far-right extremism are the Oath Keepers and QAnon. Many followers of accelerationist views are terrorists and sick people like Seth Aaron Pendley, a January 6th insurrectionist. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for desiring to blow up an Amazon data center in Virginia to try to destroy 70 percent of the Internet. A Washington Post-University Maryland poll found that as high as one-third of the people surveyed believe that in dire circumstances, violence against the U.S. government would be justified. New Neo-Nazi groups like Order of the Nine Angles and people like Nick Land support accelerationism. The Trump administration desires Trump to have nearly no accountability and to act as a tyrannical king. Sellouts like Bill Maher may coddle Trump, but we won't. In retrospect, the real elite in the one percent is not progressive. The reason is that the large corporations (we know that the Republicans, not Biden, supported the shipping of America's wealth, including manufacturing jobs, overseas by the 1970s, while foreign nations are exploited by these same corporations. Therefore, both Americans and non-Americans are oppressed by the same interest groups) and those in the elites for real aided the Trump campaign financially, and the same medieval monarchy agenda (which has been embraced by the elites) is supported by Trump (from his advocacy of radical austerity, Trump attacking the free speech rights of Harvard University, his attacks on due process, and to his dehumanization of immigrants of color. These actions are evil, plain and simple). Despite J.D. Vance, Trump, Homon, and others mocking "woke," being woke to promote civil rights is not evil. The 1960s Civil Rights Movement was a necessity to fight to end generational, systematic racism against black people in America. In 2025, we have the Trump administration even eliminating information from federal websites that mention black history. Therefore, we have every right to defend our health care, to protect our civil liberties, to defend the rights of minorities plus all people (as we believe in equality and justice for all) to protect Medicaid and Social Security, and to protect Medicare.

By Timothy