If it hadn't happened to me and anyone else was telling the story I would not believe it. I knew bureaucracies were often called "bungling" but this is classic!
Let's start at the beginning. Ever since I have been locked up I have tried to use this prison time for the glory of God. When Paul was locked up (a lot!), he always used the time to write, study and read (see II Tim. 4:13). Prison really is a great place to do those things. I don't have a lot of work to do (I teach GED math and tutor several guys in math), someone else cleans the floors, does the landscaping and they call me when meals are ready! What a life!
Anyway, (no 's' Marlissa) though I'm sure I have wasted plenty of the time I could have used more wisely, I have not wasted all of it. I've read about 600 books, finished a Masters and a Doctorate in Theology and finished all the course work for another Doctorate in Biblical Ministries. All I lack is the dissertation. That's where this bizarre story comes in.
For about 2 1/2 years I worked diligently to finish all the courses needed for this degree. They were great and I learned a lot! I chose the 2 Peter 3 theme to do the dissertation on. In that passage Peter says the scoffers in the last days would be "willingly ignorant" of three things: 1-The Creation, 2-The Flood, and 3-The Coming Judgment. Well, I had spent thousands of hours studying and preaching on the first two but honestly had sort of avoided the third one because I never felt comfortable teaching on a topic I was not clear on myself. Well, that has changed!
I divided my dissertation into 7 main sections: 1-The Creation, 2-The Flood, 3-Daniel's Amazing Prophecies, 4-The Tribulation and Second Coming, 5-The 1,000 Year Millennial Kingdom (Parts 4 and 5 each have 5 subsections A-E), 6-The Great White Throne Judgment and 7-What Should We DO? Because the BOP typewriter I was using in Jesup, GA had very limited memory, I had to do it in sections and then delete the work to make room for the next section. I knew this would mean some extra work to "seam it together", but that could be done last. William Miller in Jesup came to visit me nearly every week (what a blessing!). He is a computer genius and graciously agreed to type up the entire dissertation and insert pictures as needed. He was mailing it back and forth to me for several months for corrections, additions, etc. when I was suddenly moved here to Florence, CO due to falsely alleged "overcrowding" in Jesup.
Once I got here, I notified William so he could send me the a-a-a-almost finished dissertation for one final edit and polish before submitting it to get my degree. He spent $20 to mail it here and the problem began! You would have thought I had shot a sacred cow or something! I got a note from the mail room stating it had been sent back because inmates cannot receive a book they wrote themselves. I went to talk with the mail room lady and explained it was a college dissertation not a book. She said, "Then you must get it sent in through the education department."
Since I work in education I thought it would be no problem. I asked my supervisor if I could have it sent in and she said, "BOP policy is that it can only be sent in via education if it is for a course you took through the BOP. Since it is not but is religious you must go through the chaplain."
I went to the chaplain and explained the problem. He said he would look into it. He has been most helpful and is actually a God fearing man and a good preacher. He made a few calls and wrote a few emails to various people and told me it should be fine now so I told William to resend it. William spent another $10 to send 1/3 of it for a test. A week later the mail room lady called me in to say the legal department told her I cannot have it since education did not approve it! She said she would hold it for a few days so I could get approval.
So-o-o-o-o, I went back to a very exasperated education director and her boss to explain my dilemma. They said they were bound by policy and could not authorize it through them. That does not mean I can't have it--just that they cannot say it is OK. I went to one of the two case managers here at the camp and he was most helpful. He said, "I will authorize it to come in as a package." and signed a package authorization form. He told me to have a counselor sign it and the problem should be solved. HA! I went to the counselor in my dorm and he took away the form and said he would check in to it. (This was yesterday, Sunday, Oct. 23.)
This morning he called me into his office and was obviously upset. He said, "I don't know what you are trying to do Hovind but you have been told by education and by legal that you cannot have it. I told the mail room to send it back today."
I said, "Sir, that is not correct. I have never been told I cannot have it. I have only been told I cannot get it until it is authorized by the right person. I've been trying to do just that for over two months now. I never asked anyone to get involved in this. It's just a college dissertation and I cannot understand what the problem is!"
So-o-o-o-o, here are my choices as I see them now:
1. Forget it and stop trying and wait till I am out to finish. I feel strongly the Lord does NOT want me to do that. Nehemiah didn't stop building the wall because he was opposed. (Ditto Moses because Pharaoh said no--9 times!)
2. Have William send it in 6 pages at a time so it is not a "package."
3. Keep trying higher staff and risk angering the petty ones who feel threatened when their decisions are overridden. The petty ones can be very vindictive!
4. Have William send it in as is to the University even though it needs a final polish. This will get it done, produce a slightly lower grade and cause the atheists to pick at details (spelling, grammar, etc.) and miss the bigger picture of the message.
5. Have William post it on www.2peter3.com and various other blogs as is to get the message out and help people prepare for what is coming soon. I can then modify, tweak, edit, etc. the dissertation over the next few years to improve and polish it before it goes to book format. This is what I did with my seminar series 20 years ago. I knew the material would be helpful but also needed LOTS of polishing! I decided to produce the series even though it was poor quality graphics and then re-tape as we could. Over the years we have re-taped the seminar series about 20 times!
I've decided it will NEVER be right but giving soldiers some ammo (even if scratched) is better than NONE! Ditto with the dissertation. While we plow through the silly bureaucrats let's get it "out there." Please notify me of any errors you find. Please be understanding!
Kent Hovind
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