Heerak Christian Kim, a self-described “MAGA America First” Republican House candidate from Virginia, recently posted a bizarre video in which he laughs about COVID-19 deaths, says the disease is God’s punishment for homosexuality in America, and that the only way to stop COVID-19 is to make homosexuality a national crime punishable by death.
The cell phone video, posted to social media on August 29, begins with Kim shooting from under his face, grey nose hairs peeking out from both nostrils, while he stands on Nevada’s Las Vegas strip. After mentioning how fun the city is, he accurately states that COVID is still killing about 600 U.S. citizens a day.
“COVID hasn’t gone away, you know?” he says. “I assure you that people dying from COVID every day… even people who are fully COVID vaccinated, even for people who are you know double boosted you know. Your magical kingdom can just evaporate overnight, you know. So if you think COVID-19 has gone away, you know, you’re just like, fooling yourself.”
He says, “This winter, 4,000 to 20,000 Americans will die. I’m just letting you know what’s going to happen.” After that, he laughs.
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He then adds, “Many Christians believe that COVID-19 is punishment of God for homosexuality in America, and that’s why God killed one million-plus Americans through COVID.”
“Christians are saying until homosexuality is illegalized in the United States of America, Americans can expect God to punish America, send plague after plague, and COVID-19 is only like the first plague. And there are more plagues coming, you know.”
He then compares COVID-19 to the 10 plagues of Egypt mentioned in the Biblical Book of Exodus. In the story, God repeatedly sends plagues of frogs, locusts, darkness, and other things to torment the proud Pharaoh of Egypt until the Pharaoh finally does God’s bidding and releases all of the Jewish slaves.
“Know how Pharaoh refused to repent and submit to God?” Kim asks. “Well you know, God kept sending the plagues you know, and that’s what many Christians say America should expect if homosexuality is not illegalized by national law, state law, and federal law. Because the Holy Bible clearly says homosexuality must be illegalized by national law, that homosexuals must be tried, convicted, and executed.”
Many Christians believe that COVID-19 is punishment by God against #America because of legal protection of homosexuality which the Holy Bible requires that nations illegalize by national, state, local laws.@700club @CBNNews @EWTN @Daystar @VaticanNews @USCCB @BishopBurbidge pic.twitter.com/XvIsYy2Rho
— Heerak Christian Kim for US Congress (Virginia-8) (@Heerak4Congress) August 30, 2022
The passage Kim’s likely referring to is found in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 20, verse 13. The verse states, “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
The Old Testament, which contains Leviticus, contains 613 commandments known as Old Testament Law, ancient Biblical law, or Mosaic Law. These laws were created around 1393 to 1273 BC and were issued to regulate almost every aspect of Jewish life at a time when the Jewish people were still a group of ex-slaves struggling to survive in the desert.
Mosaic Law also contains prohibitions against wearing clothes made of linen and wool; burning incense; eating pork, rabbit, and shellfish; charging interest on loans; and working on Saturdays. In fact, the Old Testament refers to each of these things as “abominations” and states that the latter two items should be punished by death.
Of course, most contemporary Christians don’t follow these ancient Biblical laws because they would condemn Christians and non-Christians alike for commonplace behaviors.
Instead, some Christians like Kim ignore most of the ancient Biblical laws and only demand strict adherence to the ones that allow them to punish the people they hate. Christian bigots call their demands “the will of God,” but doing so is actually an example of “taking God’s name in vain” — that is, speaking God’s name for one’s own selfish purposes — a sin so grievous that, the Bible says, God personally told Moses and his followers not to do it as part of The Ten Commandments.
Progressive Christians also point to another verse in the Bible which explicitly states that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ established a new covenant between man and God which effectively eradicated the need for people to follow ancient Biblical laws.
The New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 13 states, “By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one (Mosaic Law) obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”
