Remembering Mike Adams. Most of the blog posts I write are joyful experiences. That’s not the case today. I have to say right off the bat, I didn’t know Mike Adams. I knew OF him. We met and spoke briefly at a Fearless Generations conference I volunteered at. But that is the extent of my knowledge of him.
If you haven’t heard yet, Mike Adams was found dead in his home on July 23rd of 2020. I found out about his death by reading the news on social media. Reading about it was a punch to the gut. I kept checking the source thinking it must be a Babylon Bee article (The Babylon Bee is a Christian satire website). My wife noticed that something was bothering me. I was just sitting in a chair staring off in the distance. My mind couldn’t process what I had just read.
You Liked THAT Guy?
I learn of famous people dying all the time. Sometimes the news elicits a “awe” or a “that’s too bad”. Rarely does a celebrity death shake me. But Mike Adams’ death did.
If you only read about Mike’s death online, you’re probably wondering why I’m writing this. Here are just a few of the headlines to appear in the wake of Dr. Adam’s death.
“Professor who announced retirement after racist and sexist tweets died by suicide”- ABC News
“A professor retiring early amid outrage over racist, anti-feminist, and anti-mask tweets has been found dead in his home”- CNN
“A Professor Who Was Known For His Racist, Misogynistic Tweets Was Found Dead In His Home”- Buzzfeed
If you are troubled by those headlines, I’d advise you to skip looking on Twitter all together. The comments there are so vile that they cannot be repeated here.
The University he had long battled began receiving petitions to have Mike fired after his most recent tweet. Eventually, he settled with the University to take an early retirement. If you only knew this Mike Adams, you didn’t have a correct view of who he actually was.
Who Was Mike Adams?
So who was this man that elicited such hatred? Mike Adams was a criminology professor at UC Wilmington, NC. He rose to prominence after suing the university for denying him a promotion.
Dr. Adams had always been popular with both his students and his peers at the university. That all changed after a trip he took to South America. After touring a prison there, he met a death row inmate that was a Christian. Realizing he had never read the Bible, Mike sat down and did just that. Shortly after, he became a Christian.
Something extraordinary happened after that. While his student evaluations remained as high as always, his peer evaluations plummeted. Even though they never entered his classroom, he was routinely attacked by his fellow staff members. He was eventually denied a professorship due to articles he had written outside of his capacity as an employee of the university.
But Dr. Adams did not take this lying down. He decided to fight. After a grueling 7-year trial, Mike was vindicated in court. The university was ordered to grant him his promotion and ordered to give him back pay and attorney’s fees.
Mike Kept Giving
Mike was a staunch defender of the unborn, and the first amendment. He used to give speeches on university campuses defending free speech. Often, and somewhat ironically, these talks would be protested. But true to his nature, Mike didn’t back down. He even created his own line of #Ihatemikeadams merchandise that he would have people sell to the protestors! The profits would then be used to fund his website.
In one famous incident, Dr. Adams was being protested by communists. He went to where they were and joined in a protest of himself! When the communists realized who he was, they demanded that he leave “their area”. Not missing a beat, Mike fired back “Your area? You’re communists! You don’t believe in private property. You don’t have an area!”
Summit Ministries
Mike was an excellent teacher. He even spent his summers in Manitou Springs Colorado teaching High School students at Summit ministries. His classes were some of the most popular ones during the two-week sessions the students were there. He was also loved by the volunteer staff that worked at Summit. The routinely referred to him as “Uncle Mike”.
My own brief encounter with him was when I was volunteering at a Fearless Generation conference he did with Frank Turek and J. Warner Wallace. Mike took the time to come out and thank and talk to the volunteers while the other speakers were giving their talks. It was a simple but kind gesture. And you could tell he didn’t do it out of obligation. He truly appreciated us, and made sure we knew it.
Where Do We Go From Here?
From all accounts, Mike’s last days were not happy ones. Outside of the media and public backlash from his now famous tweet, he was forced into retirement. Like so many we are sadly learning about, being confined to his home during the lockdown took its toll as well. All of this created a perfect storm that he could not weather.
One thing that stands out to me is how few people came to Mike’s defense when he was attacked. People would quietly tell him that they supported him, but were silent when he was being put through the ringer.
As Christians, we are often at odds with the culture. And those pushing agenda’s contrary to Christian living are relentless in fight. They will destroy you personally and professionally if given a chance. And the reason they can do this is because Christians let it happen.
So my plea is this. If we want to remember what was truly best about Mike Adams, lets stand boldly together to defend our rights. The culture will beat us up enough. We need to stand together. Ignoring our brothers and sisters that are under fire can’t continue. We need to be united as one.
There is a popular speech that Captain America gives in the movie “Captain America: Civil War”. It is widely popular right now, but I think it applies to Christians now more than ever. This is actually a slight variation of a quote from Mark Twain. I’ll leave you with that quote. God bless you Mike Adams, we’ll see you soon!
Captain America/Mark Twain
“Doesn’t matter what the press says. It Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right.
This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — “No, YOU move.”
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