I have enjoyed listening to, and even taking part in, discussions about the Covid shot—about why someone has, and why the other has not, received it. I venture to say we could have seven people give their viewpoint on the subject and maybe have eight different ideas.
I begin with the disclaimer that these are my thoughts, and I am quite okay with someone disagreeing. In fact, I would welcome others to share their viewpoints.
One of the things you will notice in this writing is that I don’t call the Covid shot a ‘vaccine’. Not that it doesn’t technically fit the official definition, but rather that it doesn’t function the way we have known vaccines to work. I remember when I was a lad about four years of age, I went with my mother to the health department and received a vaccination in my upper arm for smallpox. (The pock mark is still there) I remember some years later when the whole community gathered at our local public school for the sugar cube treatment which was an oral vaccination against polio. I don’t remember if I had any other vaccinations or not. My point is that these vaccinations were immunizations against a disease. We were assured that we would not get smallpox, polio, measles or whatever else we were vaccinated for. And we didn’t—not just a lesser amount or a case not as severe. We understood that we were immunized, and the fight was over.
During the current pandemic we kept hearing about the vaccination that was coming. It sounded like this was going to be the answer to this pestilence that had settled on the world. Some of us wondered if this would be like the flu shot that targets certain viruses, while it misses the other flu viruses. As the drama unfolded, we soon began to hear of variants and the need for booster shots. We now know for sure that this shot does not give an immunization for Covid 19, and hence, for clarity it is better to call it a flu shot.
I remember so well farming in the early 90’s and hearing about Roundup-Ready crops. It seemed too good to be true to be able to spray glyphosate (Roundup) over the top of the crop and take out all the weeds while doing no harm to the crop. The manufacturer did keep telling us to spray maximum rates so as to ‘kill’ every weed. Theoretically they were right, if we could have killed every weed, without missing one, we would not have had the next problem—spray-resistant weeds. We didn’t realize how fast our troublesome ‘pigweeds’ (and other weeds) in the south, would mutate and develop a resistance to glyphosate.
Sure, farmers had several good years with an easy way to keep out the weeds, but that didn’t last and now the situation is worse than it was before. Today, every farmer knows about ‘Palmer amaranth Pigweed’. You can almost ‘pour’ glyphosate on it, and still it thrives. These weeds mutated very rapidly and became resistant.
I think we have a similar scenario with the Covid shot. I’m certainly not a scientist but it does seem to me that since the shot admittedly mostly reduces symptoms instead of producing immunity, then it will most likely speed up the mutation of the Covid-19 virus. This seems like the normal ‘struggle for survival’ principle of life.
The rapid speed with which this shot came on the market is another concern. We really don’t know what all it will bring down the road nor the side effects it may cause. We don’t know how many boosters will be called for. It seems the world is the test field at the moment, and from what I’m seeing it is not working too well and many of the people who have had the shot don’t really trust it. The people who have had the virus have built an immunity that is far superior to the protection of the shot. We’ve known since childhood that when we had the flu, our body would build immunity to that strain. This is the way our Maker designed us. One of the first people I personally knew that had Covid was told they would have six months of immunity. I wondered how they figured that out so quickly. This was a new virus, and we had no experience to draw on for this virus. Also, the viruses we were familiar with gave lifetime immunity to that strain. So what science was behind this?
Hence, I think it much better to take precautions and do what we can to boost our immune system. It is an excellent time to remember we are to be stewards of the body that God gave us. It’s a good time to put a plan in place of good nutrition, exercise, and weight loss. If you are overweight, you are much more likely to be affected by this pestilence and many other illnesses. If you regularly consume sugary drinks or unhealthy foods of any kind, it is an excellent time to kick the habit and reduce your sugar consumption. If you are overweight or out of shape physically, there is no better time than now to bring your body into a condition that will be much healthier, so you will be better able to ward off this virus and many other illnesses.
My belief is that in the long run it will be safer and better to do my part and let this body build the immunities to protect itself against this virus. I realize there are those who have died after contracting this illness. I don’t belittle this fact and I am sorry for the loss of life. I do believe too that we as Christians should constantly commit our lives to God and look at the whole picture of life and its preservation through the lens of Christian ethics.
It is unprecedented that an illness with a recovery rate of somewhere around 99%, would cause such a stir, the world over. We know that if it wouldn’t be for the invention of social media there would not have been near the panic and turmoil. One of my greatest concerns is how we are being ‘conditioned’ for more to come. Who would have ever thought that a flu virus would be the instrument that ushers in a global push for something that will be the benchmark for whether we can travel, go to eating places, gather for public events and other such restrictions. It sounds strangely similar to what God says will one day be a reality—And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name –Revelation 13:16-17.
I have been almost ridiculed for even mentioning the mark of the beast. Still others think this passage is to be spiritualized and has nothing to do with the end time system of government. Still others think the bride will be raptured before this, hence nothing for us to be concerned with. I could wish one of these views would be right, then I could move along in silence hoping that all would be well.
I will hasten to say that I don’t think this is the ‘mark of the beast’, but rather I see it as another step closer to that event. I also hasten to say that this is not a writing to ridicule another belief nor is it an effort to try to pull together certain Scriptures to try to support a particular doctrinal agenda such as the idea that all believers will be raptured prior to the unfolding of end time events, thereby escaping what the Bible refers to as “great tribulation”. –See Matthew 24:21 and Revelation 7:14. It’s time we open our eyes to the ‘conditioning’ that our society is having upon us in general, and the conditioning of this shot in particular. There are all kinds of good reasons we will go ahead with it—it makes good sense, it defies science not to, I’ve even heard we can be better witnesses if we have had it, and the list goes on. All the while we are being ‘conditioned’ to do what it takes to keep rolling down our economic road.
So, my plea is that we consider where we are headed. One day God’s people will need to jump off the train of this world—Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you –2 Corinthians 6:17. Revelation 14:10-11 declares that all who take the mark will seal their destiny in hell. The next verse gives a calling for the endurance of the saints—Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus –Revelation 14:12.
There will be hard times—Read Matthew 24:4-28. Consider the famines, pestilences, and earthquakes that are promised will come. Jesus said all these are the beginnings of sorrows—literally birth pangs. He said along with this, ‘the end is not yet’. Yet we have the promise of triumph—And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death –Revelation 12:11. I say again, “One day the saints will need to jump off the economic train.”
I think now is an excellent time to evaluate our attachment, whether it is connected to this world or to our future heavenly reward. Let’s make a commitment anew to identify with our soon coming Lord and King. Also, it’s an excellent time to share the gospel of Jesus’ Kingdom with a society that is bent on going away from the Creator.
So, for now, I’m content to feel safe with the immunity in my body as God created it and I am purposing in a new way to seek the immunity from the ways of sin and evil and to be inoculated with the Holy Ghost from heaven. Will you join me in this commitment?
