A number of people have contacted my wife and I for our advice on taking the vaccine and information about what is happening with the COVID-19 in Israel. For various reasons we have not been vaccinated as yet, however I am not writing to suggest you do or you don’t. I am simply wanting to update you on how we see the situation concerning the virus and the vaccines after 15 months of being bombarded every day with numerous email messages and videos from people on both sides of the great divide, and a great divide it surely is.
Let’s look at the virus first. The original COVID-19 virus that began spreading around the world at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 most likely originated from the virus laboratory in Wuhan, China. Whether it was an accidental release or an intentional release, we are still not sure of, and the investigation by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) continues, with China not being very helpful in uncovering the truth of the matter. The extreme anti-vaxxers try to tell us that the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax, but I personally know a number of Believers who were infected by it and who can testify that it was not just another influenza, and I know for sure that a brother who interviewed me on a Christian TV channel died from it, so these anti-vax people are lying to us. Now the most prevalent strain of COVID is the one that originated in India and is now called the Delta variant which is claimed to be 60% more contagious, but less harmful to those who get infected with it. New Israeli data is showing that the Pfizer vaccine is about 64% effective against the Delta strain, in comparison to 94% effective against previous strains. The Delta variant is spreading rapidly around the world, and 4th wave of the COVID pandemic is looming over a number of nations.
Now we will look at the vaccines. The 4 main COVID vaccines are the subject of the most extreme positions any of us have seen in our life-time. On the positive side most of our political leaders (not medical experts), most of the conservative media (not medical experts) and a large percentage of medical experts are convinced that the 4 vaccines are safe and very effective in preventing those who have been vaccinated from being infected. In turn these pro-vaccine people have succeeded in convincing the majority of the general population to get vaccinated as soon as is possible.
On the negative side the anti-vaccine crowd produce an enormous quantity of articles and videos which attempt to convince us that the vaccines are a serious danger to our health and may kill millions of people in the long term. Here are some of their arguments …………….
* the mRNA vaccines are not really vaccines in the true meaning of the word vaccine – this is true, but they are intended to do the same as a vaccine – protect us from the COVID virus.
* the mRNA vaccines are still experimental and have not been fully tested, approved and licensed by the FDA – this is also legally true but the world-wide COVID pandemic created the need to shorten the testing time and to urgently get the vaccine to people.
* Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin are safe drugs that have been available over the counter for decades and are effective against COVID-19. This seemed to be the case in the early days of the COVID pandemic, but for some mysterious reason most Western countries suddenly banned the use of both treatments, claiming they were ineffective and possibly dangerous. Just in the last few days a large province in India is reporting that it gave Ivermectin to most if the population and the virus was cut by over 90%.
* the mRNA vaccines have the potential to spread to every cell in our bodies and will destroy our own God-created immune system leaving us with no self-protection against future infections. This is not yet proven to be the case.
* the mRNA vaccines can make both men and women infertile. This is also not yet proven to be the case.
* the mRNA vaccines make people magnetic. I know a lot of people who have been vaccinated and not one of can get metal objects to stick to their bodies.
* the most extreme anti-vaxxers claimed that millions of people would begin to die 6 months after being vaccinated. This has not yet come to pass and we pray it never does
What is my opinion? From the beginning of the virus/vaccine controversy I have kept an open mind, reading and watching most of what was sent to me, and simply wanting to know and share the truth with our precious prayer partners. As I am not a medical expert, finding the truth has turned out to be ‘Mission Impossible.’ As I have said numerous times over the last 16 months, very highly qualified medical experts publish totally opposing views and recommendations. The former CEO of Pfizer said in an interview that the vaccine may harm the immune system, and the scientist who invented the mRNA vaccine said in an interview that the concept will radically improve medical treatment in the future, but that these ones have not been tested for an acceptable length of time.
Governments and the media are still pushing for the entire population, including children and even babies to be vaccinated, however as time goes on more and more reports of serious reactions are being reported. The CDC/VAERS, which is the official vaccine injury reporting organisation, published statistics this week which show that more than 334 million doses of the COVID vaccines have been administered in the United States. Between December 14, 2020 and June 25, 2021, a total of 411,931 adverse reactions were recorded, 47,400 serious reactions and 6,985 deaths, an increase of 872 deaths over the previous week. Several young people have died soon after receiving the vaccinations, and it appears that the vaccine was to blame. However we can see that the percentages are very low. Total adverse reactions = 1.12%, serious adverse reactions = 0.013%, deaths = 0.0019%, claimed deaths from COVID-19 621,561 = 0.2%
To vaccinate to not to vaccinate… First of all ask the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) what you should do. Then the questions we need to ask ourselves are:
1) Whose report do we believe?
2) Do the claimed benefits of the vaccine outweigh the possible risks?
What are we going to do? My wife and I decided at the beginning of the vaccine campaign to wait as long as we can to allow the truth to be revealed, and to observe the longer term affects, if any. In the meantime we pray and take the Lord’s supper every morning (by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:6). We stay away from large groups, wear our masks where required, and boost our immune system with vitamin C and D and L-Lysene. We also have some Ivermectin on hand if, GOD forbid, we ever need it.
May the LORD give you wisdom from above, protect you from the virus, and keep you and everyone close to you in perfect health – In the name of Yeshua. Amen.