Take the Jab or Not? Should a Christian take the COVID-19 Vaccine?

Take the Jab or Not? Should a Christian take the COVID-19 vaccine?

Maybe you have asked the question or your children have asked you about it. This is a good question to be asking for sure because you want to make sure that you have the right information.

You may have heard that Kanye West…a Christian rapper and fashion mogul told a popular magazine that the vaccine would be “the mark of the beast”. https://www.nme.com/news/music/kanye-west-says-he-had-covid-19-speaks-against-vaccines-2703611  Or maybe you saw a video circulating through social media of a so called professional gynaecologist who has been on a number of TV medical shows as a so-called “vaccine expert” and she said how the vaccine will alter your DNA. Or maybe you heard that Bill Gates was responsible for inserting a microchip into the vaccine so that those who do not get the vaccine will soon be monitored and not allowed to shop or be in any places requiring the vaccine.

Friends…this is where we really need to know our Bibles and keep our eyes looking for Jesus: The “mark of the beast” comes from  Revelation 13:15-17 “He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.”  

In an excellent exposition of this passage, Matthew Halsted writes that …the “mark of the beast” is not something you can accidentally take. It is a mark of loyalty and worship. Loyalty and worship requires full cognitive and heart-felt awareness of what you are doing (otherwise it’s not worship). If there is some future mark imposed on people by some nefarious person, then to take that mark, you’ll know exactly what you are doing…namely, cursing Christ and pledging devotion to his enemy. Scripture and other ancient writings from that time period point us in this direction and, quite frankly, there isn’t much leeway on this point. https://academic.logos.com/the-covid-vaccine-has-666-written-all-over-it-and-why-that-doesnt-matter-according-to-revelation/

Currently, you have probably seen on social media that a vaccine will somehow “change your DNA”.

The BBC asked three independent scientists about this. They said that “…the coronavirus vaccine would not alter human DNA.”  Some of the newly created vaccines use a fragment of the virus’s genetic material – or messenger RNA.  “Injecting RNA into a person doesn’t do anything to the DNA of a human cell,” says Prof Jeffrey Almond of Oxford University. It works by giving the body instructions to produce a protein which is present on the surface of the coronavirus.  The immune system then learns to recognize and produce antibodies against the protein. https://www.bbc.com/news/54893437

Make sure that you know that out of all medical technologies that are developed today… “vaccines have proven to have the biggest positive impact on our human health.” (Steve Fouch, CMF-Christian Medical Fellowship). “They have eliminated some of the most deadly diseases like smallpox,” he said. “They have brought under control a lot of other major illnesses that were scourges of the human race for many years. And they have improved the life expectancy of people across the world. So people often hear half-truths and little stories that make them scared about vaccines. But the reality is, they’re the biggest lifesaving medical technology, except possibly clean water, that we have ever developed.” https://cmfblog.org.uk/2020/11/11/the-covid-vaccine-christians-in-crisis-or-clear-conscience/

I like to remind myself at different times and in varying situations…especially when I find myself relying on my own thinking…that God has put in place men and women of sound theology as well as impeccable credentials in the study of medicine. (See CMF reference in footnote). I have heard it said that “God is the one who enables and equips science and medicine.”  We are blessed to be living in such a day when we have access to so much.

Personally, while I may not be in a rush to get the vaccine for myself, because there are more urgent recipients like front line workers who need it more than I do…I am thankful to the Lord for using the medical professionals and the many scientists who have been tirelessly working to develop this vaccine.  I hope and pray that it will go to all those that need it first and that it will stop this deadly virus from spreading. 

“Instead of keeping our eyes peeled for signs of the anti-Christ…let’s keep our eyes and our hearts peeled for the Lord Jesus Christ.”