The COVID Vaccine - Consider the bigger picture!

1 Timothy 5:23 Stop drinking just water, but use a little wine for your digestion and your frequent illnesses.        

I have received quite a few inquiries from folks asking how I felt about the vaccine. I was feeling quite ill over this last week, although it was expected, it has caused me to meditate on the situation that is happening in our country right now, and especially how it seems to be impacting the Community of believers.     

     Why did I expect to feel sick…because last week Dee and I received the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine. The pandemic has been difficult enough, but the political and media exploitation of this whole thing has caused a fiasco! How a normal human being can take in and digest all the dialogue, all the politicking, and the claims about how to protect yourself from this virus, and arrive at a conclusion that is "Truth"...is just about impossible! More importantly, as believers, we are to move based on foundational convictions derived from Truth...how can we when the facts are being controlled by those with an Agenda?       

The insanity has run the gambit, with the pendulum swinging to both extremes. Claims that this virus is made up and facts are being twisted or it is a biological weapon put out by China or America & China working together secretly. Conspiracy theories stating this is all about taking away our freedom and controlling us. The vaccine itself swings from being from the “Messiah” to, claims that it is a drug to control or even kill us...even claims that this is part of the Mark of the beast! What is an average person to do and how can they make a proper decision? Due to the people in power who seem more focused on keeping their positions and possessions (Money), we are left with this decision: “Pick Your Poison!”...the virus or the vaccine?

     What believers must remember is the principle Paul stated to Timothy - “Timothy, use your faith AND your common sense”. In Timothy’s day drinking water could be quite dangerous because of all the parasites, so adding a little alcohol to that water would purify and make the digestion in your stomach more settled. How could Timothy know what possible sicknesses he might get? Should he just quit drinking water…and die? Who could he trust, Rome? Roman Companies that would produce purifiers and tell Timothy they worked? This is where children of God need to see the big picture.  

I know there are honest politicians and media people, but the political and media culture has become completely corrupt. The uniform for individuals in the political culture should have a yellow stripe down the back, their acts are cowardly, not based on convictions, but on polls and holding on to their power and wealth. The media culture is driven by agenda instead of “just the facts!” How tragic. So what can we do?

     See the "BIGGER" picture. Timothy had to seek God in prayer for wisdom, understand the available facts...and then use his common sense and take that step required in Faith that GOD is actually in control of his life and his death! That is what Dee and I did.

* Fact: If you take the number of deaths caused by the "normal" Flu from 2010 till 2020, which includes the low death rate of 2011-12 (12,000) and the high death rate of 2017-18 (61,000) the average is about 35,000 a year. Whereas in the USA, over 500,000 people have perished from COVID in a very short time, COVID has killed at least 10 times the norm.

      I know quite a few of the ones who died, one was one of my closest friends, and it was COVID that took them. Here is the "BIGGER" picture that Dee and I kept before us: God is Intimate & Omniscient...He knows us thoroughly and sees the entirety of our existence, i.e. when we began, when our sinful body ends, and where we will be forever after that! These Scriptures guide us.

* Psalm 139:16–17 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!

* Psalm 139:13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

* Matthew 10:30 “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

* Job 14:5 You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.

* Psalm 31:15 My times are in Your hand.     

     We prayed and then decided to hope in the vaccine and depend & trust in God! If I believe in a God that is GOD, then He can overcome any mistake I make! My job is to make the best decision I can and leave the rest to Him...not a Dr. nor a government. In the end, this is not about a virus or a vaccine...it is about Faith.

God Bless – nate