Month: November 2021

The True Vine

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples (Joh 15:1-8).”

I’ve been spending a lot of time in Isaiah.  The last eight-week class of my M. Div. journey is an eight-week study into Isaiah, and I have enjoyed it tremendously.  Each week my mind is blown and last week was no exception.  In the 27th Chapter of Isaiah I came across a vineyard.  But not just any vineyard God’s vineyard.

 2       In that day,
 “A pleasant vineyard, sing of it!
 3       I, the LORD, am its keeper;
 every moment I water it.
  Lest anyone punish it,
 I keep it night and day;
 4       I have no wrath (Isa 27:2-4).

This is a contrast of an earlier vineyard found in the 5th Chapter of Isaiah.

      7       For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
      is the house of Israel,
                  and the men of Judah
      are his pleasant planting;
                  and he looked for justice,
      but behold, bloodshed;
                  for righteousness,
      but behold, an outcry (Isa 5:7)!

The Old Testament uses the metaphor of a vine and vineyard as a depiction of Israel and God’s expectation that Israel would bear fruit.  But perhaps most often the metaphor only highlights Israel’s failure.  We should not be surprised at Israel’s failure.  Even today, it is difficult to find justice and righteousness and not difficult at all to find bloodshed.  We have all cried out for justice and righteousness because we have all experienced injustice and unrighteousness even if we have not experienced bloodshed.

The vineyard of the 27th Chapter of Isaiah had not yet manifested in Isaiah’s day.  For the Israelites of Isaiah’s day Isaiah’s words where words of hope.  Today, you and I can know the true vine and vinedresser.  Who or what is this true vine?  The true vine of Israel is their Messiah.  Almost immediately after Isaiah introduces God’s vineyard Isaiah asks some rhetorical questions, Has God struck Israel as He struck the nations around her (Isa 27:7)?  Has Israel been slain as their slayers, Assyria and Babylon, been slain (Isa 27:7)?  Israel had not and would not be destroyed like the other nations.  Because Israel was the vineyard of the Messiah were God to destroy Israel the Messiah, the true vine, would have been short a vineyard.  God chose Israel as His vineyard and His vine, Jesus, would descend from the men of Judah.  This was His plan from the beginning.  The true vine would sprout from Jewish soil.  In declaring Himself the true vine Jesus was declaring himself the Christ.

      In days to come Jacob shall take root,
      Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots
      and fill the whole world with fruit (Isa 27:6).

Commenting on the vine/vineyard discord of Jesus in John’s Gospel Andreas Köstenberger remarks, “as the paradigmatic vine, Jesus embodies God’s true intentions for Israel: Jesus is the channel through whom God’s blessings flow. Just as Jesus is the new temple and the fulfillment of Jewish festival symbolism, so also, he is the new Israel, the true vine (Beale and Carson 2007, 491).”  If we are not surprised by Israel’s failures, then we shouldn’t be surprised by our own.  God never intended for you, me, or Israel to be perfect, at least not until He has perfected us, rather, He intended for His perfect Son to bear the punishment for our guilt.  God has not yet perfected you either.  But that day will come.

The second vineyard, God’s vineyard, is free of injustice, bloodshed, and wickedness not because you or I or even Israel has made it so.  It is free of those things because God has made it so.  He is tending to His vineyard even now.  Sometimes I think we take too much responsibility for God’s work and forget the work we have been given.  We are to bear fruit.

It is a special kind of fruit though.  We, are to bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Mat 3:8).  Have you failed today?  Are you facing the failures of yesterday?  Squaring those injustices and that wickedness with God’s own perfect righteousness is the work of God.  “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1Jn 4:10).”  This God did to remove wickedness, bloodshed, and injustice from His vineyard.  The fruit comes of the repentance that comes from the recognition of what God has done.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1Jn 1:9).”

Abide in the true vine!  Adam Clarke summarized the idea neatly, “hold fast faith and a good conscience; and let no trials turn you aside from the truth. And I will abide in you—ye shall receive every help and influence from me that your souls can require, in order to preserve and save them to eternal life (Clarke 1810-1826, 627).”  If you are struggling today look to Jesus’s words in His gospel, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).”  Repent, and rest in Jesus.  Just imagine, no wrath!

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Beale, G. K., and D. A. Carson. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007.

Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

What sign do you seek?

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

“Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath (Joh 9:16).’”

How would you know if someone had been sent by God?  The Pharisees thought that they knew.  Recently I was wrestling with John 10:22-42.  At first glance it appears that it should be connected to the Good Shepherd dialogue (Joh 10:1-21).  And yet John 10:22 introduces the section as occurring during the Feast of Dedication.  This is problematic because the Good Shepherd dialogue is believed to be associated with the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles.  They are separated by three months.

When I discovered that the Feast of Dedication is only found here I thought surely the meaning of Jesus’ words must be associated with that feast.  The Feast of Dedication was instituted by Judas Maccabaeus after his rebel forces regained Jerusalem and the Temple in their struggle against Antiochus Epiphanes (Vincent 1887, 195).  It is an eight-day feast that commemorates the cleansing and rededication of the Temple required after Epiphanes profaned it by offering a pig on the alter years earlier (Vincent 1887, 195).  It is celebrated on the 25th day of Chisleu, which is in the middle of December, and we know it today as the celebration of Hanukkah (Vincent 1887, 195).

Perhaps the key to Jesus’ words is in the fact that the Jews were celebrating a feast that had not been instituted in the Old Testament.  God had told Moses to tell, “the people of Israel and say to them, ‘These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts (Lev 23:1-2).’”  The Feast of Dedication was not among God’s appointed feasts because Judas Maccabaeus had appointed it.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any commentor that made any connection to this idea.

The next logical destination in my quest was in Jesus’ words immediately following His words about the sheep.  Jesus had claimed that “I and the Father are one (Joh 10:30)” and in response the Jews were going to stone him for blasphemy.  Jesus’ defense was to quote Psalm 82:6, “’Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’ (Joh 10:34)?”

Psalm 82 is a short eight verse Psalm in which God judges a counsel that he has gathered because they were not judging rightly.  They were judging unjustly with neither knowledge or understanding and instead were judging with partiality and as a result they were going to die like men.  Now there is some debate as to whether this counsel is a counsel of angels/demons or if this counsel is a counsel of Israeli judges and although it makes for some fun reading the answer isn’t necessary for Jesus’ allegation against the Jews in the Gospel of John.  The argument Jesus makes is that according to how the Jews were judging blasphemy they would have to level the same judgment against God who called the members of His counsel gods (Psa 82:1 and 6).  It doesn’t matter who makes the claim about men or angels to claim either of them are god or gods is the act of blasphemy that the Jews are alleging against Jesus.

Bottom line, what Jesus is explaining, from the Law as recognized by the Jews, was that the blasphemy they were accusing Jesus of did not rule Him out as the Messiah.  In fact, I think Jesus is using a subtle word play when he asks, “do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’ (Joh 10:36)?”  In the immediate context of their allegation Jesus is challenging their logic and reasoning but, in the allusion to Psalm 82, the one who is consecrated and sent is the very one who judges the counsel, “Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations (Psa 82:8).”  Jesus’ final work would be to receive God’s judgment on behalf of the earth.  At this moment if the Jews answer Jesus rhetorical question ‘no’ then they are abandoning their allegation of blasphemy but if they answer ‘yes’ they are admitting to the very claim that Jesus is making.

Jesus makes one more move to put the onus back on the Pharisees.  Essentially He tells them that if they cannot believe Him when He says that He is the Son of God then they need to evaluate His works and determine if they are the works of His father that they might know and understand (Joh 10:38).”  It is no coincidence that the Jews confronted Jesus at the Feast of Dedication with the challenge “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly (Joh 10:24).”

One of the Messianic hopes of that time was that the Messiah would restore the Jewish Monarchy.  That restoration hadn’t come during Ezra, Zerubbabel, or Nehemiah’s time.  However, it had come through the Hasmonean line.  “Although Aristobulus I was the first of the Maccabees actually to claim the title of king, several of his predecessors held the office in all ways save the name (Scott 1995, 164).”  The commemoration of the purification of the Temple at the Feast of Dedication was a commemoration of the Maccabean monarchy.  The Jews were asking Jesus, if He was the Messiah, when was he going to restore the monarchy.  That was the sign that they were looking for.  That was the sign that would make plain Jesus’ claim.

So where does this leave us today?

First, I wonder what sign you are waiting for.  I once roomed with another soldier who had told me he had given up on Christianity because when he and his mother were going through hard times they prayed, and God did not deliver them.  The help they sought, the sign they were looking for, was not proffered and so Jesus must not be the real messiah.  How many of us have approached the truth of the gospel this way?  The truth is the same signs that were given to the Jews of Jesus time have been given to us.

Second, if we have accepted Jesus as the Messiah, how often do we miss what He has done and what He is doing because He is not doing what we want or what we expect?  Jesus died so that you and I could be with Him in eternity.  That is the only truth that could allow a soldier to be called of God to a battlefield in which God knows that soldier will not return.  That is the only truth that frees you and I to sacrifice up to our very lives in obedience to God’s plan of advancing that very truth.  The Jews were expecting an earthly king and because they were they missed out on a heavenly kingdom.

Scott, J. Julius. Jewish Backgrounds Of The New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1995.

Vincent, Marvin Richardson. Word Studies in the New Testament. Vol. 2. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Would you recognize God’s voice?

On By AaronIn Uncategorized2 Comments

“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers (Joh 10:3-5).”

We were responsible for a stretch of road between Kirkuk and Tikrit.  It wasn’t the most dangerous in terms of the number of roadside bombs, but it was potentially the most dangerous in terms of the size of the bombs encountered along its length.  That size increased the lethality of the explosion.  In an effort to mitigate that risk we would search villages on both sides of the road looking for those responsible for setting these devices.

On one particular day we were searching multiple villages.  As a staff officer most of my work was finished before the operation and wouldn’t increase again until after the operation.  But I was bored so I hitched a ride out to one of the villages.  I knew the commander responsible for this portion of the operation, but he still wasn’t happy to see me.  He had a lot on his plate, and I remember I could stay but in his words, “don’t expect me to baby sit you.”

It didn’t take long until I was bored.  I didn’t have anything to do, and I didn’t want to get in the way.  Then I saw a flock of sheep being led by a twelve-year-old boy.  I’m guessing this particular shepherd saw the soldiers and was curious as to what was going on.  I remembered a passage in the Bible about sheep knowing their shepherds and not following another voice and I knew I had an experiment to run.  After about an hour of following this little flock trying to get the sheep to follow me and not their shepherd, I knew the truth in Jesus’ words.

In order for a parable to be a parable I suspect that it has to be true at the shepherd level.  That level of life in which the pragmatic is central.  This is the blue-collar level of the parable. I have no doubt that Jesus’ audience would have been familiar with this level although I also suspect that Jesus’ audience may not have been shepherds and, at least in regard to the Sadducees and the Pharisees, were probably above the blue-collar level.  However, I suspect that there was much more to Jesus’ parable than the truth that sheep are not likely to follow a shepherd that they don’t know.

At the time of Jesus’ arrival there was a fervent expectation for a messianic king.  The expectation was held by both the lower and upper strata of that society and culture.  But the teachers and the scribes of Israel would have been looking for something specific that would identify their messiah.  These specifics were hidden throughout their scriptures, what we today call the Old Testament.  “In Ezekiel 34:11–16 “shepherd” is an image describing God’s gathering his scattered people; it also seems to be a messianic term in the context of Zechariah 9–14 (especially 11:4–17; 13:7) (Scott 1995, 319).”

In Ezekiel the LORD specifically admonishes the shepherds of Israel accusing them of willful neglect of His sheep (Eze 34:1-4).  The sheep, “were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them (Eze 34:5-6).”  Jesus’ claim to be the good shepherd would have been an encouragement and good news but to the leaders of Israel it would have contained a little sting.  Their shepherding of Israel was not to different than the shepherds in the days of Ezekiel.  As a result, God promised Israel of Ezekiel’s day that He would become their shepherd (Eze 34:11-16).  One verse of that passage says, “…I myself will make them lie down… (Eze 34:15)” similar to that of a famous Psalm, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures… (Psa 23:1-2).

This got me thinking.  Why didn’t Jesus just say, “I am the good Shepherd?”  That would have been significant enough to bring His audience the context they would have known for them to recognize that He was identifying Himself as the Messiah of Israel.  I think the answer is in the accusations against the shepherds of Israel in Ezekiel’s day.  They had been feeding themselves (Eze 34:2)!  Israel had been set aside as a witness to the nations.  God’s plan of redemption and salvation had been foreshadowed and revealed through the nation of Israel.  The savior of mankind would be the Jewish messiah.  And yet, the shepherds of Israel in the days of Ezekiel were using all that God had provided to ensure that message’s integrity and survival through the ages, even until you and I could read about it, for their own gain.  They were reading God’s words and interpreting them before God’s people in such a way that they could retain power and profit.

I don’t think this bodes well for the prosperity gospel but for me personally it is also convicting.  Am I looking into God’s word with the intent of finding what God says or am I looking into God’s word looking for what I want to find?  I am listening for the voice of God in the first and I am looking only to justify my own selfish desires in the other.  But what if one day God wanted to tell me something important?  If I hadn’t been listening to His voice, I would probably not recognize it. There is no difference between us and the Israelites of Jesus’ time. I think Simeon in Luke’s Gospel is a good example. “This man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel (Luk 2:25).” When Jesus was presented in the temple he heard the voice of his shepherd in the person of the Holy Spirit and he declared, “my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel (Luk 2:30-32).” I suspect Simeon spent time both in the Temple and in the scripture.

Those who know the voice of the shepherd know it because they have spent time in His presence listening to Him.  How many hours had those sheep in Iraq spent in their shepherd’s presence?  They weren’t born into that knowledge; they grew into it over time.  The difference is that you and I get to choose our shepherd.  A shepherd that has given his life for us (Joh 10:11) demonstrating that He cares.  The only way we get to know His voice is by spending time in His word.  Don’t neglect that discipline.

Photo by Patrick Schneider on Unsplash

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Where Does this Sidewalk End?

On By AaronIn Potentially Political2 Comments

            1       O LORD, how many are my foes!
      Many are rising against me;
            2       many are saying of my soul,
      “There is no salvation for him in God (Psa 3:1-2).”

I went for a walk tonight.  I was discouraged more than I have ever been.  I walked and walked and walked and walked… until I noticed that I was subconsciously slowing down.  My steps were getting shorter, and my pace was beginning to meander.  There was this incredible urge to just lay down on the sidewalk… just lay down.  I feel so alone.

Today I found out that my exception to a travel restriction has been rescinded by the National Guard Bureau because I’m not vaccinated.  In early 2020 when we thought that COVID19 was going to kill us all, the Department of Defense issued a policy banning all military travel.  It didn’t take them long to determine that some travel was necessary and so they began issuing exceptions to that policy.  I’ve been working on an exception to that policy until today.  I had to cancel a trip this weekend to California in support of the California Army National Guard.

My whole life I’ve only been certain that I was good at one thing, tactical military intelligence.  I know there are other things that I am good at, but I’ve only been certain of that one.  I even worried about going to war.  It seemed to me that God would not give someone a gift without intending for that gift to used.  I was very relieved after my first deployment. It seemed I could put that worry behind me.

Stay with me, I promise I will get to some theology.  Anyway, I could quite literally get on an airplane and travel to California without being tested or my vaccination status being checked.  I don’t believe for a second that the National Guard Bureau is concerned about my wellbeing, the wellbeing of those passengers I travel with, or the wellbeing of those soldiers I would have been working with.  All of that was essential enough to grant me an exception to policy until today. What has changed?

Stay with me, I promise I will get to some theology. 

So yesterday, at my companies behest, I submitted my request for a religious exemption.  I was told that my vaccination status would remain private, but earlier I had to fill out a form for the DoD in which my vaccination status was disclosed to them.  If the company I work for grants me a religious exemption, then they could offer an acceptable accommodation and I could continue to train soldiers.  That accommodation could be as simple as getting tested before I leave. But now that the National Guard Bureau, an entity subordinate to the DoD, is no longer granting exceptions to the travel restriction what acceptable accommodation could be made?  The DoD has effectively taken the religious exemption away from any traveling contract employee.  When I was explaining to a friend the incredulity of the situation, that I could still get on a plane and go on vacation at my own expense he reminded me, “Aaron, this hasn’t been about a virus and a vaccine for over a year.”

Anyway, the funny thing is I hadn’t considered why I might be religiously, morally, and conscientiously opposed to a vaccine until they threatened my job.  I was so close to just getting the jab and then I asked the question, “why would someone be religiously opposed to a vaccine?” What I know now can’t be unknown again. I will stand, alone, if necessary, because I am now convinced that the sanctity of the Temple matters.  Then I remembered Ahaz!

In the middle eighth century B.C. Assyria was threatening the middle east.  Israel was already split into two kingdoms with Israel, or Ephraim, in the north and Judah in the south.  Ahaz was king of Judah.  Israel and Syria were concerned with Assyria’s growth and decided that the three, including Judah, should ally against Assyria.  But Ahaz wasn’t in.  This created a problem for Israel especially.  While Israel was distracted with a war against Assyria Judah could attack from the south jeopardizing the whole affair.  As a result, Syria and Israel were descending on Judah to remove that threat.  At the moment Jerusalem itself was being threatened Isaiah was sent to encourage Ahaz (Isa 7:1-3).  In that effort of encouragement God even told Isaiah to let Ahaz pick a sign (Isa 7:10-11).  Any sign that would convince Ahaz God was there for him. But get Ahaz’s response, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test (Isa 7:12).”

Ahaz, trying to sound religious, was quoting from The Law (Deu 6:16).  But Ahaz was not a faithful king of Judah.  He was only trying to justify his own actions. Ahaz wanted to continue in his disobedience. “He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.  And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree (2Ki 16:3-4).”  Ahaz didn’t want to trust God he wanted to negotiate with Assyria (2Ki 16:7-10) (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown 1997, 437).  J. Vernon McGee puts it this way, “He sounds so nice, but he is one of the biggest hypocrites you will find in Scripture. This sort of thing is sickening, and I believe God feels that way about it (VcGee 1991, 80-81).”  Ahaz didn’t trust God and yet he was trying to sound like he did.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I am not waiting on a miraculous healing in which God protects me from the ravages of COVID19.  That is a characterization of those seeking a religious exemption. No, God is asking me to use the sanctity of His temple to stand for the least of these (Mat 25:40).  It is an act of worship in keeping with the intent of James words, “religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (Jas 1:27).”  It is only what He has asked of every generation since His first coming. Only this time I find myself standing virtually alone against the power and authority of the U.S. Government’s intent to prohibit the exercise of that religion. I know I’m not alone, in fact, I’ve posted links about many who have already lost their jobs. But it feels alone.

Don’t be fooled.  Our fear of COVID19 is causing us to make the mistake of Ahaz.  Our fear of death is causing us to make the mistake of Ahaz.  Our fore fathers risked everything, including their lives, to ensure us the right to worship as ourconscience dictates.  My conscience has been awakened and my hope is greater than a miraculous cure of any disease.  In fact my hope rests on a promised end to all diseases. But what if I get COVID and God calls me home?

Paul looked forward to that day (Phi 1:21). I believe in that same hope.  And, on that day someone may whisper, “you are only getting what you deserve” I will confidently reply, “no, I am going to what I don’t deserve.  And, by the grace of Jesus who loved me I will be able to stand among those little ones who were cut down selfishly by those who should have loved them.”  What we do in life is only a shadow of reality.  Don’t let fear rob you of your faith in a greater promise!

I choose to put my trust in God and let Him use my life for His glory.  My only concern is that those who died before me in the cause of religious freedom, who died before me in the cause to end slavery, or even those who died before me translating the scriptures into a language people could read will meet me at the gates of eternity and chide me for taking a stand against a disease with a greater than 95% survival rate.  Will we blush in eternity?

That sidewalk almost had me. I better pick it up. God isn’t calling me home yet.

Please, don’t sit this one out.  Take a stand in defense of religious liberty.  What ever that looks like where you are. Even if you simply share these posts as words of encouragement and conviction.  Thanks again for reading and don’t forget to subscribe below. There is no guarantee that the algorithms in the sky will bring us back together.  I do hope very soon to get back to writing on John’s Gospel.  That is why I started this blog and I do intend to return.  God willing.

Jamieson, Robert, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Vol. 1. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997.

VcGee, J. Vernon. Thru the Bible Commentary: The Prophets (Isaiah 1-35). Nasville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1991.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Here I Stand!

On By AaronIn Faith, Potentially Political, Stuff About Me1 Comment

“…stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf…” (2Ch 20:17).”

Of course, I pulled this passage out of context.  This is a small portion of Jehoshaphat’s encouragement to his people, but the message is the same today, don’t be discouraged.  The more I look into the matter of vaccines derived from fetal material the more discouraged I become.  Last week, I wrote on the importance of the person’s body to sanctity, holiness, and worship.  I ended with the question of a vaccination’s impact on our holiness. The answer to that question rests on the morality of the vaccine in question and the morality of the COVID-19 vaccine is tied to their use of fetal material.

SENSITIVE CONTENT FOLLOWS: May Not Be Appropriate for All Readers

The two cell lines used by COVID vaccines for testing and/or development are HEK293 and PERC6 (Seidler 2021).  Both of these cell lines are derived from abortions (Seidler 2021).  It is easy to misunderstand that only one baby was used but that is not the case (Seidler 2021).  “Under oath, scientist Stanley Plotkin admitted that there were 76 aborted babies used in just one vaccine study (Seidler 2021).”

What was also horrifying was the necessity for the cells to be harvested in close proximity with the death of the child.  “Cell death renders the tissue unfit… tissues and organs must be harvested ‘within 5 minutes’ and at times this occurs while the baby’s heart is still beating (Seidler 2021).”  I am a seasoned veteran, experienced police officer, and now a new dad.  That earlier sentence was hard to type.  While there is no proof that live “harvesting” occurs the “harvesting… can be a type of torture beyond the normal abortion procedure (Seidler 2021).”  The “proximity to time of death” requirement also virtually assures that material from miscarriages cannot be used (Seidler 2021).  Bottom line, “you cannot derive a living cell culture from tissue that is already dead (Baklinski 2021).”

And this practice continues.  In 2015 the Chinese “harvested” for the cell line labeled WALVAX-2 (Seidler 2021).  Not only does the practice continue, it grows.  “In 1982 a container of 16,500 fetuses was found at the US home of a former laboratory owner.  In 2003, the Dutch company behind HEK293 sought aborted babies as far afield as New Zealand and Australia.  Journal articles discuss ‘the fetal tissue economy’ in Britain.  In 2019, 2,200 fetuses were found at an abortionist’s home and the court dispositions of Planned Parenthood staff showed harvesting continued at scale (Seidler 2021).”  Please, check out the cited source if you need more information.  It is highly referenced and footnoted.

I have shared much of this word for word because I want you to feel the same impact of those words that I have felt.  There are many other articles that I can cite but I think you know now where I stand.  What’s more is that the morality of abortion is pretty clearly understood by the church.  Where I serve, the Nazarene denomination (My endorsement for seminary was signed by a Nazarene pastor, I interned in a Nazarene church, and I am endorsed as a police/fire chaplain by the Nazarene denomination) has articulated their stance within their denominational manual.

Article 30 states, “The Church of the Nazarene believes in the sanctity of human life and strives to protect against abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, and the withholding of reasonable medical care to handicapped or elderly (Blevins, et al. 2017).”

Article 30.2 states, “We oppose any use of genetic engineering that promotes social injustice, disregards the dignity of persons, or that attempts to achieve racial, intellectual, or social superiority over others (eugenics). We oppose initiation of DNA studies whose results might encourage or support human abortion as an alternative to term live birth (Blevins, et al. 2017).”

Article 30.3 states, “Our stand on human embryonic stem cell research flows from our affirmation that the human embryo is a person made in the image of God. Therefore, we oppose the use of stem cells produced from human embryos for research, therapeutic interventions, or any other purpose.  …we oppose the destruction of human embryos for any purpose and any type of research that takes the life of a human after conception. Consistent with this view, we oppose the use, for any purpose, of tissue derived from aborted human fetuses. (Blevins, et al. 2017).”

While these are the articles of the Nazarene denomination every denomination that rejects abortion on moral grounds articulates their argument in similar ways.  All reason from the foundation of the truth of scripture (Genesis 2:7, 9:6; Exodus 20:13; 21:12–16, 22-25; Leviticus 18:21; Job 31:15; Psalms 22:9; 139:3–16; Isaiah 44:2, 24; 49:5; Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:15, 23–25, 36–45; Acts 17:25; Romans 12:1–2; 1 Corinthians 6:16; 7:1ff.; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–6).  But what of the product of an abortion?  Does the immorality of the original act transfer to any act that follows?

The Catholic church actually published moral reflections on that very question (Pontifical Academy for Life n.d.).  The Vatican identified taking of a vaccine derived from aborted fetal material as passive cooperation in the act of abortion (Pontifical Academy for Life n.d.).  They are very specific about the consequent actions of the faithful.  “It is up to the faithful and citizens of upright conscience (fathers of families, doctors, etc.) to oppose, even by making an objection of conscience, the ever more widespread attacks against life and the “culture of death” which underlies them… Furthermore, on a cultural level, the use of such vaccines contributes in the creation of a generalized social consensus to the operation of the pharmaceutical industries which produce them in an immoral way (Pontifical Academy for Life n.d.).”

The final sentence of that last paragraph is born out by fact.  Those companies that developed the cell lines have been rewarded by their continued use and benefit from the original murder (Seidler 2021).  Additionally, there is an impact on the parents that the church should be discouraging from opting for an abortion.  Polls have indicated, “that parents are more likely to choose abortion if ‘medical use’ of a fetus is possible (Seidler 2021).”

You may disagree with me at this point but combined with last weeks argument that our worship includes how we choose to use our bodies it seems to me that to refuse to use a vaccine on the conscientious grounds that its development is tied to the unethical killing of a baby, or babies, by an industry that continues to this day is a legitimate act of worship.  James writes, “religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (Jam 1:27).”  Summarizing this passage J.Ronald Blue writes, “a believer with God-pleasing ‘religion’ helps others in need—and thus is faultless (lit., ‘pure, undefiled’), and keeps himself pure (lit., ]clean’) (Walvoord and Zuck 2004, 924).”  Who is in more need than the defenseless occupant of a womb belonging to parents bent on killing him or her?

What is most fascinating to me is that at the time of this writing I am applying for a religious exemption against the COVID-19 mandate in which my employer is asking for a statement “supporting the basis of the observant’s faith/beliefs which are contrary to the practice of vaccination or use of the COVID-19 vaccination” and the response of the Nazarene denomination is that “an exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine cannot be claimed based on Article 14, or our denominational polity.”  Article 14 reads: “We believe in the [Bible] biblical doctrine of divine healing and urge our people to offer the prayer of faith for the healing of the sick. We also believe God heals through the means of medical science (Blevins, et al. 2017).”  I guess “or our denominational polity” covers the articles cited earlier.

Article 28.4 reads, “In listing practices to be avoided we recognize that no catalog, however inclusive, can hope to encompass all forms of evil throughout the world. Therefore, it is imperative that our people earnestly seek the aid of the Spirit in cultivating a sensitivity to evil that transcends the mere letter of the law; remembering the admonition: ‘Test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil (1Th 5:21-22).’”  And yet when their people take an earnest stand those same people are told by their church that “the decision will be entirely personal.”  In essence you are on your own.  And so here I stand!

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Baklinski, Pete. Babies were aborted alive, placed in fridge to harvest cell lines used in some vaccines: researcher. 2 19, 2021. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/babies-were-aborted-alive-placed-in-fridge-to-harvest-cell-lines-used-in-some-vaccines-researcher/?utm_source=lifefacts (accessed 10 31, 2021).

Blevins, Dean G., Stanley J. Rodes, Terry S. Sowden, James W. Spear, and David P. Wilson, . Church of the Nazarene Manual: 2017-2021. Kansas City, MO: NAZARENE PUBLISHING HOUSE, 2017.

Pontifical Academy for Life. Moral Reflections on Vaxccines Prepared from Cells Derived from Aborted Human Fetuses. Pontifical Academy for Life. n.d. https://www.immunize.org/talking-about-vaccines/vaticandocument.htm (accessed 10 24, 2021).

Seidler, Thomas. Vaccines using fetal tissue: 12 faulty assumptions. 4 1, 2021. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vaccines-using-fetal-tissue-12-faulty-assumptions/?utm_source=lifefacts (accessed 10 31, 2021).

Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Dallas: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.