“…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.