When Adam sinned, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse; that is, to futility, change, and decay. Creation also is cursed because it is unable to attain the purposes for which it was made – to bless mankind made in His image.¹ For example: when the people of Israel began worshipping idols God put the whole land under an agricultural curse, often challenged by radical weather changes and drought. Moses had warned of punishment for rebellion.

You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it. You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off. (Deuteronomy 28:38-40)

A word on climate change  The scriptures teach that we are also stewards of the earth and all nature. In fact, God told Adam to take dominion over the entire earth. (Genesis 1:26-28) Soon the perfect order in the world was marred by sin; therefore, fallen people had to live in a fallen world and have demonstrated over many years that they have not been caring stewards – quite the contrary. Our perfect world continues to be harmed by a world population concomitantly marred by continuing sin as it continues to deny the Creator’s guidance. Yet all nature’s creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. Revelation 22 describes the future removal of the curse from the earth when the earth will be renewed. (Romans 8:20–21)

Adam and Eve were the first polluters of the environment when they sinned. Their act of rebellion affected the entire world. It has taken many centuries to realize the interrelatedness of this global village, but the Bible begins with that assumption. Having the same Creator links us with the rest of the created order. But as much as we do personally and corporately to clean up and care for the environment, we must realize that creation will require the same kind of transformation that we require in our hearts in order to be set straight again.

In fact, in Romans 8:22–23, Paul pictures the fallen creation as groaning as in the pains of childbirth. Consider earthquakes, floods, fire, drought, famine, plagues—these are surely not what creation was meant to be, but sin and evil now rule. Just as the pains of childbirth end at the birth of the child, so the groaning and pain of the creation will end at the birth of the new earth. Creation groans and longs for its release and transformation into the new heaven and new earth. We Christians also groan to be released from pain and suffering, longing for our own release from the cycle of sin, effects of aging on health and eventual physical death (Romans 8:23).

We long for redemption when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. In this process we are not alone, for the Holy Spirit groans with us, expressing our unutterable longing to God and giving us a foretaste of future glory. But until the time of our release and redemption, we must groan, wait, and hope.

When we put our faith in Christ as Savior, we are saved and we can eagerly look forward to the freedom we will have at Christ’s return. (Romans 8:24–25) We already have the presence of the Holy Spirit, who is unseen, but we must eagerly wait for our new bodies, which are also unseen. Our full redemption has not yet happened; it will happen when Christ returns. That is why it is still a hope for believers.

Our salvation is both present and future. It is present because the moment we believe in Jesus Christ as Savior we are saved (Romans 3:21–26; 5:1–11; 6:1–11, 22–23); our new life (eternal life) begins. But at the same time, we have not fully received all the benefits and blessings of salvation that will be ours when Christ’s new Kingdom is completely established. While we can be confident of our salvation, we still look forward with hope and trust toward that complete change of body and personality that lies beyond this life.

^{1Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary} 

The world today is not unlike the world of Elijah when many of the Israelites were worshiping pagan gods. He built an altar to demonstrate that Yahweh, the God of creation exists and still actively governs even his wayward children led astray by pagan secular religions. In the ten commandments, God made it clear that:  You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves. You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. (Exodus 20:23-24 NAS)

Elijah built an altar according to the commandment. He wanted to reveal to the people and King Ahab that he was the prophetic spokesperson, not the false prophets who led the people astray to worship idols.

Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.” Immediately the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven. 1 Kings 18:36-38 When the people saw it, they fell on their faces and cried out, “The LORD is God! The LORD is God!” (1 Kings 18:39 NLT)

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you may be taking too large a perspective. Let God worry about all the injustice in the world; you just need to find one small injustice and start there. The world is filled with evil, and you are here to be a light in the darkness. Even a small candle can lighten a dark room. As you minister, you may find that others gain the courage to join you, and you can begin to broaden your perspective. God’s Promise ¹

Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9 NLT)

^{1 Beers, Gilbert; Beers, Ron. The One Year Mini for Men (p. 309). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.}

Jesus noted a man at the pool of Bethesda, a man laying there, an invalid for 38 years.

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him,“Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ^9 rAnd at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. – John 5:6–9

Further, Jesus was being harassed by the Jewish leaders for breaking Sabbath rules. (John 5:16–17) But Jesus told these leaders, “My Father never stops working, so why should I?” With this statement, Jesus challenged the notion that God himself was somehow literally subject to the Sabbath rules. As we look at this consider the following: ¹

If God stopped every kind of work on the Sabbath, nature would fall into chaos and sin would overrun the world. Genesis 2:2 says that God rested on the seventh day; he rested from the work of creation but began the work of sustaining the creation.

While it is true that God rested on that first seventh day from all His creative work, He has never rested from His governmental work, His providential work, supplying the needs of His creatures. The sun rises and sets, the tides ebb and flow, the rain falls, the wind blows, the grass grows on the weekly Rest Day as well as on any other. What we may term works of necessity and works of mercy—that is upholding and sustaining the whole realm of creation and the daily recurring needs of His creatures—God never rests from. ²

God has been at work and continues to work; so does his Son, Jesus. With this claim, Jesus affirmed his equality with God. Furthermore, Jesus was teaching that when the opportunity to do good presents itself, it should not be ignored, even on the Sabbath.

The Jews realized that Jesus’ words revealed his very personal relationship with God. In saying, “my Father,” he was clearly claiming to be God’s Son, thus equal with God. For a human to claim equality with God was blasphemy; and blasphemy was a sin carrying the death penalty (Leviticus 24:15–16). People regularly misunderstood Jesus, and he was constantly correcting them. Jesus never attempted to correct the understanding that he was claiming to be God, for that was exactly what he meant. Thus the Jewish leaders tried all the more to kill him.

In verses John 5:19–20 Jesus did not say that he would not do anything independent from the Father, but that he cannot: “The Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing.” The Son performs the tasks the Father wants to be done because they are of one spirit. The Father and the Son know and love each other completely. So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise”.

When Christ said:  “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing”, does this mean that His ability was limited? Or that His power was restricted? Do His words signify that when Jesus “made himself of no reputation (R. V. emptied himself) and took upon him the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7)” that He was reduced to all the limitations of human nature? No. Instead of pointing to an imperfection, either in His person or power, they, rightly understood, only serve to bring out His peerless excellency while he glorified both his father and himself in humility as an incarnated man – scornfully misunderstood and vilified by the Jewish leadership. But here as everywhere else, the scriptures must be interpreted by scripture, and once we heed this rule, difficulties disappear like the mists before the sun (John 5:39). ³

When our Lord came to earth as man, He submitted Himself to the Father in everything. “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9). He veiled His glory and laid aside the independent exercise of His divine attributes. In the wilderness, Satan tempted Him to use His divine powers for Himself, but He refused to act independently. He was totally dependent on the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit of God. 4

Jesus acted equally to the Father in immediacy whilst mirroring his Sovereign will. Jesus as a man, potentiating the father’s mind in his earthly ministries, acting likewise, revealed his own equality with God – his own divinity! Similarly, the unity of our mind, when in Christ’s Spirit, reveals our abiding relationship by responding in obedience to scripture, acting as royal priests in the will and favour of the triune God, advocating his will, empowered by his imparted strength. By so living, each soul represents those sealed by God, in accord with the Spirit’s promissory guarantee, unto eternal life. (1 Pet 2:9, Rom 8:14, 2 Tim 2:19, Eph 1:3, 4:30, 2 Cor 1:22) ⁵

Lenski brings out an important point, with regard to the judgements weighed against Jesus: It is absolutely impossible that Jesus should ever break the law, including that of the Sabbath. This is impossible because he is the Son, from eternity, one with the Father and now the incarnate Son, come to earth to carry out absolutely nothing but the Father’s will. If the Son, then, be charged by the Jews with breaking the Sabbath law, the charge would strike the Father himself. He is, indeed, “the Son,” this Jesus who stands before the Jews in human flesh. The Jews were perfectly right when in John 5:18 they understood that Jesus made himself “equal with God.” This very relation of the Son to the Father makes it simply impossible that Jesus should do, now or ever anything “of himself,” so that the thing would emanate from him alone and be done by him alone, separate and apart from the Father and thus deviating from and contradictory to the Father’s will—even as the Jews charged that Jesus was breaking God’s Sabbath law. Such a thing is possible for men; even Moses thus did a thing “of himself” (Num. 20:11, 12): but in the case of the Son, since he is the Son, this is absolutely excluded. ⁶

Because of their transparent relationship, the Son always knows what the Father is doing and works in harmony with him to see it accomplished. Because of his unity with God, Jesus lived as God wanted him to live as he worked to redeem mankind during his life right up to the time he was arrested and killed (Matt 26:39). Jesus promised to do far greater things. According to the following verses, this refers to the Son’s ability to give life to the dead and to execute judgment, beyond remarkably forgiving sinners and raising the invalid to vigour.  (Matt. 9:6, 7; Mark 2:9, 11, 12; Luke 5:24, 25)

This statement would have shocked Jesus’ audience because it ascribes to the Son—Jesus himself—what was seen as exclusively the activity of God the Father. (John 5:21) God alone can raise from the dead anyone he wants to. That God gave that power to the Son is demonstrated in Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:41–44).

The certainty of our salvation is in the hands of the Son because God entrusted him with judicial and executive authority to judge. (John 5:22–23) Thus, he has equal dignity and honour with the Father—“everyone will honour the Son, just as they honour the Father.” The flip side is that those who refuse to honour the Son are not honouring the Father who sent him. Here Jesus was referring to that time when everyone will recognize his lordship. The tragedy will be that many will then recognize Jesus’ true nature but will have lost the opportunity to receive his saving help. Those unwilling to honour Christ now will discover that they have not been honouring the Father either. People should not say they believe in God while ignoring the power and authority of his Son.

In John John 8:17–18, we learn that The religious leaders did not understand that the Father and Son lived in each other and were with each other (see John 10:38; 14:9–11; 17:21). Therefore, even though the Son came from the Father (John 8:14) and was sent by the Father (John 8:16, 18), he was not separate from the Father—for the Father who sent the Son came with him and provided testimony for him. His confirming witness was God himself. Jesus and the Father made two witnesses, the number required by the law.

Here D.A. Carson adds the bias of the Jewish leaders’ persistency: Jesus’ opponents instantly grasp the implications of his remark, including the fact that he was calling God his own Father. Perceived infractions against Sabbath laws were serious, and might provoke murderous intent; but a man making himself equal with God was challenging the fundamental distinction between the holy, infinite God and finite, fallen human beings. For this reason, the Jews (John 1:19; 5:10) tried all the harder to kill him. ⁷

The Jews were meticulous keepers of the Mosaic laws found in the old testament. What they miss is paramount to their problem of not perceiving the Son of God. The Jews did not focus on compassion and love, as Moses had made paramount the royal law found repeated in the new testament. (Matthew 22:36-40; Mark 12: 28-34; James 2:8; Romans 13:8, 10; Galatians 5:14) If they truly loved the Father, they would indeed love his Son if they fully understood the dynamics of filial love.

To love God, as our Father,  is to concomitantly love and follow his Son. The first precedes loving others. To be obedient in our love for God the Father we see the Divinity of Christ, and both the Father and Son in a combinate mission to redeem humanity. The work of Christ when healing the lame man on the Sabbath at the Pool of Bethesda is a perfect demonstration of loving compassion to a disabled man. ⁸

Examine other texts in John 5, confirming the absolute equality of the Son with the Father. ⁹

• In his Ministering Service to mankind: John 5:16–18
• In his Conjoined Focused Will: John 5:19
• In his Mutual Love and Compassionate Co-working: John 5:20
• In his Sovereign Rights of Healing and Imparting Life to the dead: John 5:21
• In his Divine Judicial Honors: John 5:22–23
• In Imparting Eternal Life at the Final Resurrection: John 5:24–26
• In Judicial Power and Authority to Judge both the righteous and those who have done evil and not repented: John 5:27–30.

Arthur Pink offers an interesting insight into how God’s power will bring the atomically disintegrated bodies in the grave to rise from the grave for the Final Judgement of Christ:  In connection with the Deity of Christ in these last verses,  the fact that “all that are in the graves shall hear” the voice of Christ and shall “come forth unto judgement, proves that He is far more than the most exalted human. Who but God is able to regather all the scattered elements which have gone to corruption? Who but God is capable of acting as Judge of all humanity who died in history past? None but God can read the heart, and none but He possesses the necessary wisdom for such a stupendous task as determining the sentence due to each one of that vast assemblage which will stand before the great white throne. Thus we see that from start to finish this wonderful passage sets forth the Godhood of the Savior. Let us then honour Him even as we honour the Father, and prostrate ourselves before Him in adoring worship. ¹⁰

John McArthur sums up the fact that Jesus is indeed God: There is no question more important than, “Who is Jesus Christ?” Its implications are profound and its significance unparalleled. Simply posing it immediately evokes a vast array of emotions—from outright hostility to fervent adoration. Merely contemplating it is not enough—it is a question that must be answered. And answering it incorrectly no matter what the excuse, ultimately leads to eternal devastation. Throughout history, that very question has sparked much confusion and debate. Such was even true in Jesus’ time. When He asked, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Matt. 16:13), the disciples listed several popular possibilities: “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets” (Matt. 16:14). There is, however, only one correct answer to Jesus’ question, and Peter gave it when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). ¹¹ 

Scripture abundantly reaffirms Peter’s assessment of Christ’s true identity. He is called “God” (John 1:1, 18; 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8; 1 John 5:20), “our great God and Savior” (Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1), the “Mighty God” (Isa. 9:6), the “I AM” (John 8:58; cf. Ex. 3:14), the “first and the last” (Rev. 1:17; 22:13; cf. Isa. 44:6; 48:12), the “Lord of lords” (Rev. 17:14; cf. Deut. 10:17), and the “Alpha and the Omega” (Rev. 22:13; cf. Rev. 1:8). He is one in essence with the Father (John 10:30); He exists in the form of God (Phil. 2:6) and is the “exact representation of His nature” (Heb. 1:3); He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe (John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:3; cf. Gen. 1:1; Isa. 40:28); He is the Lord of the 7th-day Sabbath (Ex. 20:11; Matt. 12:8; Luke 6:5); and “in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). He is the One who forgives sins (Mark 2:7, 10; cf. Isa. 43:25; Dan. 9:9), raises the dead (John 5:21; 11:25), and receives the worship reserved for God alone (Phil. 2:10 [cf. Isa. 45:23]; Matt. 14:33; cf. Matt. 4:10). Clearly, the biblical evidence leads to only one possible conclusion: Jesus Christ is God. ¹²

^{1 Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary (p. 394). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale.}

^{2 Pink, A. W. (1923–1945). Exposition of the Gospel of John (p. 258). Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot.}

^{3 ibid}

^{4 Wiersbe, Warren W.. The BE Series Bundle: The Gospels: Be Loyal, Be Diligent, Be Compassionate, Be Courageous, Be Alive, and Be Transformed (The BE Series Commentary) (p. 735). David C Cook.} 

^{5 Glen Jackman, Theological Application}

^{6 Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The interpretation of St. John’s gospel (p. 379). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.}

^{7 Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (p. 249). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.}

^{8 Glen Jackman, Theological Application}

^{9 Pink, A. W. (1923–1945). Exposition of the Gospel of John (p. 258). Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot.}

^{10 Ibid}

^{11 John MacArthur, New Testament Commentary}

^{12 Ibid}

There are periods in life when things seem pretty stressful. They come and go through life. You rely on your meditative discipline to stay calm. Yet, life seems to have a series of struggles we must learn to overcome in business, family life, and social interactions.

With the pandemic and its lockdowns, the leftist social and news media cross-examining everything on behalf of the elites, the polarization of society increases. A disallowance of debate affects business lockdowns, family solidarity, and social distancing. Sadly evident are the counter-punching divisive views whacking the truth about natural health immunity, fueling a narrative for a draconian civic duty to get vaccinated at all costs. The inability of the Christian church to find one authentic voice is not unified but somewhat divisive. Questions are posed: “Are we facing an apocalyptic plague”? “Are we in the final throes of the earth’s history”? Just how soon is Christ to return”? Others may be content to ask: “did you get your double jab”?

When many paradigms in life are shifting and seem to be going wrong, Christ says, trust Me, abide in Me. When your life feels increasingly out of control, thank Him for reminding you of your need. Then allow Jesus to lead you by His Spirit to lift you above your circumstances.

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 you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15: 4-7)

If you do what comes naturally in the face of life’s trials, you may fall prey to fear. Fear breeds negativism already building in an angry collective consciousness pervading society with an increasingly closed-off mindset.

A few complaints can slide you down the slope of delusional despair. It will fog your ability to weigh all the facts before you find clarity. In times like this, ask the Lord who promises guidance, remain calm and wait. (Proverbs 3: 5-6, 4:11; Exodus 15:13; Psalm 23:2-3, 48:14, 139:9-10, 37:23-24; Isaiah 58:11)

To hear and sustain truth in your mind takes ongoing patience. The payoff is a fresh perspective and a mindset reliant on Christ. I find that I must write out everything I question and ask for guidance, tweaking out lies and deceptions. (Revelation 14:12)

We must turn away from following the ideals of the global elitists of the world, which is increasingly controlling society. Ask, “Will I want to surrender my reasoning powers to accept any mandate interfering with my right or anothers’ right to freedom”? Many now comply with societal surveillance employed by the conjoining governments of the entire world following one lock-step agenda. (Revelation 13:8 NIV)

We are vulnerable if we think: “my alternate opinion flowing from my mouth or pen won’t find an ear to hear or an eye to see what matters most right now”. Don’t fear censorship, either. Avoid that slippery dark descent of angst. Paul’s guidance is helpful:

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time, there is a remnant, chosen by grace.  (Romans 11:2-5)

The solution is to cry out to Christ for His Spirit to lead you! Affirm your trust in Him, regardless of how you feel. Thank Jesus Christ for everything; though this may seem unnatural—it’s not irrational. The Spirit of Christ honours trusting faith that aims to glorify Him. (Isaiah 30:21; Philippians 2:5)

Gradually you will begin to ascend, recovering your lost ground. When you are back on ground level, you can face your circumstances from a humble perspective. If you choose supernatural responses this time—trusting and thanking Christ—you will experience His unfathomable peace. (Psalm 13:5)

^{The concept applied to this period in life is inspired by portions of the ideas from Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling (Jesus Calling®) (p. 290). Thomas Nelson.} 

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people”. – Jeremiah 31.33

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Psalm 139:13–16 (NLT)

The above text written by the prophet king David, informs us from the Bible, that we are created by God and under his Sovereign watch-care whilst we are forming in the womb from the very beginning of conception. David’s prophetic text expands to inform us that all children are allocated by God as know individual souls to be born into a human experience! — which is profound and illuminating. “You saw me before I was born”.

I argue that the aborted child is to be viewed with the same compassion and overarching joy that every single child of every single nation should be known as in fact, a wonderful image of our Lord’s kindness to humanity — to his Sovereign rule over all his creatures! oh my, the Love of God is so immense toward man and woman!

I believe it is imperative that the remnant of the sanctified church reckon with the glory of our Lord to be known when you look mindfully into a child’s eyes. Moreover, in Genesis 1:27, Moses as a great teacher of justice and mercy, reckons the truth that the child forming in the womb is: created in the image of God: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Knowing this, many born again Christians, are choosing to not receive any vaccine utilizing gene therapy based on human mRNA which would never have been achievable without historic abortions upon which the genetic coding used to make the mRNA vaccines are sourced. The theologian, Dr John Piper makes some observations for Christians who are pro-life here noted:  ^{1, 2}

Science Magazine, early on reported that at least five coronavirus vaccines under development in the States were created using one of the two human fetal cell lines. But thereafter it became clear that the two leading vaccines here in the States, those from Moderna and Pfizer — the vaccines currently being shipped — though they do not contain these fetal cell lines, they have indeed relied on the code discovered from two aborted fetuses.

In the case of Moderna, this claim has since been called into question. But in either case, it was later reported that both Moderna and Pfizer used the HEK-293 cell line in the testing phase of their vaccines’ effectiveness. So while there appears to be less of an ethical dilemma concerning the composition of the Pfizer vaccine, and possibly the Moderna vaccine, both raise yet another ethical dilemma for some pro-life people over the use of fetal cell lines in the testing phase.

As we record, ethically derived and ethically tested coronavirus vaccines (without the use of mRNA) are in process, but they are much slower in development and will likely be more expensive, rarer, and more difficult to get. That’s the prediction at least. So should committed pro-lifers get the fast, available, free vaccines? Or should they wait? Pastor John was asked: how do you think through these ethical dilemmas? His following observations are pertinent.

We should never do evil that good may come. First observation: in Romans 3:8, some of Paul’s adversaries accused him of “do[ing] evil that good may come.” Paul responded to this, that it was a slanderous charge. In other words, he distanced himself from that kind of ethical stance. And I think we should too. We shouldn’t do evil that good may come. God alone has the infinite wisdom to manage an entire world of sin in which he can turn horrible things for wise and good purposes. He never tells us that we have such wisdom; we don’t. We are to live our lives guided by the principles he reveals in his word, not by our calculations about how much evil we can conjoin for some greater good. So, if we really believe that the killing of unborn children is abhorrent to God and falls into the category of the shedding of innocent blood, for which God’s judgment fell, we should not think of turning this wickedness into a wonder drug to save our lives. We should not do evil that good may come.

We value Christ and his kingdom more than security or health. Second, God frequently, in the Bible, calls us to do things and avoid things that are very costly to us personally, in order to demonstrate that Christ and his ways are more precious to us than safety or security or comfort, and that we sacrifice in order to do what’s right. When we are told not to return evil for evil (Matthew 5:38–39), or that we should love our enemies (Matthew 5:43–44), or turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39), or go the extra mile (Matthew 5:41), or do good to those who hate us (Luke 6:27), all of those kinds of commands are designed to show that we are not in bondage to this world, and that the deepest contentment of our lives does not flow from needing to avoid risk or show vengeance. By denying ourselves comfort or satisfaction or safety for the sake of testifying to Christ’s value to us, and testifying to the sanctity of another person’s life, or testifying to our hope for another person’s well-being, or testifying to our confidence in God’s reward beyond the grave, when we deny ourselves in that way, we aim to exalt Christ and his ways over mere self-preservation. So, if a scientist avoids using tissue and organs harvested from babies killed in abortion, or if an ordinary citizen avoids using a medication that they know has been developed specifically through such harvesting and research, the aim is that the Christian conscience is preserved and Christ is made much of as more valuable than any security or safety or health we might get through sin.

We testify to the sanctity of life. Third, avoiding such research and avoiding the use of the products of such research is only one way of testifying to the truth and value of Christ in the sanctity of the unborn persons. But another way that should be added is the proactive engagement in whatever way we can to speak and act against the taking of innocent human life in the womb and the use of those children for research and experimentation.

So, I’m saying renunciation (that is, the avoidance part of our ethics), which is being asked about — Do we avoid the medication? — the renunciation of the use of such drugs has value. Yes, it does. And supplementing that value should also be the proactive engagement of resisting and discouraging abortion and the use of aborted babies in research.

God blesses principled action in his name. And the final observation, the fourth one that I would make, is the one that’s most difficult to articulate, but may be the most important. The observation is that acting on principle — in this case, the principle that we do not want to be complicit in the desecration of dismembered human beings — acting on principle often does not look like the most obvious way to be a blessing to the greatest number people.

For example, if you try to act on the principle of not participating in the desecration of these children by avoiding medicines developed from their dead bodies, someone will say, “But look, look at all the good that is coming through the medication.” And they will say that they can’t see the good that may be coming from your principled action. So, what I’m saying here is this: God has ways of honoring and blessing and multiplying the effectiveness of principled action in his name, which, to the human calculation, may appear futile.

This is certainly the case with many martyrdoms in history, for example, or other kinds of sacrificial principled actions, which didn’t look like they were going to have any payoff at all for the suffering person or their family, or for the cause of Christ — just a dead-end street at the stake of suffering. The sufferers simply acted because their consciences wouldn’t let them do otherwise, while the world sees that as futile and foolish. “Just save yourself and your family and others and stop denying yourself the privilege of life or health or prosperity.”

And my point again is this: God is God. He honors integrity and principled action that is rooted in his truth and his beauty and his worth, even where the world cannot see the point. We have no idea what explosive effects, in the depths of God’s providence and purposes, our principled action might unleash by God’s grace.

So, I’m saying, let’s not act as researchers or as ordinary consumers in a way that desecrates the bodies of unborn victims and treats those children as though they can be killed and their tissue harvested for our benefit.

Media, politics, and the propagandist echoing complaints of the world.

Enter summer of 2021: The mainline media has been publishing many articles that blame conscientious Christians for the lack of success of the vaccines and new increasing cases of Covid 19. Their bully pulpit echoes the media-driven vilification lassos all of humanity who resist. This includes resisting due to the experimental nature of the vaccine, others who rely on the immune system or alternate protocols, those who will not partake of any drug-related mRNA code from aborted fetuses, and those who have a high risk of cardiovascular harm.

Unfortunately, this divisive propaganda-empowered voice is promulgating an Orwellian message worldwide — a narrative now shared by many vaccinated Christians who use dark sarcasm about their own Christian congregants via Social Media. They metaphorically relegate others to the whipping post for an alternate view depicting vaccine hesitancy — including politically conservative views. Only after this clear defiance of respect for the freedom of conscience within the enlarging gate of Christiandom, does it now seem that the wide-gate church is going neo-dystopian, following the world. This reminds me of Nazi Germany’s rising then voted by the masses into totalitarianism.

The Dim Hypothesis is that this vaccine has also become the current modus operandi for the sifting of the church. Oh Church, we must put on the eye salve of the Spirit that we may see the truth of this onerous agenda, and get out of Babylon by crying unto the Lord for freedom from having any part with this world’s tyranny. I trust that the Sovereign Lord will guide and lead us by revelations along the Allegiant  Way.

Let’s look at the mRNA Factual Dangers:

• Robert Malone invented the mRNA and DNA vaccine core platform technology. He has grave concerns about the lack of transparency of side effects, censoring of discussion and the lack of informed consent that these bring.
• Free SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is biologically active — contrary to initial assumptions —and causes severe problems. It is responsible for the most severe effects seen in COVID-19, such as bleeding disorders, blood clots throughout the body and heart problems. These are the same problems we now see in a staggering number of people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine.
• The spike protein also has reproductive toxicity, and Pfizer’s biodistribution data show it accumulates in women’s ovaries. Data suggests the miscarriage rate among women who get the COVID vaccine within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy is 82%
• Israeli data show boys and men between the ages of 16 and 24 who have been vaccinated have 25 times the rate of myocarditis (heart inflammation) than normal.
• The COVID-19 injections have emergency use authorization only, which can only be granted if there are no safe and effective remedies available. Such remedies do exist but have been actively censored and suppressed.

To counter politicized groupthink of the media and the ensuing public echo, dedicate some serious time to listen to How to save the world, in three easy steps, or take a shorter 15 minutes to listen to the wisdom of  Dr Malone. mRNA inventor, as he discusses the bioethics of the mRNA vaccines with a PhD Bret Weinstein, and an entrepreneur, Steve  Kirsh about the flawed vaccines.

Proof of mRNA from aborted fetuses

One of the erroneous arguments that pop up in the news is that the abortions occurred due to a medical necessity; a potentially deformed or a child with a health anomaly; or a risk to the mother in childbirth. This is based on a misapplied term, “Elective Abortion” – a personal moral judgment masquerading as medical terminology. This use in the media is clarified by The Journal of Ethics, American Medical Association. Excerpts describe this ethical confusion when speaking or writing about mRNA used in the Covid vaccines.

• Every abortion is elective. No pregnant woman with health problems is required to terminate her pregnancy—she can choose to deliver a baby with a disability or a terminal condition, risk her own health to deliver a baby, or decide the risks outweigh the benefits and choose abortion. But like women considering non-medical risks and benefits of pregnancy and parenthood, every woman analyzing medical indications for abortion also has a choice.
• Alternatively, perhaps no abortion is elective. Pregnancy is a radical bodily change, and the risk of death from childbirth is 14 times higher than from abortion. Deciding whether to bring a new child into the world is a serious moral commitment and doing so can cause some women economic or interpersonal harm that could result in deeper or more sustained suffering than many medical conditions. Several physicians who perform abortions have told me that many of their patients do not perceive themselves as having any choice at all—dire social circumstances lead them to see abortion as their only option.
• The term elective abortion or voluntary abortion presents a perceptive dichotomy — confusedly describes the truthful interruption of pregnancy before viability is at the request of the woman, but not for medical reasons.
• Most abortions done today are elective, and thus, it is one of the most frequently performed medical procedures. Thus, using the term correctly an elective abortion is the interruption of a pregnancy before the 20th week of gestation at the woman’s request for reasons other than maternal health or fetal disease. Most abortions in the United States are performed for this reason.

Christian leadership advocating mRNA Vaccination

The USA and Canadian media such as the New York Times, CNN, and Vox, CBC, and Globe and Mail vilify those that oppose the vaccination. They focus on the American Republicans, the conscientious unvaccinated – both Christians, as well as properly informed individuals who will not go ahead and be subservient to the government.

In an Orwellian way, they have radically blacklisted 12 key activists as if criminals, for the waning number of people getting vaccinated. The latest is Vaccine Passports are coming to Quebec, supported by Trudeau to encourage the hesitant to get the vaccine now.

Social media giants like Facebook, Google, and Twitter continue to censor freedom of speech advising this view — that the whole truth is not being told, but rather hidden. Many clinical doctors are censored for use of alternative treatments such as Ivermectin, Hydroxychloriquine, and others.

Aborted Fetuses for Gene Modification Continues. The world has put a certain amount of trust in Dr Fauci who has had a great influence on the world’s politicians and lock-step viewpoint on mRNA. As noted in Nature, he is further funding the use of mRNA from aborted babies for ongoing experiments to humanize mice. ³

The inventor of mRNA defines Four Flawed Assumptions. Dr Malone, who is not anti-vax — but is rather vaccinated — created the mRNA technology, states that there are four problems that world politicians are unaware of, while the Biden Administration in the USA and Trudeau in Canada push the vaccine program overlooking grave concerns. Malone points out four flawed assumptions that raise ethical questions in his blog. ⁴

1. The first is that universal vaccination can eradicate the virus and secure economic recovery by achieving herd immunity throughout the country (and the world).  However, the virus is now so deeply embedded in the world population that, unlike polio and smallpox, eradication is unachievable. SARS-CoV-2 and its myriad mutations will likely continually circulate, much like the common cold and influenza.
2. The second assumption is that the vaccines are (near) perfectly effective. However, our currently available vaccines are quite “leaky.” While good at preventing severe disease and death, they only reduce, not eliminate, the risk of infection, replication, and transmission. As a slide deck from the Centers for Disease Control has revealed, even 100% acceptance of the current leaky vaccines combined with strict mask compliance will not stop the highly contagious Delta variant from spreading.
3. The third assumption is that the vaccines are safe.  Yet scientists, physicians, and public health officials now recognize risks that are rare but by no means trivial.  Known side effects include serious cardiac and thrombotic conditions, menstrual cycle disruptions, Bell’s Palsy, Guillain Barre syndrome, and anaphylaxis.
4. Fourth, unknown side effects which virologists fear may emerge include existential reproductive risks, additional autoimmune conditions, and various forms of disease enhancement, i.e., the vaccines can make people more vulnerable to reinfection by SARS-CoV-2 or reactivation of latent viral infections and associated diseases such as shingles.  With good reason, the FDA has yet to approve the vaccines now administered under Emergency Use Authorization.

1 John Piper: Can I Take The Vaccine Made from Aborted Babies?

2 John Piper, Desiring God, republished in Grace Proclaimed blog

3 Nature: Humanizing Mice

4 Dr Malone’s blog

Jesus has two intimate calls to each of us: ‘Come to me.’—Matt. 11:28, and ‘Abide in me.’—John 15:4 

Perhaps you have heard and listened to the call of the Lord Jesus: ‘Come to me‘.  Just as important, is the ongoing invitation to stay close to the same loving Saviour and hear his admonition: ‘Abide in me.’ 

Many have never repented for not having come at the abiding call for a close union. You experienced that His Word offers the truth; all His promises He fulfils; He made you partakers of the blessings and the joy of His love. Was not His welcome to you most endearing, His pardon full, generously accessible, His love most sweet and precious?

Why do blessings we enjoy, the love and joy of your first meeting with your Saviour fade instead of deepening? Why do we become faint and feeble? 

What is the cause of our spiritual weakness?

At your first coming to Him, you had no reason to complain of disappointment: yet as time went on, somehow perhaps your expectations were not realized.  Often, you may wonder what the cause could be, that with such a Saviour, so mighty and so loving, your experience of salvation is still at a loss for a fuller true communing relationship. The answer is straightforward. You may have wandered from Him, or you may have rebelled.

The blessings He bestows are connected with His ‘Come to me’ and are only to be enjoyed in close fellowship with Himself. You may not yet fully understand, or did not rightly remember, that the call meant, ‘Come to me to stay with me.’ This union in a close relationship — was His object and purpose when He first called you to Himself. It was not to refresh you simply for a few days or months after your conversion, but with a continuum of the joy of His love and deliverance. He had destined you for something better than a short-lived blessedness — not an experience only to be enjoyed during one day in seven, or in times of particular need and prayer. We wander unbeknown in times due to stress, overwork, cultural influences, distractions, or of late: pandemic health fears.

We zig-zag emotionally at times, from desiring God to the pressing administrations of life’s business. Thus our joy diminishes or fully passes away. The anxieties and pressures of life can diminish our zeal.

Remember that Jesus has prepared for you a daily abiding indwelling of His Spirit. You can enjoy unbroken communion with His Spirit. It is this close fellowship He desired when he drew you tenderly: Come to me. Never forget that He added the conjoined call of loving Grace: Abide in me. — walking daily in close union, while allowing Christ’s Spirit to lead you. He will empower and direct you to live a vibrant, thriving life. As a result of this, the treasures of His presence will bring blessed rewards.

It was not that He said: Come to me and abide with me, but, Abide in me. Communion was not only to be unbroken but most intimate and complete. He opened His arms freely accept you, to press you to His bosom; He opened His heart, to welcome you there; He opened up all His Divine fulness of life and love, and offered to take you up into its fellowship, to make you wholly one with Himself. 

There is a depth of meaning to realize in His words: Abide in me.  He still pleads with a great lesson: Abide in me – without me, you can do nothing! By every motive that had induced you to come, did He not implore you and me to abide?

Was it the fear of sin’s curse that first drew you? The pardon you received by first coming can only be confirmed and thoroughly enjoyed while abiding in Him with all the blessings flowing from Him. Was it the longing to know and appreciate the Infinite Love that was calling you? Was it the weary longing to be made free from the bondage of sin, to become pure and holy, and thereby find rest, the rest of God for the soul? This entire calming union can only be realized as you abide in Him—only whilst walking in the Light with Jesus.

To enter into this promised inherited union in Christ is a foretaste of our promised glory. The presence of the Infinite One is granted only to those who abide in Him. This call is for you as it is for me: Abide in Him. You did well to come; you do much better to abide — share with Him in all the glory of His royal life and priesthood.

Some may have heard the words: Abide in me, yet did not know that such a life of abiding fellowship is possible and within reach. 

Others, though they believed that such a life was possible and sought after it, have never yet succeeded in discovering the secret of its attainment. And others, alas! will confess that it is their unfaithfulness that has kept them from the enjoyment of the blessing. When our Saviour would have kept them, they were not ready to stay; they were not prepared to give up everything and always, only, wholly to abide in Jesus.

What can you do now to abide in Christ?

To all such, now: in the name of Jesus, your Redeemer and mine, the blessed warning remains: Abide in me, lest you can do nothing. With its various aspects, the possibility, during wearying work and continual distraction, of keeping up with the world, instead of being kept in Christ’s abiding communion.

You and I cannot undertake to remove all anxious obstacles; this Jesus Christ Himself alone must do by His Holy Spirit via abiding close union with His Spirit to lead and guide you. Each man or woman must acknowledge the need, realizing that there can be no true allegiance to our Lord without simply and heartily accepting this as one of His commands.

Meditate on this word of His calling us into abiding union, with an eye fixed on Him alone. Let us set ourselves in quiet trust before Him, waiting to hear His holy voice,—breathing its quickening Spirit within us, as He speaks: ‘Abide in me.’ The soul that truly hears Jesus Himself speak the Word receives with the Word the power to accept and to hold the blessing He offers.

And it may please You, blessed Saviour, indeed, to speak to us; let each of us hear Your heavenly voice. May the feeling of our deep need, and faith in Your wondrous love, combined with the sight of the wonderfully blessed life You are waiting to bestow upon us, constrain us to listen and to obey, as often as You speak into our heart: ‘Abide in me.’ Let day by day the answer from our heart be more apparent and fuller: ‘Blessed Saviour, I do abide in Thee.’

This may also interest: What we have if we abide in Christ.

^{This study is a modern edit and expansion by Glen Jackman of Andrew Murray’s  Abide in Christ: Thoughts on the Blessed Life of Fellowship with the Son of God (pp. 13–20). (1895, now in the public domain)}