Pastor Bill Watson of the Medina, Ohio Church of God International has posted a request from one of his Australian friends. Always willing to help out his Australian brethren, Bill posted the following on his church’s homepage and their Prayer Request page:
11-29-21
The following is a quote from a long-time Church of God member living in Australia. We have been asked to post it on their behalf.
"We would be thankful for prayers for my family and all of God’s people in Australia. Over these past two years the Australian government has been exerting more and more tyrannical power and control over every state and Territory but it has now reached a critical stage with deadlines in place to punish and discriminate against those who do not accept the Covid vaccine. My family and I reject the Covid-19 injection and PCR test in accordance with God’s Law. We also believe the injection is dangerous and poisonous.
Numerous mandates are already in place which includes tracking and tracing people’s movements with a mandatory check-in app for the purposes of testing and quarantining. December 17 is the deadline for all unvaccinated people to get the Covid-19 injection in Queensland, Australia. Anyone who is not vaccinated by that date will not be allowed to access numerous health services, hospitality venues, hotels, and community services without the vaccine. As a consequence of the vaccine mandates, many of God’s people across Australia have already lost their employment and will continue to lose their jobs.
Quarantine Covid camps have been built in different locations around Australia. The military has already begun removing people (including children) from their homes in the Northern Territory, detaining them in a camp and forcibly injecting them with the Covid-19 injection against their will. Those who still remain in the community in the Northern Territory have had essential services such as food, electricity and internet withheld as a means of coercing and pressuring them into getting the vaccine.
There is a concern that the government is also expected to pass a pandemic bill this coming week in Victoria, Australia. It will allow the government to have extraordinary draconian powers against people based on their religion, gender and political beliefs. If passed, it will allow indefinite lockdowns. It would give the police the power to arrest people based on their religion, and detain people indefinitely as well as imprison people without a trial. It is a shocking piece of legislation overruling the most basic human rights.
We ask for prayers that the Australian brethren will be protected and be able to remain safely in our homes without the threat of being removed and detained in a quarantine facility. While we can still access essential services such as food for the time being, we are concerned that in the very near future, we will not be permitted to enter any store to buy essentials without the vaccine. The Health department has warned that the unvaccinated will live very lonely and miserable lives and have nowhere to hide. Please pray that we will be able to move freely in the community unnoticed by the authorities and be able to access all of the basics. We ask that God gives us the strength to endure these very troubling times and trials.
These are dangerous times for all of God’s people worldwide. What is unfolding in Australia is setting an unconscionable precedent for the rest of the world to follow."
**The post has NOT been corrected and appears here as it does on Medina’s homepage: cgimedina.org
How can the Australian government treat those poor Church of God brethren that way? It is heartbreaking to hear of this Covid-19 persecution against God’s people! Please be praying for these folks that the government will get off of their backs and allow them to contract this virus in peace and witness God’s amazing healing powers!
For anyone who might be inclined to take this nonsense seriously, a friend supplied the following links:
The following comment was sent to my private email account:
ReplyDeleteI read this CGI post and I agree with the concerns of the writer. Australian authorities seemed to be dangerously overreacting to the COVID pandemic there.
In America, the Bill of Rights is enshrined in the American Constitution, and still provides a buffer against extreme political-social overreach which would subvert or even "cancel" basic freedoms that Americans enjoy - at least up to the present time.
I am with UCG and I have chosen to get the COVID vaccine. So far, I am not aware of any adverse effects. As I understand it, UCG does not have an official stance on advising for or against getting the vaccine. It is a decision that is left to each individual to decide.
What is encouraged and taught by UCG is that members should show respect and love toward others regardless of what one's decision is. Some Church of God members with UCG choose to get the vaccine; and some do not, for their own personal reasons.
Although I chose to get the vaccine, I don't believe that government should be trying to force people to get the COVID vaccine. It is a dangerous "mindset" for government to adopt the paradigm that "the end justifies the means" - and then invoke punitive measures to intimidate people - because the government believes that the vaccine helps protect people from COVID. This same mindset can easily become a slippery slope that eventually rationalizes persecution of others based on religious, social, political and other circumstances that "others" in power may not agree with.
I believe that the best approach is to show respect for people without regard to their personal decision on taking, or not taking, the COVID vaccine. I believe it should be a personal decision - not one coerced by government.
Lastly, I'm disappointed by your closing paragraph in your message. You say:
"How can the Australian government treat those poor Church of God brethren that way? It is heartbreaking to hear of this Covid-19 persecution against God’s people! Please be praying for these folks that the government will get off of their backs and allow them to contract this virus in peace and witness God’s amazing healing powers!"
Perhaps I'm misreading you, but I detect a bit of mockery in your above words. These CGI folks seem to be quite sincere - even when faced with possible persecution by government authorities. They should be respected - not mocked.
In responding to this comment, I want to say that the person who wrote it is a very kind, sincere person and a good friend. In fairness to him, I would also like to acknowledge that he read a version of the post which did NOT include the links debunking two of the points made about the Australian government in the original prayer request (I would encourage him to check out those links).
DeleteAs for the freedoms enshrined in the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights, the commentator fails to explain how a vaccine mandate would infringe on any of the rights enumerated there. Indeed, I've noticed that most of the folks who talk about their "rights" being violated fail to elucidate how requirements relative to masks, social distancing and vaccines violate their rights - Most of them appear to believe that this should be self-evident to everyone, and it appears to arise from a belief that ANY restrictions on their personal freedoms violates their rights.
Of course, there are a bundle of contradictions and illogical thinking wrapped up in such a notion. Indeed, most of the folks who make this claim have no problem with government regulation of driving, building capacity requirements, drinking water quality standards, industrial effluent standards, restaurant cleanliness, etc., etc. (all of which infringe on someone's "right" to do something. Likewise, we find that many of the people who espouse this notion about personal freedom relative to choosing to wear a mask or being vaccinated are often among the most vocal proponents of taking away a woman's "right" to choose an abortion.
Moreover, the long history of vaccine mandates within the United States is also never referenced by most of the folks who talk about their personal rights being violated. Indeed, stretching from Washington's insistence on inoculating his troops against smallpox (also a new and controversial treatment in those days) to more modern mandates relative to polio, tetanus, cholera, diphtheria, influenza, mumps, measles, rubella, etc., etc. And, just for the record, the U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized the "right" (responsibility) of federal, state and local authorities to protect the health, safety and property of its citizens. Indeed, that court ruled long ago that vaccine mandates WERE/ARE constitutional and that government requirements for vaccination constituted a reasonable infringement on an individual's right to refuse. In other words, your rights end when they start to infringe upon the free exercise of everyone else's rights.
Hence, while I share the commentator's attachment to personal rights and respecting their decisions, it is clear to me that a choice which may result in the death of someone else can and should be curtailed (isn't this the exact reasoning which some of these folks employ relative to abortion?). In other words, deciding to not wear a mask or receive a vaccine could have a significant impact on the health and welfare of others. And shouldn't Christians be exhibiting outgoing care and concern for their brethren?
Finally, yes, he detected a whole lot of mockery in my final paragraph! A Christian is supposed to be respectful of and obedient to the civil authorities where they reside. Moreover, like Satan's temptation of Christ on the pinnacle of the temple, these folks are tempting God by refusing sensible public health measures and claiming to have faith in "His" protection and healing! In other words, you can't jump and expect him to keep you from dashing your foot against a stone! A personal decision which should be respected? I DON'T think so!
These folks get their information from unreliable resources. We know that Putin's disinformation factories got right to work in dividing Americans when the pandemic first started, and it's working. Imagine if Putin's disinformation factories had been at work dividing us against polio vaccines. I, too, have come to the point where my attitude is that if they want to get the virus and die, so be it. But they don't seem to care about transmitting the virus to those who are immunocompromised or who have underlying conditions. And they don't care about children getting the virus, it seems. This virus, like any virus, only needs to be transmitted over and over for more and more mutations to occur. And I guarantee you, it will get deadlier.
ReplyDeleteThe following comment was sent to my private email account:
ReplyDeleteWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
According to the DOI, the very first unalienable right is that of life. And governments are instituted to secure that right. To keep the people safe.
Therefore governments are expected to provide the governed with safety and life-preserving protection for their lives, whether that protection be military or medical.
I am posting here part of a Facebook conversation thread that was forwarded to me by a friend (spelling and grammar have not been corrected). It is the reaction of folks to news that a Covid vaccination clinic was being set up for children:
ReplyDeletePriscilla: Lure them with games, candy and fun!
Terissa: This is not like vaccines we got in the past. Some just have no clue what they are doing to their bodies by putting this in them. Do some deep research people. It won't keep you from getting COVID either in case you think so, tell that to the 16 people I know that had the shots and just in October got COVID. And than their is 3 people I know that has Died from getting the shot. Please research what's going on first.
Mike: Gonna sterilize your children people!!!! The liberal socialist communist bastards!!!!! Don't trust anything they are doing they already ruing our economy we in a depression and it's only doing to get worse. God help us
This is the mindset our government is up against in trying to get our population vaccinated!