What the Pandemic has revealed about the CGI

Vance Stinson, the chief executive officer of the Church of God International, recently authorized Pastor Jeff Reed to post two articles related to Covid-19 which have stirred up a hornet’s nest of opposition within that Church. In response to my original post on this topic (Church of God International's Civil War Over Covid-19), Mr. Stinson made clear that he had authorized the publishing of Reed’s original post on Covid-19. He also went on to admit that he wasn’t prepared for the very negative and visceral reaction which the post had provoked from some of the membership of the church.

Likewise, in response to my most recent post on the subject (Church of God International Internal War Over Covid Continues), Mr. Reed made clear that he had not sought the controversy within the church which his remarks had engendered. After objecting to characterizing the uproar as a civil war, he went on to admit: “The church of God culture has some who from previous affiliations are very anti-medicine. And they get their bad information from conspiracy sources such as Natural News or Infowars. This is also true of a growing number of evangelicals.”

To be clear, I believe that Mr. Stinson and Mr. Reed were motivated by a desire to help and protect their flocks from bad information relative to the pandemic – I do not believe that either one of them sought or welcomed the controversy which followed the publication of Mr. Reed’s posts. Nevertheless, it is now painfully clear that their efforts in this regard have not been appreciated by an angry and strident group of their followers. In short, the publication of Pastor Reed’s posts has revealed deep division within CGI regarding public health measures (like vaccines and masking) and the theology which surrounds their application to Christians.

In my last post on this topic, I underscored some of the overheated commentary which Reed’s latest post (Delta Isolation) had provoked on Facebook. Since I wrote that post, eighty folks have “liked” Jeff’s post, and the comments (most of them negative) have grown to ninety-three! Moreover, the outlandish nature of some of those comments has prompted Facebook to post the following warnings on CGI’s homepage: “This Page Posts About Vaccines - When it comes to health, everyone wants reliable, up-to-date information. Visit the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The website has information that can help answer questions you may have about vaccines” and attached to Jeff’s post, “Visit the Covid-19 Information Center for vaccine resources.” In fact, some of the comments were so outrageous that they prompted Pastor Wesley White of the Ronald L. Dart Evangelistic Association to post: “These comments are…. Wow…. Just wow! Jeff, I am so sorry you have to endure this type of commentary! Wow!”

This comment by Pastor White provoked a tirade by another commentator. She posted: “Wesley White I can't believe you are foolish enough to promote the poison. You haven't done your research.” And, when that didn’t evoke a response, she wrote: “Wesley White you agree with this? They are using this flu to take this country down.” This provoked a question from Pastor White: “Exactly who is trying to take this country down? And why?” She continued: “Wesley White where have you been? These are the last days. If I have to answer this, apparently you know nothing of prophecy and I will leave you in your dream world. You are one of their ministers.” And, when Mr. White failed to respond, the gentle lady declared in frustration “I will block you.”

Unfortunately, the anger wasn’t confined to the Facebook commentary on Pastor Reed’s post. On CGI’s website, the post also provoked some wild commentary. “Concerned Citizen” wrote: “Getting vaccinated is not ‘a blessing.’ It proves how gullible you are. This church is failing because of ministers like you propagating the mainstream narrative. This shot is no vaccine. It is an experimental concoction. Calling it a vaccine is lying. The Ten Commandments expressly prohibits lying. Continue, if you think you are right, but you will answer for it to God himself.” In a similar vein, “Tribulation” observed: “I hope the church informs us if/when your immune system begins to attack itself and hopefully you don't die because you, yes YOU, took the mark of the beast. I suggest you repent and ask Father's forgiveness, if it's not too late for you.”

To be clear, vaccines are preparations that stimulate our body's immune response to protect us from serious illness or death. And, since a blessing is defined as something which is beneficial or conducive to our well-being, it is reasonable to think of vaccines as a blessing. Moreover, mRNA vaccines have been shown to stimulate the body’s immune response. Hence, they are clearly entitled to the moniker of “vaccine.”

We have all experienced these negative attitudes about public health measures in our wider culture. It is disheartening that so many folks have failed to put the health and welfare of the vulnerable among us above their own selfish interests in defending their “rights.” It is also discouraging that so many “Christians” have equated faith with a rejection of modern public health measures and have failed to take note of what Christ told Satan about God’s protection (when Satan challenged him to throw himself off of the pinnacle of the temple). It is, however, alarming to see so many of the folks in an organization which is supposedly devoted to the truth falling for such nonsense. Let’s hope that the voices of folks like Vance Stinson and Jeff Reed prevail there!

Unfortunately, since I wrote this article and it first appeared on this blog yesterday, CGI made the decision to delete all of the comments related to Jeff’s article on their website; and that same article (along with its 93 comments) has disappeared from their Facebook page! Moreover, NO2HWA has observed that Mr. Reed’s comment about one of my posts which objected to my characterization of the divide within the church over this topic as a “civil war” has been deleted from Banned by HWA (NO2HWA saved the comment and posted it in a new piece here). Hence, it appears that both Mr. Stinson and Mr. Reed have chosen to hide or obscure the fact that Mr. Reed’s Covid articles have generated so much controversy within the church. One cannot, however, wave a magic wand and make the conflict disappear, and it is highly unlikely that these moves will serve to appease those within the church who were offended by Mr. Reed’s remarks.