COVID-19 Vaccination

The COVID-19 vaccine was released in December 2020 and I haven't said anything about it on the blog, podcast, or social media. I firmly believe every man should be decided in their own mind of their actions (Romans 14:5). I've had private conversations with people, but this is a topic and a conversation that should not be on social media. It's an involved conversation, so be prepared for a long post (I'll use headings so you can take breaks if you need to). I understand we live in a society that likes to make "informed" opinion based on the headline—even in academia we are prone to read the introduction and conclusion, without care to the interior. We are a lazy society, but I ask that if you're going to voice an opinion about what I write, please read the entire post.

Why Social Media is a Problem

I remember when Twitter launched. MySpace had been superceded by Facebook, which had recently gotten rid of "is" in the status update. Up until this time, most statements people made were about frivilous things. I recently saw a memory where my Facebook status was "Shiree is yaaaaayyy!" My memory of what was shared on Facebook during that time is mostly events happening on campus, plus pictures of said events, and the occasional YouTube viral video (e.g., Charlie Bit Me and Charlie the Unicorn Goes to Candy Mountain). When Twitter arrived with the 140-character max tweet, people started sharing witty oneliners. Since then Twitter has become a place for people to share their thoughts and opinions in a short and concise manner. This trend bled into Facebook. With the rise of Instagram, it evolved to memes and infographics. The one thing that didn't change is the concise-ness of how these ideas and opinions are shared.

Can you image if your entire Chemistry class was taught in memes or 140-character lectures? What about a math class? As much as I think I would enjoy this in a American History or British Lit, I can see how much of the context and material could get lost here as well.

Certain topics need larger conversations. Unfortunately, most of the heavy hitters on social media deteriorate into the comments section, which never fails to prove just how out of touch people can be. Combine these short slogans and memes with social media algorithms, and many people are in a bubble that may be completely deviod of reality. These bubbles provide no context for what is happening. The first time I realized this was during the first Starbuck Christmas cup controversy. Everyone on my Facebook timeline was in a frenzy about it—not about the cup itself, but about the people who were upset about the cup. I have 1000+ Facebook friends and not one of them was publically expressing outrage against the Starbucks cup. Yet everyone was talking about it as though every other person they encountered was invested in the issue. I found it odd, because I don't generally block or unfriend people over opinion differences, so I imagine my friend group has a diverse array of opinions. This assumption has been proven by the split in opinions of the vaccine in my timeline. So, how did everyone get so worked up about such a trivial thing?

Social media algorithms control what you see and feed you the information you want to hear. Social media is the perfect place for confirmation bias—favoring evidence that supports your theory, and/or reframing evidence to support your theory[1]—to thrive. Especially with the ability to have dissenting opinions filtered from your view. The Netflix documentary The Great Hack shows how this was manipulated to influence elections in multiple countries, including the United States of America.

And this is were many people are getting their information about COVID-19 and the vaccine...

Why the Government and Big Pharma are a Problem

Before COVID-19 took the world by storm, U.S. citizens were dying from diabetes and other diseases directly linked to the Standard American Diet (SAD) and part of the political war between Democrats and Republicans was the question of what to do about health care. People were arguing about the cost of insulin and birth control, and elderly people were struggling to pay for their perscriptions.[2] Now, there's a free COVID-19 vaccine for anyone who wants it, but a large percentage of people aren't taking it. Why?

Confusion

The image of a tweet pictured above, is circulating on Facebook; I've seen it shared by a number of my friends. I've transcribed the text below:

Part of the reason the pandemic is so bad in the US is because people who are never involved with scientic method are seeing Science unfold in real-time. Errors, evidence, & changing methodology happen 100%, but in public eye, seen as "they have no idea what they're talking about."

Transperency on this scale backfires bc in nearly all other circumstances, science is opaque & mostly provided to public eye through 2nd-3rd sources. People only see the end result, not a process, so anything less than perfect is automatically labeled "deceptive" and "backtracking." @SidewalkSciGuy

For the most part I agree with this person, and this sentiment highlights a lot of the confusion surrounding COVID-19. The fact is, in the beginning, scientist don't know, they hypothesize.

From the beginning, we saw conflicting reports about COVID-19 from the authorities, ranging from "we're all going to die" to "it doesn't exist." The symptoms seemingly changed every week as scientists tried to correlate data. There were outliers, like the man who went to the hospital for kidney failure and ended up diagnosed with COVID-19.[3] There were also the people who were asymptomatic. In the end, we ended up with a list of symptoms to add to a chart trying to help us determine if we have allergies, a cold, or the flu—and now COVID-19.

During the election campaign, Donald Trump was insistent that a vaccine was coming out soon, while other candidates pushed back saying it would take longer. Shockingly, Trump was right and the vaccine was out just after the election. Democrats had been positioning themselves to know more, and be more honest/realistic about the virus than the Trump Administration, but this proved there was information Trump had that they didn't.

From the release of the vaccine, the manufacturers have been admitting that they aren't sure about a lot of things. While they now claim high efficacy rates, there was a concern about whether anitbodies would actually provide immunity, and if they did, for how long. From the jump, the vaccine makers spoke of possibly needing booster shots. Yet it is consistently referred to as a vaccine, which has a connotation of being a lasting immunization, and compared to one and done vaccines. Though the internet now refers to the flu shot as a vaccine, prior to now, I had never heard anyone say "I'm going to get my flu vaccine"—it was always a "flu shot." Instead of highlighting the temporary-ness of the shot, it was presented as a way to return to "normal."

As such, when the number of vaccinations began to rise, all of the previous policies about wearing masks and social distancing started to go out the window. People went back to concerts and dinner parties; people made plans for the 4th of July and gathered with large crowds... All just in time for the 6 month window scientists had predicted. Israel was one of the first countries to get a majority of their population vaccinated; they now have the highest number of cases per day in the world.[4] This suggests the decrease in efficacy is having an effect (or that it is less effective against the delta variant). Yet, the powers that be are still not in agreement about how to handle boosters. The U.S. wants to roll out booster shots for the "fully" vaccinated, but the World Health Organization says it's better to ship those shots to places having trouble getting the first and second doses.[5]

You can bet if the people in charge are confused, the general population is going to be confused too.

The Trust Issue

Many people think confusion and disinformation are the primary reasons for people not getting the vaccine, but in reality, the government and Big Pharma have a record of being untrustworthy. For the sake of time, lets focus on medical research funded by the government.

In 1932 the government started the Tuskegee Syphillis Experiment. Initially called the "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male," the experiement targeted black men. These men were lied to about the purpose of the study and there was no process for informed consent (a major requirement in the IRB process that regulates experiments). They were lured into the experiment with the promise of free medical care, meals, and burial insurance. Despite the fact that Penicillin was widely accepted as an effective treatemnt for syphillis by the early 1940s, participants in the government's study were not treated. These men were left untreated to advance to the late stages of syphillis which can cause permenant damage to the body. The experiment lasted another 30 years after the discovery of Pencillin treatments, only being shut down after a news article brought the experiment to light in the 1970s.[7]

In the 1940s, during World War II, the government decided to test a theory that minorities are more resistant to mustard gas than whites. Offering incentives, they convinced black, Puerto Rican, and Japanese soldiers to participate in a study where they were exposed to mustard gas (which can cause permenant damage, including skin cancer).[9][11] This experiment affected 60,000 men, and these men were never compensated for the damage caused to them despite VA promises to do so.[10] It was classified and kept secret until 1993.

In the 1950s the government had the MK-ULTRA project in which they were trying to discover the secret to mind control. Experimentation for this project included torturing people and lacing their drinks/food with LSD without consent or knowledge. There were even major research universities linked to the research. Not only did government officials target vulnurable populations such as prisoners and people held in detention camps, they carried out experiments in other countries and on their own people. In 1953, Frank Olson, a scientist in the biological warfare division of the CIA, was drugged with LSD during a retreat with his coworkers. A week later, he was dead.[6] The documents about this highly classified project were perged during the Watergate scandal, making it impossible to know the true scope of the project. A set of misplaced files on it was discovered in 1977 and in 1994 the US General Accounting Office released an official report confirming the experiements.[12]

There's more, but let's skip to more recent times shall we?

In 1989, the government sponsored research on the E-Z measles vaccine. Their subjects were 1,500 black and Hispanic babies from poverty stricken families in the Los Angeles area. Consent protocols were breached and babies were given an unlicensed vaccine without the parents' knowledge. The same vaccine is thought to have caused a high infant mortality rate in countries like Haiti.[17]

In the early 90s, the government funded a study targeting black and Hispanic boys aged 6-10 years old. During this study, the young boys were given Fenfluramine to test a theory about predicting violent behavior. Fenfluramine is now a banned substance; it was banned after discovering heart valve defects in some adults who regularly used the drug. Critics have argued that there was little to no scientific value in the study, and the boys were put at risk for no justifiable reason.[15]

Just last year, ICE was accused of forced sterilizations of detainees at the border.[16]

When the vaccine was rolled out, many people in high positions made statements about making sure minorities received the vaccine first; anyone aware of the US's history with medical research would be wary of this. #ItsNotJustTuskegee[18]

Half Truths and Propaganda

Once the vaccine was made available to everyone and leaders realized a large portion of the population were skeptical, efforts to combat (or enhance) skeptism were rolled out. Like masks, the shot was politicized with people making snap judgments about those choosing to or not to take the vaccine. With the aid of social media, it became easy for those in favor of the vaccine to spread the message that people who don't take it are selfish, believe in conspiracy theories, Trump supporters, etc. Similarly, for those against the vaccine, it became easy to build a narrative about freedom and actual misinformation. The truth is, both sides have been using proganda or biased truths.

An example of a biased truth I've seen is on the safety of the vaccine. Those trying to convince everyone to take the shot will say its safe and quote statistics on cases of reactions to the shot. Many will compare these statistics to the risks of common over the counter drugs such as Tylenol or Aleve. In contrast, those who are opposed to the vaccine will say it's not safe, some referencing time to production and others questioning how it affects reproductive health.

The unbiased truth is somewhere in between. While people have died and/or had adverse reactions from the shot, statistics do suggest that the likelihood of severe reactions is rare—like being in a plane crash or getting struck by lightening.[19] However, as much as the authorities would like to dismiss the time frame in which it was studied, there is no substitute for time.

Take the question of affect on fertility, for example. While there isn't evidence to suggest it does have an affect, there isn't evidence to prove it doesn't, either. To do so, they would have to perform at least two studies for women (there would need to be tests on men as well): a test on women of childbearing age who are not pregnant to see if they can become pregnant, and a test on women who are already pregnant to see how it affects the baby. At the least the former would take 9 months to complete, but getting pregnant isn't that simple, it could take the women a few months to conceive. The data from this group would need to be compared to that of the general population to see if the infertility rate is better, worse, or the same. For the latter research, they would need to follow the pregnancy to term as well. In each case they would need to verify healthy babies and the same rates as the general population for premature delivery. In addition, it would be wise to track the babies for awhile to see if any health problems appear within the first couple years of their life. No amount of technology can bypass that time.

Another example of needing time to predict long term safety is more specific to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Johnson & Johnson have already faced litigation for including talc in their powder, which was later found to cause cancer.[20] Recently, they pulled several sunscreens they produce from shelves because they also contain an ingredient that has been found to cause cancer.[21] Johnson & Johnson is also facing a lawsuit in which it is alleged that a hair care line they own causes hair loss.[22] Assumably, none of these issues showed up in initial tests. Likely, they result in multiuse over time. However, with the admission that booster shots are necessary for Moderna and Pfizer (no word on Johnson & Johnson, yet),[23] there is the possibility that continued use could have unexpected consequences.

Will it Change Your DNA?

The vaccines use a new technology that utilizes mRNA to trick the body into producing antibodies without actually giving you the virus.[13] From this stems the theory that the vaccine changes your DNA. Many who are pro-vaccine dismiss this as conspiracy and disinformation, looking at those who are wary of the vaccine for this reason as idiots. Yet, the Univeristy of Massachusetts Medical school website says the following:

Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, we believed that RNA’s primary role was to intermediate between DNA and protein, as we described above. Over the last three decades, those long-held beliefs have been shattered. We have witnessed amazing discoveries with regards to RNA biology, many of which have come from our own labs here at the RTI. In 1998, Andrew Fire and the RTI’s Craig Mello discovered RNA interference (RNAi), in which double-stranded RNA can find and turn off specific genes based on certain sequences (order of the 'words'). RNA Theraputics Institute[14]

While the scientists only claims to use mRNA (which is assumably different from RNAi) in the vaccine, it is possible to alter your genetic code and make changes to your body through the use of RNA.

Is it the Mark of the Beast?

Many are convinced the vaccine is the Mark of the Beast spoken of in Revelation. The main ideas contributing to this belief include the following:

• the push for it to be mandatory (the outlook that eventually you can't participate in society without it)
• the belief that the RNA technology used in the vaccine is altering DNA
• the inclusion of enzymes called luciferase (which sounds like "Lucifer race") in the vaccine

¹⁶And he causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, ¹⁷and he decrees that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. ¹⁸Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. Revelation 13:16-18 NASB

⁹Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” ¹²Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Revelation 14:9-12 NASB

There are a few Biblical issues with assigning the vaccine as the Mark of the Beast.

For starters, the mark is given in the hand or forehead—the vaccine is given in the arm. More importantly, the Mark of the Beast is about worship; it is a counterfeit of the Mark or Seal of God (Exodus 13:9,16; Deuteronomy 6:8; 11:18; Revelation 7:3). When the Bible speaks of taking a mark in the hands and the forehead, it is not speaking of a literal mark it's referring to the manifestation of who you worship.

Your hands represent your actions. What do you do? How do you treat people? How do you spend your time? What do you contribute to society? Your forehead represents your thoughts. Who has your allegience? What is your thought process? How do you perceive the world?

Remember, the Mark of the Beast (Revelation 14:9-12) and blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29) are the only things listed as unforgivable sins (I personally think they are one and the same). That means whatever the Mark of the Beast is, it's worst than murder and rape, and you can never be forgiven. If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you essentially reject the Spirit. You then reject the Holy Spirit's convictions and become unable to discern right from wrong, truth from lie. It's like being blind in the dark with no map to the light, you're just stumbling around trying to find a path (Job 5:14). There's no coming back from that.

Conversely, when you look at a singular act like taking the shot, you have to ask: how does this prohibt me from worshiping God? What is the difference between a person taking the COVID-19 shot versus someone taking the polio vaccine? Further you have to ask: what about the fact that it can be forced on you? I received the polio, mumps, and measles vaccines as a child—I don't even remember taking them. My parents made that decision. The age limit for the shot has been decreasing gradually, currently set at 12. A 12 year old is still subject to their parents' rules. If the age ever drops to where this is a shot for toddlers or elementary kids, you'll have people taking the shot who may not even be able to understand what's happening. Similarly, if I were restrained, someone could easily inject me with the shot without my permission. To say that this is the Mark of the Beast is to say that YHWH would allow someone to be eternally unforgiven for something they didn't choose!

So no, I don't believe the shot itself is the Mark of the Beast. However, if you only feel comfort and safety because of the vaccine, I would advise you to reflect on who your faith truly is in. If you took the shot because you're scared to die, I would advise you to reflect on why you're afraid to die—is it because you don't believe in the promises God has given you, or is it because your kids would be orphans? Basically, I think your decision to take the shot (or any decision you make) could be a symptom (action of the hand) of the Mark of the Beast, if your mind (forehead/thoughts) is not on God.

Footnotes and References

1. Confirmation Bias. Oxford Reference; visited August 21, 2021
2. Shawn Radcliffe. "The Price of Prescriptions Overwhelms Fixed-Income Seniors". Healthline. October 16, 2019
3. I can't find the article I originally read about this specific case, but if you do a quick Google search you will see that COVID-19 is presenting itself as kidney trouble or a heart attack for some people.
4. Daniel Estrin. "Highly Vaccinated Israel Is Seeing A Dramatic Surge In New COVID Cases. Here's Why". NPR. August 20, 2021
5. Michaeleen Doucleff. "Why A Push For Boosters Could Make The Pandemic Even Worse". NPR. August 18, 2021
6. Terry Gross. "The CIA's Secret Quest For Mind Control: Torture, LSD And A 'Poisoner In Chief'". NPR. September 9, 2019
7. "The Tuskegee Timeline". Centers for Disease Control & Prevention; visited August 21, 2021
8. Stephen Kinzer. "From mind control to murder? How a deadly fall revealed the CIA’s darkest secrets". The Guardian. September 6, 2019
9. "Why the U.S. military exposed minority soldiers to toxic mustard gas. PBS. June 22, 2015
10. Caitlin Dickerson. "The VA's Broken Promise To Thousands Of Vets Exposed To Mustard Gas". NPR. June 23, 2015
11. Caitlin Dickerson. "Secret World War II Chemical Experiments Tested Troops By Race". NPR. June 22, 2015
12. Kat Eschner. "What We Know About the CIA’s Midcentury Mind-Control Project. Smithsonian Magazine. April 13, 2017
13. "What are mRNA vaccines and how do they work?". US National Library of Medicine. July 20, 2021
14. "What is RNA?". UMass Medical School: RNA Theraputics Institute; visited August 2021
15. Philip J. Hilts. "Experiments On Children Are Reviewed. New York Times". April 15, 1998
16. "ICE, A Whistleblower And Forced Sterilization". NPR. September 22, 2020
17. Marlene Cimons. "U.S. Measles Experiment Failed To Disclose Risk". Wasington Post. June 17. 1996
18. Gillian Flaccus. "Role of race in US vaccine rollout gets put to the test". AP News. January 28, 2021
19. Selected Adverse Events Reported after COVID-19 Vaccination. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. August 17, 2021
20. Lisa Girion. "Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder". Reuters. December 14, 2018
21. "Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. Issues Voluntary Recall of Specific NEUTROGENA® and AVEENO® Aerosol Sunscreen Products Due to the Presence of Benzene". Food & Drug Admisitration. July 14, 2021
22. A. Pawlowski "Woman alleges Johnson & Johnson OGX shampoo can cause hair loss, sues company". Today. July 23, 2021
23. Cory Stieg. "Booster shots are coming in the fall — but what about people who got the J&J Covid vaccine?". CNBC. August 19, 2021
24. Vanessa Romo. "Johnson & Johnson Stops Selling Talc-Based Baby Powder In U.S. And Canada". NPR. May 19, 2020
25. Will Feuer. "Pfizer’s CEO hasn’t gotten his Covid vaccine yet, saying he doesn’t want to cut in line". CNBC. December 14, 2020

Greed, The Prosperity Gospel, & 666

How does greed tie in with 666 and the prosperity gospel? That's what we're talking about in this episode. Bible verses to reference: Matthew 6:24-34; Matthew 19:23-24; 1 Timothy 6:9-10.

PSALMS to God · Greed, the Prosperity Gospel, & 666

¹⁰The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile. ¹¹ When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes? ¹²The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep. Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 CSB

Testimony of how I got to this topic

• Independent study of the Word is important; give yourself time with God to allow Him to talk to you
• Going beyong the material given to you by the Church you attend will do wonders for your relationship with God
• I was looking for Revelation 17:15 and did a Google search for "Revelation sea people"
• I found this an article on Revelation and the sea[1] which had an interesting couple of paragraphs that inspired this episode

As for the beast himself: I have come to believe that the number of the beast, 666, is a reference to 1 Kings 10:14. In this passage 666 is the amount of gold that Solomon received annually. Any studied Jew would have recognized that Solomon was doing a number of things that God had said not to do (Deuteronomy 17:16-17). Therefore “666” would be a good metaphor for worldly wealth and for the love of same.

So back to Revelation; we find that the beast of greed for worldly wealth comes out of the people of the world. Then there arises a philosophy within God’s people that it is okay to lust after the greed of the world. This would be the second beast who is also a false prophet. He teaches salvation through wealth.

Jesus' death and resurrection dealt a mortal wound to greed -- or at least it should have been. The resurrection proves the relative worthlessness of seeking salvation from wealth. Nevertheless, greed survived and flourished among both the people of the world and among God’s people until God throws greed into the lake of fire. The International Teaching Ministry of Douglas Jacoby [1]

What are the two beasts?

• The beasts are talked about in Revelation 13: one beast comes out of the sea and the other comes out of the land
• The sea represents nations and people (Revelation 17:15) and the land represents God's people (Revelation 12:6)
• The beast of the land is a false prophet and deceives the people of God

The war between good and evil is about worship.

• Greek root of the word "anti" from "anti-Christ" means in place of or in opposition to[2]
• Satan's goal is to be worshipped as a god (Isaiah 14:13); he wants to take Christ's place
• A false worship system is what Satan has set up to distract people from the Most High God

666 & Solomon?

• Solomon received 666 pieces of gold (1 Kings 10:14)
• Solomon stored up tons of wealth and had many wives (Deuteronomy 17:16-17)
• Interestingly the story preceeding Solomon receiving this amount of gold is that of the visit from the Queen of Sheba when Solomon flaunts his wealth and wisdom.

⁹But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:9-10 CSB

The prosperity gospel[3]

• Most of the voices dominating "Christianity" are prosperity gospel pastors (e.g., Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar)
• A little lie in the midst of truth is what the devil uses to get people (Galatians 5:9)
• People quickly become obssessed with "sowing a seed" and "manifesting"; the message is that you should worship God for your own personal gain/benefit here in this life
• Greed has people losing sight of God's message
  1. Example 1: a fellow believer refused to rent because they think its giving away money and a waste of money, but their end goal is to buy a duplex and have someone rent it out to pay their mortgage. That's like selling crack even though you wouldn't take it or let your friends/family take it.
  2. Example 2: In high school my friends and I started competing to see who could make $300 on a paycheck; I worked 50 hours a week, worked 6 days a week, and skipped lunch (even though that was illegal). I was completely wiped out when I got home and on my day off. I didn't even get to enjoy the money I made.
• Warning signs that greed is overshadowing the Kingdom
  1. Not spending time with your family
  2. Not studied the Word, attending Bible study, etc.
  3. Not fellowshipping with your fellow believers
  4. Not spending time doing God's work (e.g., community service)
  5. Not recognizing the blessings you have (many of us are living better than most people in the world)
  6. Forgetting that this Earth is temporary

²³Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24 CSB

The mark of the beast is about mentality: what you think (forehead) and what you do (hand)

The Biblical end of the world and climate change are basically the same thing—mankind's greed (sin) is the root of our planet going haywire

• Earthquakes (Revelation 6:12—among others)
• Pestilence (Matthew 24:7)
• Famine (Revelation 18:8)

The Word says that there will be "birth pangs" (John 16:21; 1 Thessalonians 5:3) before the end and 2020 has definitely been giving us a taste these signs:

• Wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6-7)
  • Azerbaijan vs. Armenia[4]
  • US vs. Iran[5]
  • China vs. Hong Kong[6]
  • China vs. India[7]
  • China vs. Taiwan[8]
• Earthquakes[9]
• Hurricanes [10]
• Murder Hornets[11]
• West coast fires[12]
• Locusts[14]
• COVID-19

Financial literacy is important but be careful not to let money matters become an idol in your life.
There will be a time when you have to choose between material wealth and God—you cannot serve both God and money.

No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24 CSB

Now it the time to be focused on the Kingdom, not the world
Invest in your relationship with God
Invest in your relationship with your fellow man (family/friends)
Invest in your community

²⁵“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? ²⁷Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. ³⁰If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? ³¹So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. ³⁴Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34 CSB

References & Footnotes

1. Douglas Jacoby. "Q&A 1486 – Why is there no more sea in Revelation 21?". The International Teaching Ministry of Douglas Jacoby.
2. "Strong's G473. αντι". Blue Letter Bible; visited September 29, 2020
3. "Prosperity Theology". Wikipedia; visited September 27, 2020
4. Lucian Kim. "Fighting Between Armenia And Azerbaijan Threatens To Spiral Into Full-Blown War". NPR. September 28, 20202
5. "Iran crisis: US 'ready for serious negotiations' with Tehran". BBC. January 9, 20202
6. John Ruwitch. "As China Imposes New Hong Kong Law, U.S. And Allies Take Steps To Retaliate". NPR. July 2, 2020
7. Indrani Bagchi. "India shoots down China’s 1959 Line". Times of India. September 30, 2020
8. James Griffiths. "When it comes to international recognition, even when Taiwan wins, it loses". CNN. September 29, 2020
9. "USGS Magnitude 2.5+ Earthquakes, Past Day". United States Geological Survey; visited September 29, 2020
10. Chris Dolce. "All the Records the 2020 Hurricane Season has Broken So Far". The Weather Channel. September 22, 20202
11. Mike Baker. "‘Murder Hornets’ in the U.S.: The Rush to Stop the Asian Giant Hornet. The New York Times. May 2, 2020
12. "California and Oregon 2020 wildfires in maps, graphics and images". BBC. September 18, 2020
13. TruthUnedited. "Did You Know All This is Happening?". YouTube. September 18, 2020
14. David Njagi. "The Biblical locust plagues of 2020". BBC. August 6, 2020
15. Associated Press. "Many Venezuelans Struggle to Put Food on the Table in Crisis". US News. February 28, 2020

Why Do I Keep the Sabbath?

PSALMS to God · Why I Keep The Sabbath

⁸“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
¹⁰but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
¹¹For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV

Unlike the other 10 commandments, the Sabbath was instituted at creation (Genesis 2:2-3).

When God commands the Israelites to keep the Sabbath, He says "remember"—it is the only commandment that He prefaces this way.

Many assert that the commandments are done away with, but there are several places in the New Testatment where Christ says "if you love Me, keep My commandments" and even in Revelation, it talks about the people of God keeping the commandments. What commandments do you think they keeping? (Note: when Christ said love God and love your neighbor, the first 4 commandments concern our love for God and the last 6 commandments concern our love for our neighbor; He simply summarized the whole of the law.)
Christ and the Sabbath
Speaking of Christ and the Sabbath, let's look at what Christ actually said about the Sabbath.

• Perhaps the most quoted example is that from Matthew 12, in which Jesus and the disciples are picking grain to eat on the Sabbath
• In Matthew 24:20, Christ tells the people to pray that the hour of destruction does not come upon them on the Sabbath
• Christ stays in the grave during the Sabbath; it is only after Sabbath that He is risen. (Matthew 28:1-7)
• Jesus heals on the Sabbath. (Mark 3:1-4)
• His custom was to teach the word in the synaguoge on Sabbath. (Luke 4:16)
• Jesus speaks of freeing people on the Sabbath. (Luke 13)

Context is important when looking at these verses. The Pharisees were legalistic; they believed they could be saved by keeping the law and had created laws on top of the laws to keep from breaking the original law. In Romans 7:6, Paul talks about the letter of the law verses the spirit of the law and in other places he talks about us being in the Spirit, not under the law. Remember the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, part of the Godhead that wrote the law. Christ Himself said that He came to fulfill the law, not abolish it (Matthew 5:18; 24:34). Paul is not saying "do what thou wilt" (that is a satanist motto), Paul is saying the Spirit will guide you. The Jews had laws about how far one could walk on the Sabbath and wether you could pick something up or not. It had become a burden of "don't"s. When you follow the Jesus in the gospels, you will see that He had a custom of keeping the Sabbath, it just didn't look like what the Pharisees defined. What did Christ do on the Sabbath that the Jews objected to? He healed (did good), He freed (loosed from the bonds of sin), He ate straight from God's creation. Christ was reminding them not to get so caught up in the letter of the law that they miss the whole point.

Daniel 7:25 speaks of an antichrist who thinks to change times and law. The Sabbath is the only commandment given that is both a time (Sabbath) and a law (keep it holy). Ironically 1 Timothy 4:1-3 talks about "doctrines of devils" that include forbidding to marry and abstaining from meats. Keeping the Sabbath was abolished and replaced with Sunday worship by the Catholic church.[1] The Catholic church also forbids their preists to marry[2] (despite the fact that the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3:2 that a bishop/pastor is a man with one wife), and during lent (which is not observed in the Bible), they forbid their members to eat meat on Friday.[3]

⁶Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth— to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— ⁷saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” ⁸And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” ⁹Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” ¹²Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. ¹³Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” Revelation 14:6-13

The first angel in Revelation 14:6-7 proclaims a message about giving glory and worshiping God, "who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." Notice the following:

• In Exodus 20:8-11 where the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy is given, God gives us a reason to keep the Sabbath: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." This language is almost identical to what the angel says in Revelation.
• Those who do not receive the Mark of the Beast—"the patience of the saints"—are keeping the commandments of God
• Those who die in the Lord are given rest (which is the literal translation of the word Sabbath). Christ desires to give His people rest in Matthew 11:28-29 as well. Paul outlines more on rest in Hebrews 4.

The Bible talks about signs, seals, and marks. Two are of particular interest to us: the Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast. First let's define a seal. A seal signifies authority, acts as a signature, and is a mark of an office.[4] If you think about a formal signature or seal, it usually has three parts: a name, title, and territory. For instance, if I were to sign a formal letter or email in my career, I would sign: "Shiree Hughes, Ph.D., Embedded Systems Engineer, <Company I Work For>" Leaders do the same thing today: Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America. The 4th commmandment is the law that contains this information about the Lord: the Lord, Creator of Heaven and Earth. Now, with that information, compare the following passages:

• Exodus 13:9
• Exodus 31:12-18
• Deuteronomy 6:1-8
• Deuteronomy 11:13-18
• Revelation 7:3
• Revelation 9:4
• Revelation 13:16-18
• Revelation 14:1;9
• Revelation 17:5
• Revelation 20:4

The seal of God is following Him and His commandments; the mark of the Beast is following man and the laws man comes up with (this goes well beyond the Sabbath, but the Sabbath is a start).

In Exodus, the reason given for keeping the Sabbath is that God is the creator. In Deuteronomy, the reason given is that He brought the Israelites out of bondage. Both of these reasons show us a full picture of who God is: He is the Creator and He is the Redeemer. The Sabbath is a reminder that He both created us and saved us from bondage. It also points forward (and backward) to God's perfect creation where there exists rest and freedom from bondage.

Why are people against keeping the Sabbath?
God said "I'm going to give you a day where you don't have to do anything. You can take a break, relax, enjoy the planet I gave you, fellowship with your friends, etc." and people are saying "No, I don't have to do that." We'll pick up with this thought in next week's episode on how I keep the Sabbath.

The blue thread I mentioned that symbolizes the law: Numbers 15:37-41

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2 NKJV

References & Footnotes

1. Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R. The Convert's Catcheism of Catholic Doctrine, pg 50. 1910
2. Clerical Celibacy in the Catholic Church". Wikipedia; visited August 10, 2020
3. Marisa Iati. "Can Catholics eat the Impossible Burger during Lent? Sure — but it’s kind of missing the point, experts say.". The Washington Post. February 28, 2020
4. "Seal". Merriam Webster Dictionary; visited August 10, 2020
5. Ree Hughes. "Keep the Sabbath Holy". PSALMS to God. June 2015
6. Ree Hughes. "Keeping the Sabbath: Was it Abolished?". PSALMS to God. July 2016
7. Pastor Ivor Myers. "The Blueprint Prophecy Series Pt. 1: The War in Heaven". YouTube. May 1, 2020
8. Pastor Ivor Myers. "The Blueprint Prophecy Series Pt. 2: The War on Earth". YouTube. May 2, 2020
9. Pastor Ivor Myers. "The Blueprint Prophecy Series Pt. 3: The Final Conflict". YouTube. May 3, 2020