On the emergence of COVID-19 vaccines

As scientists across the globe race towards finding a cure for the COVID-19 so are conspiracy theorists churning out suppositions and spreading misgivings about potential vaccines and treatments. Recently, a video on a forthcoming COVID-19 vaccine has been circulating on social media. Perhaps, like me, you’ve received it from many people. In it, is a claim of a so-called hidden sinister agenda of Bill Gates. That Mr Gates is laying the groundwork for the coming of the anti-Christ by veiling a micro-chip into human bodies in the name of administering a covid-19 vaccine. I don't believe this. Here's what I believe:

I firmly believe that believers in Christ should be instruments in God’s hand in brightening the world and salting the earth: preaching the gospel, interceding for all men, seeking and saving the lost through the power of the cross that raised Jesus from the dead.

I also believe that the mark of the beast will be issued after the trumpet has sounded and believers are gone - raptured. Jesus says, “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.”

My problem is in understanding how believers are praying up the rapture date such that politicians and world leaders are compelled to act in fast-tracking or slowing the date. No! God has everything under control and He’s following His own timetable, His own plan and agenda, not crafted based on the counsel of men!

I believe that believers should *not* dismiss all prophecies, all dreams and all visions because some dreams, prophesies and visions are rooted in the scriptures.

I believe there is hell and those who will go there are those who spent their last earthly breath as sinners – throughout their lifetime have rejected (in words and in deeds) Jesus Christ as their Saviour. I believe there is heaven and those who will go there spent their last earthly breath as saints – they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour and washed in the precious blood, and through the grace of God, have lived sinless lives till the very end.

I have run into brethren that believe that the anti-christ has already showed-up. Some say he’s Obama, to the point that Obama joked about this during a White House presidential banquet. Yes. Obama is not living according to the Bible as we know it. He promotes anti-biblical practices. For this reason, we can call him – as we do of many others who oppose Christ and his teachings – against (or anti) christ (one of the many anti-christs mentioned in I John) but not the main anti-Christ that is coming to rule the post-rapture world.

Worryingly, some have gone to the extent of refusing to adapt to certain technologies (e.g. accepting and using digital IDs, fast payment systems, special bank cards, utility cards, etc) on the ground that is the devil's ploy to harvest them into the kingdom of darkness by cresting the mark of the beast on their bodies – hand or forehead. Some don’t even use computers. Some reject anything that has to do with Bill Gates, etc. Moreover, when Bill Gates attempted to provide vaccines to save lives in northern Nigeria, the communities rejected the offer. That it's a gambit to downsize their population. He had to use the Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote to reach out to the Sultan. And the Sultan to the people before people opened up and embraced the vaccines.

I find these things concerning and the danger of giving in to these theories: some people may eventually reject the treatment that could save their lives. 

Recall some events in the run-up to the new millennium: some say Procter and Gamble is satanic and that buying their products such as, Ariel detergent, Vicks blue, Gillette, Oral-B, Always, Pampers, etc is like patronising the devil, and so they don’t buy these brands. And in the wake of this, more confusion was sweeping across many minds: that the world was ending on 31 December 1999. Desperate to escape the flames of hell, some people had had to ‘stop’ sinning deliberately, choosing to spend the last day of the year in church so they can easily be swept into heaven when the time comes.


Finally, the bible is expressly clear about these: we are very close to end, the days are evil, and we are encouraged to hold tight because the ride is already rough and is going to be rougher. And that, 

"Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away." - Cor 7:31


Most importantly, I should be asking myself this question (a song):

“O where shall I be when the first trumpet sounds,
O where shall I be when it sounds so loud?
When it sounds so loud as to wake up the dead?
O where shall I be when it sounds?”


Blogpost written by Zuhumnan Dapel @dapelzg