The Church and COVID-19
What the Church Needs to Know about Covid-19
And What to Do About It
Dear Pastor or Father,
This might be one of the most important and timely things you’ve ever read. If you take the time to read it, and then you disagree, I’ll reimburse you for your time. I’m not joking.
I’m an attorney. Don’t hate me for it! I’ll suddenly be your best friend on the day you need me, don’t worry. I only mention it because I am a litigating attorney and everything I cite in this article will be something I can prove in court. Most of the data comes from the CDC, the NIH, the FDA, other state agencies, or major American newspapers. No conspiracy theories. I don’t truck in conspiracy theory because, by definition, they’re unprovable.
God gave me a message to give you:
When the Church wakes up, this will all be over.
But if the Church DOESN’T wake up, this will BE all over.
The fact that I don’t have to tell you what “this” is speaks volumes. Let’s get started.
What You Don’t Know About Covid-19
1. We are now at the lowest point of mortality since the pandemic began.
2. The CDC’s weekly U.S. mortality dashboard reports that deaths are at the lowest weekly point since March 2020:
You didn’t know that, did you? With the “Delta variant” raging and all that. You probably thought that mortality was through the roof. It’s not.*
(*August 31, 2021 Update: alert readers have pointed out that the mortality numbers are creeping up again since the chart above was screen-grabbed off the CDC’s website. This probably reflects that the summer wave of Covid is peaking in the southern states and just starting in the northern states. It doesn’t change the point, which is that all during the delta-hysteria period, mortality has been scraping the bottom. If we track Israel’s experience, which it appears certain we will, mortality may increase further, especially in vaccinated populations.)
3. Pediatric mortality from Covid in Florida is below flu levels. For all of 2020, there were 22 pediatric deaths from influenza in Florida. For all of 2020 and 2021 combined, there have only been 15 pediatric deaths from Covid-19:
There are other risks like drowning, or suffocation, that are much more significant for kids than Covid-19. In fact, Covid-19 is the least likely cause of death for kids in the United States:
4. We are probably well over the summer peak already, at least in southern states like Florida. Northern states probably still have their seasonal fall wave coming. The Harvard/Yale “R-naught” dashboard reports that Florida’s score is in the mid-70’s. R-naught, or “R0,” is the measure of how infectious the virus is. If the R0 is 1, then one infected person in turn infects one other person, and the virus is stable. If the R0 is 2, then one infected person in turn infects two other persons, and the virus is spreading. Here’s the latest dashboard for my county in Florida, in the midst of “Delta variant” hysteria:
You can see where it peaked at around 1.7 in July, but is now down to 0.74. Note the language in the description: “It it’s below 1.0, COVID-19 cases will decrease in the near future.”
Here’s where things start to get difficult. In early August — this month — the CDC announced ominously that Covid-19’s R0 was “the same as chicken pox.” Chicken pox has an R0 of 10.0 — one of the highest recorded viral R0’s of any virus, ever recorded. This was such a bizarre and blatant distortion of reality that even NPR had to call out the CDC:
So keep this question in mind: If we can’t count on the CDC for accurate information, then who can we count on?
5. We now know that the vaccine immunity is NOT long-lasting. It’s short-lasting. Even Pfizer and Moderna say so. Dr. Fauci just announced that boosters might be needed every five months:
Every five months. Wow. That’s not very long. And we haven’t known about this short-lasting vaccine problem for very long, either. Just since early this month, in fact:
Three weeks ago the U.S. government was calling for booster shots every eight months. Last week they shortened it to every six months. Now it’s at five months. We’ve lost three months of protection in two weeks. But even worse, in countries that are far ahead of us in vaccination rate, vaccinated people are getting serious Covid-19 in large numbers:
Oddly, Covid-19 infections in Israel (80% vaccinated) are spiking, while Covid-19 infections in the neighboring Palestinian territory (11% vaccinated) are flat:
6. But we have also learned that natural immunity IS long-lasting. Many scientists predicted this, but the CDC initially rejected the idea. In February, 2021, Dr. Fauci said that vaccine-induced immunity was “longer, broader, and more durable than natural immunity.” But now we know that vaccine immunity wanes quickly, and has to be refreshed as often as every five months. But on the other hand, natural immunity is looking very long-lasting:
What does this mean? We should be focusing on a strategy to protect vulnerable people by sheltering them, while letting the healthy population get through Covid-19 as quickly as possible, treating them for serious cases. Maybe boosting everyone with a brand-new vaccine for the rest of their lives is not the best strategy. Just saying.
7. Vaccines were sold to us on the theory we’d use them to get to “herd immunity.” But that ship has now sailed and fallen off the edge of the Earth. In late 2020, Fauci, the CDC, and large news agencies were all telling us that the vaccines would help us reach herd immunity, where the virus has nowhere to go because so many people have been immunized:
Whoops. Since we now know that vaccinated people can still get and transmit the infection, there is no way we can ever reach herd immunity through the vaccine:
Back in March of this year, CDC Director Rochelle Walenskey said:
The data suggests that vaccinated people do not carry the virus.
But this month, on August 6, she told Wolf Blitzer:
Our vaccines are working exceptionally well, they continue to work well for delta with regard to severe illness and death, they prevent it, but what they can’t do anymore is prevent transmission.
They can’t prevent transmission of the virus. Can’t. No herd immunity.
At this point, you might be wondering, what IS the plan now? What ARE we trying to accomplish with the vaccines? Jabbing people every few months forever? I am concerned that there IS NO PLAN now. No plan except to continue doing what isn’t working. And you know what they call that.
8. It’s even worse than that. The Covid vaccines are leaky. Leaky vaccines make viruses mutate faster and become more deadly. A “leaky” vaccine is one that provides some health benefits but doesn’t immunize the patient. So the virus can keep living inside the vaccinated person, and mutating. It mutates to try to “escape” the vaccine’s limited protection. Take a look at what one recent study says about leaky vaccines.
We have known for some time that leaky vaccines push viruses to mutate faster:
9. Forget about mutations. Because the vaccines are leaky, and because animals can catch Covid-19, we can NEVER get rid of it. Never. In early August a new study of white-tailed deer, which live in 49 states in the U.S., showed that almost half (40%) of them had Covid-19 antibodies. Almost HALF:
We now know of up to 20 species of animals that can catch the virus, including household cats and dogs. The technical terminology for this phenomenon is that the Covid-19 virus has an “animal reservoir.”
Even if we could vaccinate every single man, woman, and child in the world all on the same day, we still couldn’t get rid of Covid. The animals would re-infect us. And you can’t vaccinate the animals, because they don’t respond to shaming or threats of loss of employment.
What does all this mean?
It means this:
- Vaccinated folks are probably driving most mutations, not unvaccinated.
- Natural immunity is far longer, broader, and more durable than vaccine-induced immunity.
- Vaccination will not stop infections or create herd immunity.
- Covid cannot be eradicated because of Animal Reservoirs.
- Covid is here to stay.
And it’s because last year I got into the crosshairs, just as He was directing me, in spite of all my fears and anxieties. I’ve never been a public figure, not ever. But I put it all on the altar. And He has blessed me beyond imagination and given me this platform.
Pastor, this is your time. This is your chance. To be NOT LUKEWARM. You are a wartime pastor and I pray that you, like me, will rise and answer the call.
Yours in faith,
Jeff Childers, August 2021
And the Israel experience suggests that, as we increase vaccinations, serious hospitalizations are going to spike here, too. We have a “complicated” future coming soon. What are you going to do about it?
There is a demonic spirit of fear suffocating the Earth. You know I’m right.
The Spirit of Fear is destroying relationships and tearing the Church apart. Unvaccinated grandparents are being told by their children that they can’t see their grand kids and not to come around. Bizarrely, vaccinated members of your church are fearful and distrusting of their unvaccinated brothers and sisters. But Christians, in particular, are not supposed to fear. We’ll get to that in a minute.
Where is all this fear coming from? Here’s a recent cover from Newsweek:
The “Doomsday Variant.” Doomsday! It asks, “How worried should we be?” HOW worried. Not “Should we be worried?” Worry is presumed. But when you read the article, it admits there is no doomsday variant. It says that experts “can’t rule it out.” It’s just speculation. It might have been helpful to mention that on the cover, don’t you think?
Anyway, I disagree. There IS a doomsday variant. The doomsday variant is fear.
This Spirit of Fear has caused a tsunami of worldwide terror:
In a huge study, just published, of FIVE MILLION Covid-19 patients, guess what is now tied for first place as the most likely predictor of mortality once someone goes in the hospital?
Number one used to be obesity. No surprise there. But guess what has crept up the charts, and is now tied for number one, with obesity? Fear and anxiety related disorders:
So, your risk of dying if you are hospitalized with Covid is +30% if you’re obese and +28% if you have any “anxiety and fear-related disorders.” Those disorders weren’t even on the list a year ago. I predict they will take first place soon, if they haven’t already. In other words, I expect fear and anxiety disorders to soon be the NUMBER ONE predictor of mortality if a person is hospitalized with Covid-19.
The Spirit of Fear is literally killing people.
The scientific literature is BLOWING UP with fear and anxiety-related issues.
Worst of all? The children may be the largest single group of victims of the Spirit of Fear:
Clinically-elevated symptoms of pediatric depression. Clinical levels. In 25% of kids. Think about that for a minute. Kids are wondering what they have to live for. And nobody’s giving them spiritual counseling or — most importantly—hope.
Only fifteen children have died from Covid in Florida in a year and a half. But a quarter of them are suffering from clinical levels of fear and depression. Think about that. That is a spiritual problem, not a medical problem. If only we had an organization devoted to tackling spiritual problems. Let me know if you think of one.
The hospitals are filling up with people who are experiencing life-threatening levels of anxiety. Here’s one example I received recently from a doctor in the largest hospital chain in Massachusetts:
Unprecedented demand for procedural and acute mental and behavioral health services. Unprecedented. In other words, it’s never happened before.
Here’s the thing. A Spirit of Fear is a SPIRITUAL PROBLEM. It’s not a medical problem. It’s not a biological problem. It’s not a political problem. And it’s not a scientific problem. It’s a spiritual problem.
If only we had some kind of worldwide organization that was devoted to addressing spiritual problems. We sure could use something like that, for a time like this.
Jesus told us not to fear. Anything. Ever.
Phillippians 4:4–7
So park that idea for a moment. The Spirit of Fear isn’t just tearing families and congregations apart. There is a major disconnect between the pulpit and the pew:
I’ve already shown you that the vaccines are becoming more questionable by the minute. But a lot of pastors and priests are still pushing the shot from the pulpit. This is increasing fear, not addressing it. A lot of your members don’t want the shot, don’t trust the ungodly people pushing it, and can’t get even their most basic questions answered by anyone in authority. They are coming to the Church for spiritual comfort and leadership and they aren’t getting it.
You want a recipe for making the Church irrelevant? This is it, on steroids. Pastors, I love you, you are my brothers, but if I hear one more sermon about five takeaways from the Book of Nehemiah while a Spirit of Fear is crushing the Church, I think I might lose my mind.
The Pastor is talking about how the Exodus compares to my marriage relationship, and I’m looking around the church and seeing people who are terrified they are going to lose their jobs because they won’t take the vaccine. Parents who are frantic because they promised their kids there would be no more masks this year and now must break those solemn promises. People with chronic health problems who are terrified the hospitals will stop treating them just because they won’t get the jab. Others who are scared because they did get the jab but are now hearing they have to take boosters all the time or they can still catch Covid. Which they were promised would not happen.
And, meanwhile, just what are you telling all those people seeking spiritual counseling and comfort in your church about all those spiritual and practical fears? Nothing, that’s what. Why not? I’m not sure, but I think it’s because you’re scared too. Scared to take a position. Scared to speak out. The Spirit of Fear is crushing you.
The Church is ASLEEP! WAKE UP!!
Take a look at the web pages of mainstream Christian magazines. There’s nothing helpful about dealing with Covid-19 and the Spirit of Fear. Not one thing.
Wow. Top article is about medical marijuana. During a pandemic of fear that is literally killing us and tearing the Church apart. And that one article about Covid saying churches shouldn’t write exemption notes isn’t too helpful to alleviate terrified members’ worries about losing their jobs, is it? I’m guessing reading something like that makes folks more terrified.
Great job, Christianity Today.
Here’s the one article in the front page of the Christian Post.
There’s not even anything about Covid close to the top. You have to scroll down the screen to find it:
The “Post-Covid-19 Workplace?” Really? Is the Christian Post in a different dimension in the multi-verse? Could they possibly get any more disconnected and irrelevant? That’s an honest question. We’re not post-anything. Not even close. We’re just getting started.
The world is on fire! Wake up, Christian Post! Vaccine mandates are erupting worldwide and people don’t like it. They are terrified:
Meanwhile, WHERE IS THE CHURCH?? Oh, they are being so, so careful to toe the government’s line, so they don’t get shut down:
What’s the government’s advice to the Church?
Why is the Church scared of these ungodly men? Why? That’s not what our Savior said we should be:
DO NOT FEAR THOSE WHO CAN KILL THE BODY. FEAR HIM WHO CAN DESTROY BOTH SOUL AND BODY IN HELL. Come on, Pastors! Wake up! Stop fearing and cow-towing to these petty dictators!
You might be thinking, but what SHOULD I be doing? I’m glad you asked.
We need our pastors and priests to get some guts. There might not be a lot of time left. It feels like we’re in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, and we just realized that we were playing football.
Have you seen all these great Youtube videos of moms, down at the school board, tearing those officials a new one?
Now, that is some entertaining YouTube material right there, am I right? Good stuff.
But here’s my first question: Where are the MEN?
Yeah. They’re nowhere to be seen. Why? Because they’re afraid. If they stand up and stand out, they’ll get cancelled, fired, shamed.
Okay. Here’s my next question: Where are these moms’ brothers and sisters from the church? Why aren’t their brothers and sisters down there at the School Board supporting these moms? Huh. I guess we don’t support each other anymore. My bad.
My last, and most important, question: WHERE ARE THE PASTORS??
Pastors, why aren’t YOU down there at the school board supporting your moms? I thought the kids were the future of the Church and all that? Or is that just a marketing slogan? You want the kids to come to the Church, but you won’t go down to the school board and fight for them. Does that seem fair to you?
How about Critical Race Theory, pastor? They are teaching kids that the Church is racist. Do you have any problem with that? Do you think it is good? Just? Virtuous? Do you think things are going to work out well for the Church if that goes on for very long? Are you waiting for the women to fix it for you?
Shame on you.
Pastor, I love you, but you have lost your way.
Okay. That was some tough love. What does finding your way look like?
We have to start fighting the Spirit of Fear. The Spirit of Fear has to be vanquished from the Church before it can be defeated in the World. You must start at home. You have to immediately start talking about these issues and pointing out the ungodliness and the fearful spirits and encouraging people.
You have to start leading.
I know, I know. But Jeff, you ask, how do I know what to say? There’s so much misinformation out there. How do I know what is right and what is wrong?
Pastor, I don’t know what to tell you. If only there were some kind of omniscient source of wisdom somewhere that we could tap into. That would be helpful, right? Let’s look around, and see if we can come up with something.
The Church must immediately become relevant. The only thing people are thinking about right now is Covid. All the problems I’ve already named plus unimaginable fears about what’s coming next. And that’s all you should be talking about, too. All the time. Every day.
But Jeff, you say, I only have them for a few hours on Sunday. Then the world gets them the rest of the time. So I feel like it’s hopeless, there’s nothing I can do.
Pastor, PLEASE. That’s the Spirit of Fear talking. You still aren’t getting the idea, are you? If you’ll go down to the School Board and deliver a fiery sermon, someone will record it, and you’ll be on YouTube and get a MILLION VIEWS. You have to get out of the Church. Go to where the people are.
GET OUT OF THE SAFE COMFY CHURCH! GET INTO THE WORLD! DO IT NOW! You have to start publicly pushing back against government overreach, ungodly men, evil, and attacks on people’s freedoms. Why? If you can’t think of a godly reason, how about self-preservation? Once the other freedoms are lost, what do you think will happen to religious freedom? They’ve already shown they are willing to shut your Church and leave the bars, marijuana dispensaries, and strip clubs open. Fight it now before it gets any stronger.
Pastor, what exactly are you waiting for? An invitation? A sign? THIS is your sign. THIS is the message you’ve been waiting for. Now stop waiting and start acting. God has given you pastors the greatest shield and talent that he’s ever given any ordinary class of human beings.
People — critics— say about me, all the time, “don’t listen to that guy. He’s just a lawyer.” So let me talk to you as a lawyer.
You are protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution better than any other citizen. There are more 9–0 Supreme Court decisions in favor of religious liberty than any other issue. They will come for you last. You can say just about anything with impunity. They can’t officially touch you. They might send thugs to threaten and intimidate you, but if many of you are activated, they won’t bother. And if you organize your church, you can resist the thugs anyway. That strategy only works to silence the one or two vocal pastors who pop up here and there. If there is a large group, there’s no point.
So, pastor, what are you doing with this awesome First Amendment talent that God has bestowed on you for a time such as this? I’ll tell you what you’ve done with it. You’ve sealed it in a mason jar, hidden the mason jar in a bushel basket, and buried the bushel basket under the olive groves.
Now, good and faithful servant, what will you tell your Creator on that glorious day when He asks for an accounting of how you used the talents that He gave you? I sure hope you’ll have dug them up and put them to work by then.
Pastor, we are in a war. It’s here. It’s in our cities, our neighborhoods, and our churches. You are a wartime pastor. Start acting like one. What were good and faithful pastors doing in World War I? In World War II?
You should be organizing your churches. Get EVERYONE down to the School Board meeting, the county commission meeting, the city council meeting. Get your folks to start working together! Lead them!
Start getting ready for what everyone can see is coming. The time for churches to provide widespread medical care is nearly here. Unvaccinated people won’t be able to be treated at the hospitals. They won’t even be let in the front door. The CHURCH is going to have to take care of them. Are you ready for that?
Members are going to be fired. They may have trouble finding any gainful employment. They’ll need help. A kind of help you haven’t ever dealt with before. And there will be a lot of them.
You are going to be feeding people who will be cut off from food, for one reason or another. Community is going to become a life-and-death issue. Don’t wait for it to get here. Get ready now.
You MUST start calling out evil and ungodliness wherever it appears. And it’s all over. You saw what happened in Afghanistan. What’s happening here is Afghanistan on steriods. The same ungodly people who orchestrated the Afghanistan debacle are in charge of the pandemic.
And PLEASE stop calling deaths from Covid in your Church a “tragedy.” That is heretical. Christians don’t believe death is a tragedy. Death has been defeated. We celebrate when our brothers and sisters go to their reward. It is NOT a tragedy. That is the Spirit of Fear talking.
I leave you with this, two scriptures from the Book of Revelation.
The cowardly are first in the list to be thrown in the the lake of fire. Don’t be in that group. Better to die in this world than experience that fate. God doesn’t want you to be cowardly, even if these ARE the end times.
And, speaking of the end times, there is another heresy to address. Some people think that the World is coming to an end, so we can just sit back and wait to be delivered from it. But not so fast, Pastor:
WAKE UP!!! Strengthen what remains! Some will fall away, but some, a few, have not soiled their garments! God’s not finished with the Church yet! Wake up, as you have been commanded! Do it RIGHT NOW.
I have a live version of this presentation that I give to groups of pastors. If you’ve read down this far, then you know that this is a critical message. Get me a group of pastors of any size and I will present the message to them on Zoom. For a big group I will do it live. I’ll move whatever I have to move in my schedule to do it.
For my whole life, I’ve been troubled by the image of the Lord spitting out the lukewarm church. How could I be not lukewarm? What does that even mean? Do I have to go become a missionary in Africa? Do I have to hold a sign on the street in New Orleans?
I don’t worry about being lukewarm any more. I am ready to talk to Him now, about all my adventures on His mission. It’s done. I have a feeling of peace and comfort that surpasses all understanding.
Reprinted from the original article by one fearless man to another fearless man. Men on fire and NOT lukewarm. Praise the Lord.
Jeff ChildersCommercial Litigation Attorney in Florida
NOTE: The original posting (Jeff Childers) of this article has since been taken down by Medium.com; according to them, “This account is under investigation or was found in violation of the Medium Rules.” Is this just another example of the woke mob and the cancel culture we are currently living in?