Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 398 | The Vaccine Passport & What It Means

Episode Date: April 6, 2021

Today we're focusing on vaccine passports, what they are, and what they could mean for our freedom. Some countries already have vaccine programs in place, requiring people to show proper documentation in order to participate in daily life. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is a very dark path. To give perspective on the technological side of vaccine passports, we talk to Naomi Wolf, author and CEO of DailyClout. Lastly, we address the concerns of some Christians that the vaccine passport could be the mark of the beast. --- Today's Sponsors: Patriot Mobile: Switching is easy! Keep your phone number, bring your own phone or buy a new one. Go to PatriotMobile.com/ALLIE to get free premiere activation where they set up the phone for you, and a special gift, with offer code 'ALLIE'. StartMail keeps your email private. Period. Every email is encrypted, even if the recipient doesn't use encryption. Start securing your email privacy at StartMail.com/ALLIE & get 50% off your first year! --- Show Links: The Washington Post: "'Vaccine Passports' Are on the Way, But Developing Them Won't Be Easy" https://wapo.st/3usts4h The New England Journal of Medicine: "'Vaccine Passport' Certification — Policy and Ethical Considerations" https://bit.ly/3up1lTJ CNN: "Israel Vaccination 'Green Pass' May Offer a Glimpse of a Post-COVID Future" https://cnn.it/3mrvM9a TheBlaze: "Dr. Fauci Says There Won't Be a Federal Mandate for Vaccine Passports" https://bit.ly/3dDodYM KCTV5: "ACLU Warns 'A Lot Can Go Wrong' With Digital Vaccine Passports" https://bit.ly/2OpEesH The New York Times: "White Evangelical Resistance Is Obstacle in Vaccination Effort" https://nyti.ms/3dD2ZdH Got Questions: "Is It Possible for a Person to Get the Mark of the Beast Today?" https://bit.ly/31SePLC Got Questions: "Is It Possible for a Person to be Saved/Forgiven After Taking the Mark of the Beast?" https://bit.ly/31Rwov3 --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. Today we are talking about the vaccine passports, what they are, what they mean, what are some of the privacy implications, the ethical consequences to this vaccine passport. You guys have been asking me to talk about this for a while. We're also going to talk about this New York Times article that said it is, you guessed it, white evangelicals, the media's favorite scapegoat. That's actually. going to stop the vaccine effort. And then this question of if the vaccine is the mark of the beast, the answer is no. But we're going to talk about why. And then if we have time, we're going to talk about some of the stuff that's happening in Georgia, all of these companies boycotting

Georgia because of their new voting law. Why it's just insane and why I actually think it's good that Republicans are pushing back on this. And we'll talk about whether that's cancel culture or not. A lot of you guys want me to also talk about Rachel Hollis and the hot water that she's gotten herself into over the last week or so because of a video that she made. You guys know if you've read my book. I strongly disagree with Rachel Hollis on her life philosophy and in particular her theology. So we're probably going to talk about that tomorrow. I will talk about that. and again, what that has to do with cancel culture, if it's cancel culture. So we'll talk about that, but that's probably going to be tomorrow.

Today, per your vote on Instagram, we are going to talk about these vaccine passports. So just a little context about what they are. Like, what are we even dealing with? Some of you guys, I'm the only connection that you have to the news. So maybe you don't even really know that this is going on. And so I've got to inform you about what this is. even is. According to the Washington Post, the Biden administration and private companies are working to develop a standard way of handling credentials, often referred to as vaccine passports, that would

allow Americans to prove they have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus's businesses try to reopen. The effort has gained momentum amid President Biden's pledge that the nation will start to regain normalcy this summer and with a growing number of companies from cruise lines to sports teams, saying that will require proof of vaccination before opening their doors again. By the way, this is already happening in New York. They have something called like the Excelsior Pass that is actually required to get into some places. Like for example, a Mets game, there are already a lot of concerns with how that is rolling out privacy concerns being shared and access concerns too for people who haven't gotten vaccines. And so we're already kind of seen some of the concerns playing out in places like New York.

The Washington Post says the passports are expected to be free and available through applications for smartphones, which could display a scannable code similar to an airline boarding pass. Americans without smartphone access should be able to print out the pass developers have said. And so basically, after you get it, your vaccine, you're going to have an app on your phone, most of you, especially if you're listening to this. I can assume have an iPhone or you have a smartphone of some sort. And so you will be required. If you want to enter into certain businesses or certain events, you will be required to show your vaccination status. And Joe Biden has been pushing and promoting this idea. So this is not necessarily

something that is federally being rolled out. This is not necessarily a government vaccine passport. This is being developed by private companies but in partnership with the federal government and of course the Biden administration

does very much support it. And the concern that people have is where is this information going? That's one of the concerns. Is your information, your medical information, I mean, that's what this is. Your vaccination status. Who is it being released to?

Is it being released to the federal government? Is it going in some kind of database? Like, what are the privacy protections that we have here when it comes to our personal and our health information? What other information do these apps actually have access to? Do I want that information to be given to these major corporations to keep tabs on me and to know whether or not I've gotten vaccinated. And by the way, we've also heard from people like Dr. Fauci and other so-called medical experts

that this might be like a flu shot. And so it's not just that you get the COVID vaccine once and you're all good, like some other shots that we have, but it may very well be something that people have to get every year. And so just because you've already gotten the vaccine and you might think, well, I'm good to go with my vaccine passport. I can get in anywhere I want to. Well, maybe not. It's probably going to actually, you're going to have a new deadline or a new requirement that you have to meet every year in order for you to gain access to spaces through your vaccine passport.

And then these companies and maybe the government, whoever has access to the information in these apps is going to know whether or not you've gotten vaccinated. And the question is like what other punishments or what other benefits are. are going to be assigned or afforded to you based on your vaccination status. And I just want to say up front, people who have concerns with this, who are asking these questions are simply thinking critically. Like it's called deductive reasoning. There is this knee-jerk reaction, in particular by people on the left nowadays, that seems to say if you ask any questions of technology companies, if you ask any questions of social

media companies, if you have any privacy concerns, if you have, if you have, any questions about the integrity of elections or you're just wondering about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine in the context of everything that's going on, then you're an anti-vax conspiracy theorist. Look, there are a lot of people that have concerns of me being one of them, a lot of people who have concerns about the vaccine passport who are not anti-vaccine in general. And there are a lot of people who are asking questions about the motivations behind this, the profit that's being made from this, the long-term goals and consequences of this who have no problem with vaccination in general, have no problem with public-private partnerships, have no problem with advancements in technology, but are concerned about threats to our individual liberty, to our personal safety, to our personal privacy, okay? So anyone on the other side who says, well, you're just a conspiracy theorist. Actually, I think that you are a moron. If you don't have questions about the safety of the sap, I know, that's a little intense.

But if you are not asking questions about what the implications are to your privacy, to your safety, the social consequences of this kind of stuff, like you've got your head in the sand. I think me saying that that is a moronic thing not to question or is a moronic thing to do to stick your head in the sand, I think that that is putting it lightly. That's actually very kind and gracious of me. We just got to critically think. We've got to ask questions. This is how things slip away when we just start to automatically accept changes that are happening, especially when it comes to the government and major corporations. And we don't consider for a second how this might affect us, how this might affect our children, how this might affect the most. most vulnerable in our society and what the negative consequences could be.

When did it become cool to just accept whatever bureaucrats say, to just accept whatever these major corporations want to impose on us, to just accept anything that Dr. Fauci says, like when did that become the like intellectual, sophisticated stance to just not think? I mean, that is some Orwellian nonsense. And I will repeat, moronic nonsense. And so I think it's okay for us to just ask questions about this without trying to cast people who do ask those questions as not following the science or something crazy like that. The New England Journal of Medicine writes this.

Using COVID-19 vaccine passports to tailor restrictions, however, has drawn staunch opposition based on several weighty concerns. First, while vaccine supply remains limited. privileging people who are fortunate enough to have gained early access is morally questionable. It's morally wrong. It's morally wrong, period. Second, even after supply constraints ease, rates of vaccination among racial minorities and low income populations seem likely to remain disproportionately low. Now, this is something that I also want to bring up and why I think that there is actually

a chance of these vaccine passports not being ubiquitous, not being quite as pervasive as they seem to, as it seems like they will be right now. Because you also have some concerns coming from the left in particular about equity, that this is going to disproportionately affect poor people. This is going to disproportionately affect people of color. This is going to disproportionately affect people that many consider marginalized. They don't have necessarily as much access. Now, what's not talked about is that a lot of these, uh, A lot of these minority communities simply don't want to get the vaccine. It's not always about access, by the way, but there are some concerns about so-called equity

and the quality of distribution of this vaccine. And people are afraid that disproportionately people of color are going to become second-class citizens because they're not going to be able to access the things that everyone who was able to get the vaccine are able to access. And so there are even some racial concerns. and as we know, racial concerns rule right now. And so if there's something that's going to change these woke companies' minds about this vaccine passport rollout, then it might possibly be this. The New England Journal of Medicine continues.

If history is a guide, programs that confer social privilege on the basis of fitness can lead to invidious discrimination. Of course, that's already what happens in China. they've got a social credit system where you are, you're surveilled. Every citizen of China is completely and totally surveilled. They do not have a right to privacy. There's nothing called individual liberty. Everything that they say, everything that they express, everything that they do is watched closely by the government.

They are given social credit points based on things that the government wants them to do that is tracked through technology. many of them are tracked through their phones. And so this is already happening in other parts of the world. And the fear is that this is just going to open the gates for this kind of thing, this kind of social credit surveillance system happening in the United States, that it won't actually stop with the vaccines, that it will go into other realms.

And that it is not going to, to stop at the end of this year or at the end of next year that it's going to be forever and it's going to start taking over other parts of our lives. That's a problem. Like that is a problem. Do you not see how that's a problem? How that should be a concern for everyone, whether you're on the left or the right. Israel already has vaccine passports. According to CNN, Israel boasts one of the highest vaccination rates in the world with more than 50% of its population having received both doses. of the vaccine. And now they have a green pass that is on their phones that is distributed by the government

that allows them access to activities that largely disappeared over the past year as the word social distancing and lockdown entered the lexicon. The green pass is authorized by Israel's Ministry of Health. It can be a physical document or downloaded to a person's phone. It's required for going to the gym, dining outside, at a restaurant with 75 percent capacity with a hundred person limit attending a theater performance. People apparently in Israel are very excited about this. I'm sure there's a lot of people who also have the same kind of privacy concerns that we have. But apparently from what we see in Israel, people are liking

this because this means that they can actually go out and do the things that they want to do. This is a different country with different sentiments, perhaps, than the United States and other countries. But that is, I do want to be fair and show the other side of this. The people who are excited about this are saying, look, whatever it takes for us to get back to normal, whatever it takes for us to be able to access the things that we love and do the things that we want to love. And if this and do the things that we love. And if this is what it takes for, you know, people to feel comfortable and for businesses to operate safely, then this is what it takes. And it's absolutely worth it. And so there's definitely that perspective and looking at Israel and seeing them kind of as a model of getting back to normal.

And so that is kind of the argument. I would say, though, at what cost? And is this really necessary? I mean, America is rolling out this vaccine, distributing this vaccine very quickly, a large percentage of the most vulnerable people to this virus, the elderly people with serious underlying conditions. have been vaccinated, a large portion of them, not all of them. And so if you can get to the point of reaching some kind of herd immunity or where a large percentage has been vaccinated, then what is the point of this vaccine passport? There are many places where businesses have been operating safely, have been using their own

kinds of restrictions and regulations to ensure that people are safe and everything is sanitized there's no viruses spreading for months. And so is there really a point to opening us up to the possibility of a social credit system where all of our privacy and even liberty is compromised? I don't think so. Like I said, there are states that have been operating almost at full capacity for months now where the death rates, as we have talked about before,

are lower than some of the states like New York and New Jersey that have been. closed down this entire time. And so I don't see the justification for something like this. I've seen over and over again, it seems like the people in Washington, the Biden administration, the Democrats in Washington, Dr. Fauci live in a different reality than a lot of people. For example, Joe Biden saying that, you know, if things continue to go well, you might be able to get together with a few people on the 4th of July, like a few members of your close family, or Dr. Fauci saying, you know, if we continue with our vaccination efforts, then kids will be able to play together as long as they have their masks on.

That is so out of touch with how most Americans have been living their lives. There are, I would say, a minority of Americans who have truly been locked down. They have avoided getting together with people for the entirety of this year. That just hasn't been the case. most people in southern states have been basically living their lives as much as possible. Yes, wearing masks and washing their hands and, you know, following the restrictions that they have to follow, but have basically been living their lives, getting together with friends and family, going on vacation to Florida since last spring.

There was like a couple months of serious lockdown. And then most people, I would say most people, that's a guess anyway. And a lot of southern states have just been. doing what they did before. And so a lot of people are throwing back their heads and laughing at Joe Biden when he says you can get together with a few people this year at the 4th of July. Well, most people that I know got together with people last year at the 4th of July and no one waited for the president to say anything.

And so I just think that those left-wing bureaucrats see the world and see reality totally differently than most people. And so the fact of the matter is is that a lot of people don't feel that these vaccine passports are necessary to live safely, to operate businesses safely. The cons just continue to outweigh

the pros when it comes to this. Dr. Fauci says, and this is something I said that there, this is according to the blaze, that there won't be a federal mandate for vaccine passports. He said that a mandate on coronavirus virus vaccine passports from the federal government is unlikely, but added that some local governments

and businesses might choose to implement their own standards. So I guess you could say that's comforting in a way, but as we're going to talk about if we have time, corporations, major corporations make up an oligarchy in this country that controls a lot of our lives. And so as a conservative, I care about individual liberty, period. I care about bureaucracy or I'm concerned with bureaucracy, period. And so major corporations that are enforcing their policies in a way that affects my life or affects my privacy or affects my personal liberty, that bothers me. Now, I understand, yes, private businesses can do what they want to.

But when you are punishing people, as a. corporation like Amazon or like Google who controls so much of the marketplace based on your politics or based on your policies, like that's a problem for me. I don't like big corporate power. Just like I don't like big government power. So even if this is not federally mandated, but all of these major corporations and these big tech companies try to enforce this when it comes to all of our major public events or tries to bully local governments, into enforcing these kinds of vaccination passports. Like, that's still a concern.

Your privacy is still at stake there. Interestingly, the ACLU is also against some forms of the vaccine passport, in particular the digital vaccine passport because of equity concerns. They say there are a lot of people who don't have cell phones. They recommend a system that's primarily paper-based, but with a digital option so that no one is, like, left out. The fact of the matter is there's still going to be people who are left out by that option. I actually think it's probably more difficult in this country to get a printer and to actually

print something out than it is to get some form of a smartphone probably. And so you're still going to see some kind of disparity there. There are still going to be people who don't have access to a printer to be able to get the piece of paper. I guess it could come to you in the mail as well. Maybe that's what they're talking about. Still, you've got problems there. You've got logistical issues there. It sounds like a nightmare to me, your personal vaccination information being made vulnerable, whether it is through technology or whether it is through some kind of paper passport, is troubling. And I would say in particular for the most vulnerable, who don't have a voice, who aren't able to speak up against this, who don't

have any political or social capital to say, I don't want this. Like this is who this is going to disproportionately negatively affect. We already know that you probably already know that Florida governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order saying, look, this ain't, this ain't going to happen. We're not going to have a vaccine mandate here in the state of Florida. We're not going to allow corporations to require vaccine passports in order to access our businesses. So there are other states that are following Ron DeSantis's lead, at least verbally, Governor Parson of Missouri is saying that he does not support a vaccine passport. He has no intention of implementing one in the state of Missouri. We've also got South Dakota Governor Kristy Noem saying the same

thing. She is saying that this is one of the most un-American ideas in our nation's history and that we should oppose this. Texas governor Greg Abbott. He said that he is not going to require any Texan to show proof of vaccination and reveal private health information just to go about their daily lives. And so thankfully, Republican governments are speaking up against this. And this is going to be the tactic that has to be taken. That Republican state governments, hopefully Democratic state governments too,

because I truly believe this should be bipartisan, are going to have to stand up and say, no, this is not going to happen in my state. And if it's not federally mandated, which hopefully it won't be, hopefully that won't change. Then the states do have the power to do things like this. They can't stop the development of this app,

but they are able to say, look, this is not going to become this onerous burden on our people just to be able to live. Now, I interviewed Dr. Naomi Wolf. She wrote the book, The End of America. Now, she is a bit of a controversial figure because she was known as this staunch feminist. That's how she got famous back in the Clinton era. And she's been a Democratic activist for a long time.

She still considers herself a Democrat. She voted for Joe Biden. She spoke out against Donald Trump. And definitely is a liberal. But she's had a lot of concerns about this. She's also been called a conspiracy theorist when it comes to some things. On this particular issue, on vaccine passports,

she has been very clear and very emphatic that this may be the end of our freedoms if we allow the government and this corporate oligarchy to have all of our information to keep tabs on us and to calculate our risk, the risk that we bring to the table, or the benefits that we bring to the table when it comes to accessing certain parts of the public sphere.

So I want to play you a little bit of that conversation that we had earlier. Can you talk about maybe just what the average person, me, you know, I'm not a tech expert and most of the people listening aren't, what we may not know or understand about, one, what this vaccine passport is and two, what the possible implications are. Thank you, Allie, for asking. It's so important and no one needs to be a tech expert to understand, but they do need basic information about what this technology does. So basically, it's a complete lie, I'm just going to say lie, that we're being sold this vaccine passport as just for vaccine status. If it was just for vaccine status, which is already a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, you can have. piece of paper and that wouldn't threaten, you know, human liberty. I mean, I literally have been warning this is the end of human liberty. It's a Chinese-style social credit system. And why is that? Because the vaccine passport is a platform, right? And the platform, once it's launched, already has every citizen's personally identifying information, medical records, address, credit history,

and with just a tweak of the backend, meaning just a tiny half-hour addition of functionality, you can load onto it. It talks to your Apple Pay. It talks to your Google Wallet. In fact, Microsoft, Oracle, and Salesforce are presenting an app, which is already part of Google Pay and Apple Wallet. With another tweak, it reads your social media,

so it can dial you down and switch off your PayPal or Apple Pay if you talk too much in favor of conservatives or of liberals. Everywhere you go when you swipe that QR code, which they've started to do for the pandemic, to avoid germs, which is nonsense. scientifically, when you go to a bar or restaurant, the ones that are open, it geolocates you. Right.

So now every time in Israel they rolled out vaccine passports, they have to swipe them to buy groceries, to go to the beach, to get their kids into school, to get medical care. Every time you do that, it doesn't just geolocate you. meaning it tells the central database exactly where you are, but it also sucks up the data from all your friends who are with you

and creates maps networks of social influence with those so that you can never dissent again after the vaccine passport is rolled out because your phones will tell the central database, who all your friends are, what you're talking about, what you've shared on social media, another tweet, it uploads all your search history. So basically there is no going back from this. It is the end of human freedom if it's rolled out.

And it's wrong to, you can't even boycott it because once it's launched, everybody's in it already. So this is catastrophic and it has to be stopped before it rolls out. So she mentioned also, and I believe this is true too, that the best way to push back against this before it actually rolls out. is to make sure that you're contacting your state representatives and your state senators. Make sure that you are pushing back against any state or local mandate that would force you to show your private health information in order to, as Governor Abbott said,

go about your everyday life. You can start to kind of think about what this could look like in the future, whether you're on the right or the left and see this is going to be a problem for you and your family and your children. And it also depends also like on on what else is this going to what else is this going to give you? Like how else are you going to be punished if you don't get the COVID shot every year? How how else are you going to be measured by the way? What if it's no longer just vaccination status when it comes to COVID? What if it's your flu. shot as well? Or what if it's any other kind of medical test or vaccine or some kind of standard

medical or not that you have to reach in order to get this little green pass on your phone to buy, to sell, to fly, to go to a sports game? This is how you lose your liberty. This is how you lose your liberty. how you lose your life. Like, this is how we welcome in tyranny. This has already happened in China. Like, we can already know that for sure. And if you think I'm just fearmongering or you think that this is just a slippery slope fallacy, I think history is very clear on this.

I think modernity is very clear on this. Like, I think that we can look to China and we can see how this already is playing out in their social credit system and simply say, we don't want this. This is not to say that we're categorically against this vaccine. I know some people have concerns about fetal cell research, which, again, is a totally legitimate concern when it comes to vaccines, in particular the COVID-19 vaccine. And I think Johnson and Johnson actually did involve fetal cells from aborted babies in their research for this vaccine.

But there are other vaccines that don't. I believe we've talked about this before, but I believe that it's Pfizer that does not. And so not all of the COVID vaccines have any involvement with fetal cell research, if that's an ethical concern, a totally understandable ethical concern that you have. And so being against the loss of freedom, being against a social credit system, whether it's run by the federal government or whether it's run by corporate oligarchy, is not being against vaccines. You might not even be against masks or maybe you're not even against mask mandates. maybe you're not against lockdowns. You can still be against this and also be against the spread of the coronavirus. This does not make you a conspiracy theorist.

That doesn't make you an alarmist. It doesn't make you a fearmonger. You're staring the threat right in the face and saying, I don't want any part of that. Like I don't want to make my and other people's information and safety this vulnerable. So now we're going to get into the New York Times. the scapegoating of Christians when it comes to the vaccination effort, not just the vaccine passport, but the vaccination effort in general. But first, I got to tell you guys about a sponsor

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you should start securing your email privacy with StartMail. Sign up today and you'll get 50% off your first year. Go to startmail.com slash Allie. That's StartMail with a T, StartMail, S-T-A-T-R-T-Mail.com slash Allie, for 50% off your first year that's start mail.com slash alley. So I want to talk about this New York Times article. It's titled White Evangelical Resistance is Obstacle in Vaccination effort. White evangelicals, we are the medias, the left, the mainstream's favorite scapegoat.

Racism has to do only with white evangelicals. sexism, white evangelicals, random mass murder, probably white evangelicals. Holding the country back in any way, it's definitely white evangelicals. Now, why is this? Because most white evangelicals vote Republican. And we don't go along with the same stances that the mainstream does. Like, we're not down with the gender confusion. We're not down with the critical race theory.

we're not down with most of the moral and the sexual revolution that has been being waged for a very long time, but most fiercely over the past few years. And we have been the loudest voices in opposition to them. So anytime people in the media can use white evangelicals as the scapegoat for all of our country's problems, they're going to. And they're going to make it sound very academic and sound very sophisticated as this article. does white evangelical resistance is obstacle and vaccination effort. Millions of white evangelical adults in the U.S. do not intend to get vaccinated because against COVID-19, tendons of faith and mistrust of science play a role. So does politics. This is something that they love to say. The left loves to say that evangelical Christians don't trust science, that they don't believe in science. And that's why evangelical Christians, white evangelical Christians, not black evangelical Christians, just white evangelical Christians, are opposed to science. And so we're opposed to progress. And so we pose this huge threat to society. Now, you wonder, how has this kind of rhetoric about a

particular group of people played out in the past? Like, has it played out in a way that has created better understanding and respect and a more, a more compassionate society? No, it's just created more resentment and bloodshed and hate. And that's exactly what's happening. by using one group of people along with their faith as a scapegoat for all of their issues. And one of the way they do that, one of the ways they do that is by saying that we don't believe in science. Now, never mind that they are the people who actually believe babies in the womb are clumps of cells and that gender is just something that you choose, that a boy who declares he's a girl

is all of the sudden a girl who doesn't question at all the inconsistencies that we see with climate change of findings, but everyone else, everyone who disagrees with them, they're actually the science deniers. Interesting. This article says the opposition is rooted in a mix of religious faith and a longstanding weariness of mainstream science and it is fueled by broader cultural distrust of institutions and gravitation to online conspiracy theories. This is also something I call Blue and On, as we've talked about before. I didn't come up with that name. It's kind of a meme that's occurred on Twitter. And that is the conspiracy theories

that the left traffics in, like rushing collusion, like the whole Covington thing, like Jesse Smollett, the mainstream of the left, including CNN, MSNBC, latches on to these conspiracy theories, also that Trump was removing voting boxes.

Another blue-in-on conspiracy theory is that voting laws in places like Georgia are akin to Jim Crow. They're blue-in-on conspiracy theories that are much more popular than any conspiracy theory is on the right. There are millions of people on the left, backed by the mainstream, backed by major corporations, backed by big tech companies, backed by mainstream media outlets, backed by democratic politicians on the left versus

this tiny percentage of people on the right who follow something called QAnon, which most people on the right don't even know what that is. There is a percentage of people on the right who follow a conspiracy. theories, there is a huge proportion of people on the left that follow things that have no basis in fact whatsoever. And yet, because they are supported by the mainstream, these kinds of theories, they claim that they're true. But again, they have no basis in reality. They're blue and on conspiracy theories and they turn around and they gaslight people on the right and say, oh, no, they're the science deniers. They're the conspiracy theorists for supposedly questioning

mainstream science. By the way, isn't it scientific to question findings? Do you really want to go back through even just the past 50 years of scientific discovery and point to all of the times that so-called science has been wrong? Like there has been a time in recent history where we have realized that what scientists said about something about a particular medication, about a particular procedure about a particular diagnosis, about a particular vaccine like the rotavirus vaccine. And I'm not saying this as an anti-vaccine person, but there have been times just in the past 30 years where we have realized that doctors, that experts, that scientists are wrong about something. So apparently, according to the New York Times, it is anti-science to question mainstream, so-called mainstream

scientific findings. Of course, they don't give any examples of this, but this is how they try to whip up fear about this group of people, white evangelical Christians, and this is their basis for saying that evangelical Christians are stopping the vaccine rollout program. They say the sheer size of the community poses a major problem for the country's ability to recover from a pandemic. So basically, white evangelicals are killing people. That's what they want to say. Like, that's the narrative that white evangelicals, because of their beliefs, are actually killing people because of opposition to the vaccine. That's what they're trying to get you to believe.

That white evangelicals are actually the virus that is more infectious and more dangerous than any other kind of illness that we may be dealing with. Goes on to say a major problem for the country's ability to recover from a pandemic that has resulted in the deaths of half a million Americans and evangelical ideas and instincts have a way of spreading even internationally. There are about 41 million white evangelical adults in the U.S., about 45% said in late February that they would not get vaccinated against COVID-19, making them among the least likely demographic groups to do so according to the Pew Research Center.

Now, remember, it was Kamala Harris, who just last year said that she was not interested in getting the COVID-19 vaccine if it was developed under Donald Trump. like talk about a conspiracy theorist. So because something is developed under a president that you don't like or you say that you don't trust, you're not going to get the vaccine. But apparently that wasn't a problem. That's not a threat at all. Or perhaps one of the things that is stopping people from trusting the vaccine process is that we have heard a million different contradictory things from Dr. Fauci and the federal government over the past few months about the efficacy of the vaccine, about whether or not. not. It's actually effective about whether or not it actually prevents you from getting the virus or

spreading the virus. That's been the big question. What you will actually be allowed to do, according to the government, if you have the vaccine, how you still have to double mask and you still have to social distance and your kids still can't go to school. So you're telling me the teachers unions and the federal government and Dr. Fauci and all of their inconsistency and their shifting goalposts, that's not what has actually stopped or inhibited the progress of the vaccine distribution programs across the country. It's evangelicals who just pose a threat to it by just expressing some distrust, but just asking some questions about why the goalposts have moved, why the standards have shifted about this novel RNA technology. And by the way, it's not just evangelical

Christians doing those things. It's lots of different kinds of people. that are doing those things. Those are the people that pose a threat and not the inconsistent messages, not the lack of trustworthiness that has been displayed by so-called experts and the media when it comes to this. You're telling me that the media who, for example, said that everyone needed to be locked down in anyone who, any state that did not impose draconian lockdowns and shut down schools and shut down businesses, even as people were losing their jobs, losing their businesses, losing their livelihoods, committing suicide due to loneliness. Any state that did not impose those restrictions were causing people to die. And then what happens? We have riots and we

have mass protests due to the George Floyd incident. And the media says this is great. Why? Because systemic racism is apparently also a public health crisis that is more dire than the coronavirus. So as people were flooding the streets, most of them maskless. The media said that's fine. Dr. Fauci had nothing to say about that. After Joe Biden wins, people again flood the streets, most of them maskless, celebrating in Mosh pits. Media has nothing to say about that.

You're telling me that that hypocrisy is not actually what is causing people to be skeptical about whether or not they want to get the vaccine. You're telling me that the federal government say that there's going to be a vaccine passport that actually tracks you and that whole. hold your personal health information, that's not stopping people, maybe, from getting the vaccine? No. It's white evangelical Christians. Why?

We don't know. But apparently that is what the, that's what the risk is. So, according to Pew Research, white evangelical Christians, 45% of white evangelical Christians will not get the vaccine. Protestants in general, 36% say that they're not going to get the vaccine. Black Protestants, according to Pew Research, 33% say that they will not get the vaccine,

which is actually very interesting, that the group most likely to get the vaccine are atheists. Only 10% said that they're not going to get the vaccine, but people who are nothing. in particular, people who are just kind of unaffiliated, they don't necessarily associate with a particular religion, 36% of those say that they are not going to get the vaccine. So white evangelicals, according to Pew Research, are the least likely to get the vaccine, but 45%. So that means the majority, the majority of white evangelicals are going to get the vaccine.

So I don't know, I don't know really what the point is of this article. This is trying to say that there's a problem with one group that doesn't really exist, that it's trying to, like we've said so many times, scapegoat one group that apparently is not really posing that much of an inhibition. here because the majority of white evangelicals, 54% said that they are going to get vaccinated. 17% have already at least had one dose of white evangelicals. That is the same percentage of black Protestants

that said that they have already gotten one dose. 17%. So I'm just, and that's the same number as agnostics, by the way, 17%. And so this is a fake story. It's a fake story in order to make you scared of white evangelicals in order, again, to try to paint them as the root cause of all of our problems. And it's true that there have been white evangelicals who have told people, hey, don't get the vaccine. This is not something that we need to support.

Or we're scared of the vaccine or it's the mark of the beast. Yes, absolutely. there are certainly people who identify as white evangelicals who have done that. But the numbers that are linked to in this article don't actually support the idea that white evangelicals are really the stumbling block to vaccine distribution. And like I said, can we not consider all of the other factors that might be making people skeptical when it comes to this? No, of course not.

Of course not. Because this is about a particular narrative. they even bring up the January 6th Capitol siege, which again, they try to link to the problem of Christian nationalism among white evangelicals. And the idea that the Capitol siege, that insurrection, that storming, that right of the Capitol, which we've talked about was atrocious on this podcast, the idea that that has to do with evangelicalism, that that's what actually caused that. that's another blue and on conspiracy theory. Like there are no pervasive facts that actually, that actually back that up. There are also Catholic bishops as well

who have expressed concerns about the abortion link. But the Vatican concluded that the vaccines are morally acceptable. However, there are many Catholics who are skeptical about this, in particular because of the pro-life aspects of it, of the experimentation or of the usage of fetal cells in some of these vaccines. although according to Pew Research, the vast majority of Catholics do say that they will get, that they will get the vaccine. So this is another example, not just of trying to hoist white evangelicals up as the problem in our society when it comes to all different aspects, but also the media refusing to look at their own faults, to look at their own hypocrisy, look at the last.

look at the lack of trust in the institutions that we have, including in the media and maybe taking some of the blame for that. They seem completely unable to do that. They are always perpetually, continually blinded by their own arrogance and completely, completely unable to be able to take fault for anything that they might have caused or any conspiracy theory that they may have pushed. It's always someone else. It's always Republicans. It's always conservatives in some way. Okay, let's quickly talk about this question about whether or not the vaccine is the mark of the beast. I think most of you are not concerned with this, but there are some people who are wondering this. And so maybe this is what the New York Times is worried about or talking about that some people

are afraid that this is actually a sign of the end times. And the reason is because the Bible talks about that the mark of the beast is something that is going to have to be taken in order to buy or to sell in order to be participatory in the economy at all. And so people are worried about these vaccine passports for that particular reason, too, although I would say, I mean, even as Pew Research says, the vast majority or just the majority of white evangelicals are okay with the vaccine plan to take the vaccine. And I would say most white evangelicals are not worried about the vaccine passport being assigned it in times, but actually a sign of our surrendering of our privacy and our liberty. But for those who are wondering about

this being the mark of the beast, let's read Revelation 13 through 16 or Revelation 13, 16 through 17 that can tell us about the mark of the beast. Also, also, Also, it causes all both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand. This is the Antichrist, marked on the right hand or the forehead so that no one can buy or sell. And so that is the, that's the, that's the indication of what the mark of the beast is, unless he has the mark, they can't buy or sell the name of the beast or the number of its name. And so I really like this research, got questions.org. It's run by people who are very theologically solid and I think trustworthy when it comes to this. And if you just ask them the question, they will specify exactly what the mark of the beast is. They say we don't know what

this mark is going to look like. A while ago, some thought it was a stamp or a tattoo of the number 666. More recently, people thought it might be a barcode. Now popular speculations that the mark of the beast will be an implanted microchip that allows access to their digital currency, but we have no way of knowing what form the mark of the beast will take.

Some people fear that they've already taken the mark of the beast, that they may have done something at some point that made them take it and they didn't realize it, but that's not the case because it's got questions.org points out very rightly

and very biblically is that the mark of the beast doesn't exist yet. A literal reading of revelation and other end times prophecy in the Bible shows that there is a schedule for the in times events. Now, this also depends on if you're, if you are a pre-millennialist or post-millennialist, we've done podcasts on this before. I've talked to Jeff Durbin about this on two separate podcasts. I've done my own podcast on what I believe about the end times.

He is post-millennialist, Jeff Durbin. I am pre-millennialist. but post-tribulation. And so all of this also depends on what you believe about the end times based on what scripture says. But there's a timeline of in-times events that most Christians don't believe have actually all the way played out yet, which means that the mark of the beast cannot actually exist

until the beast himself is in power during the tribulation. Now, some people could say that the tribulation may be happening right now. if you're post-tribulation like I am. I don't think that the Bible actually points to that, though, that that is what is currently happening. But we do know that the mark of the beast cannot exist until the beast himself is in power. There is nothing anyone can do today

until the beast is in power to get or take or receive the mark of the beast, whether it's tattoos, whether it's blasphemy, whether it is some kind of microchip. That's not happening right now. Now, some people have said maybe this is conditioning people to take the mark of the beast. That's speculation.

The fact of the matter is we don't have any biblical evidence to believe that right now, according to the timeline of in-times events, that any kind of vaccine or vaccine passport right now is the mark of the beast. Now, there's another question that I think got. Questions.org does a really good job of biblically answering. And that question is, is it possible to be saved or forgiven if you have taken the mark of the beast? So first they set it up by saying the mark of the beast is a mark that will be placed on a person's forehead or right hand in the times, in the end times. This is a sign of allegiance to the Antichrist, Revelation 13, 15 through 18.

So that's another important thing is that the Bible is very specific about where the mark is going to be. And I should have mentioned this earlier, that the Bible says that it is is going to be on a person's forehead or their right hand. So it says this in chapter 13, it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also, it causes all, both small and great,

both rich and poor, both slave and free to be marked on the right hand or forehead so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark. That is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understand. and calculate the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is 666. And so that gives us context, a little more context for the original scripture that we read, that it's actually very specific where the mark of the beast is going to be and in general what

it's going to look like. So us trying to deduce that it's actually going to look like something else or it's going to be digital, it doesn't actually, that's not what the Bible actually supports. And so Got Questions.org goes on to say, why is taking the mark of the beast a damnable sin against God, which the Bible says that it is? Why would God condemn a person to hell for taking the mark of the beast? It would appear that taking the mark of the beast will be a blasphemous act of willful defiance against God. Receiving the mark of the beast is essentially worshipping Satan because Revelation says that it is the worship of the beast that is going to be required or else you are going to be slain. And so it is synonymous with Satan worship.

It's basically pledging allegiance to Satan. So I don't think that we have to worry about, oh, what is it? Are we going to be able to decipher it? The Bible is very clear about what it's going to be. The vaccine or the vaccine passport just doesn't fit the bill in the description of what Revelation 13 says that the mark of the beast will actually be. And plus, if we believe what the Bible says about God, choosing those that he is going to save beforehand as Ephesians 1 makes very clear. Romans 9 makes very clear, then you don't have to worry.

You're safe. Like you are God's chosen one. Romans 8 says that there's nothing that can separate you as a believer from the love of Christ. So God is going to keep you. He is going to protect you. He is going to help you persevere. And so I have lots of concerns about the vaccine passport.

I have lots of concerns about privacy and liberty. I really do. But one of my concerns is not that this is the mark of the beast. One of my concerns is not that this is necessarily going to bring about the end times. Now, we don't know the day or the hour when Jesus is going to come back, but we do have some good indications from the Bible of when that's going to be. And so if you have concerns with the vaccine, okay, that's fine. But don't allow this to be one of them because I don't think that we have the biblical support

for that particular concern. I think our responsibility is still to make the best decisions possible, using all the discernment that we have, using all of the wisdom that we have. As we talked about yesterday, we've got wisdom from the Holy Spirit and from the Word of God. And God has placed you in this time, in this place for a specific reason. That wasn't a mistake.

It wasn't arbitrary. And so your job as a Christian is continuing to be that light on the hill that can't be hidden or shouldn't be hidden, as Jesus says, by covering it up. But instead, double down on the gospel, double down on your generosity, double down on your kindness, double down on your boldness. The only thing that's ever going to change anything is hearts being changed by the gospel. And so it doesn't matter how the media casts you. It doesn't matter if people categorize you as a Christian as the sole problem for our sole cause of all of society's problems. You hold fast to the Lord.

You hold fast to the gospel. You continue to allow him to be your hope and you share that hope with other people completely unashamedly. That is what we are called to do in the in times and today, no matter what confronts us. Yes, I understand why the media, why people on the left, why the mainstream, why bureaucracies don't like Christians, evangelical Christians, Christians who actually believe in the Bible and try to live out the Bible. I get it.

Like Christians, in particular, reformed Christians have been, as I've said, many times a thorn in the side of tyrants for our entire existence, simply because we choose to declare and believe that Jesus is king and our obedience is to him first before anything else. And the whole idea that that has somehow caused a problem rather than helping create some of the greatest and the most generous and charitable and freest societies in the world, of course, is a false narrative that we can expect by people who have been deluded with falsehood. That's not to say that Christians haven't done bad things in the name of Christian, or people haven't done bad things in the name of Christianity,

or accepted or condoned bad things in the name of Christianity, because they absolutely have. But remember, it was from the power of the gospel that William Wilberforce and other abolitionists fought to end slavery. It was through the love of Christ and the power of. of the gospel, the image bearers of color, have pushed for true rights and true equality. And we're not talking about the critical race theory craziness that we see today, but true equality and equal treatment under the law.

It has been the doctrine of equality under God. The idea that we were all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights among them being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that every man and woman is equal in that sense. It has been that idea, that doctrine that has allowed for and perpetuated and inspired more progress over the past few centuries than any other idea or doctrine. And so, yes, tyrants are always going to hate that. Tyranny is always going to hate that. They're always going to scapegoat that type of doctrine and the people that hold to that doctrine,

but we hold fast to it because that's what we believe and we live it out by loving God with all of our hearts, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourself. Also, call your representative, call your state senator, make sure that they are on the side of liberty and privacy because even though our hope is in heaven, even though our hope is in eternity, I do think that we are obligated as people who occupy this finite space, occupy this here and this now, to seek the welfare, seek the benefit of, seek the liberty of our families and our neighbors. All right, that's all I got for today. I'll see you guys back here tomorrow.