Over 1,000 church leaders, as well as over 7,000 church members and participants, voiced their objection to the implementation of a "vaccine passport" scheme in Australia in an open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The letter, called The Ezekiel Declaration, was written by three pastors from Queensland who pledged to fiercely oppose any "vaxx certificate system" that was imposed on the church, reports the Caldron Pool.
The letter was written by Timothy Grant of Mount Isa Baptist Church, Matthew Littlefield of New Beith Baptist Church, and Warren McKenzie of Biota Baptist Church when it became apparent that there were few citizens opposing the growing "medical two-tiered society."
"For many Christian leaders and Christians, this is an untenable proposal that would inflict terrible consequences on our nation," reads the letter in part.
Listing five reasons for their objection, the letter notes that the current generation is not the first to be confronted with the issue of "vaccine passports."
It quoted Christian theologian Abraham Kuyper-- who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1901 to 1905-- who wrote in 1880 the necessity to forgo vaccination certificates.
"Vaccination certificates will therefore have to go... The form of tyranny hidden in these vaccination certificates is just as real a threat to the nation's spiritual resources as a smallpox epidemic itself," wrote Kuyper.
Thus, the letter argued that "free citizens" should have the opportunity to give their permission, particularly when the vaccination deployment is being referred to as a "clinical trial."
A "vaccine passport," the group said, would only symbolize a hazardous abyss of tyranny that would not foster freedom and wellbeing, but would rather dehumanize and subjugate its people under the guise of "personal health and safety."
The second argument given was that a sizable part of the population is already overburdened and on the brink of hopelessness. It says that, unsurprisingly, government leaders were obliged to declare a state of emergency in March 2020. The danger was unknown at the time, and the world's capacity to deal with it had not been tried.
However, the negative consequences of permanent lockdowns were exposed in 2021, including an increase in suicide, since long-term seclusion has psychological effects on many.
Aside from psychological consequences, the letter highlighted missed diagnoses of other diseases by physicians or patients remaining at home, the impact on delayed and incoherent education of children, young people graduating into a closed economy, finding it impossible to find employment, and poverty.
Their third point of contention was that one's conscience should never be forced.
"A government should never coerce conscience, but rather respect the important function that it carries in aiding a person to worship God freely and live obediently before the state," said the letter. "As we have noted, Jesus commands Christians to count the cost, and many believers do not feel that we have all the information necessary to make a decision on this vaccine at this point in time."
Consequently, they call on the Australian government to refrain from using a "vaccine passport" which would force many people in the country to violate their conscience.
Fourth, making vaccination a requirement so people can get back to their normal lives would be counterproductive to safeguarding others.
As an example, the letter cited a CDC research that found that "74% of people infected in Massachusetts Covid outbreak were fully vaccinated," emphasizing in particular that the four who were vaccinated were hospitalized.
"As it is evident that vaccines do not prevent infection, to restrict a person's access to society based on a medical choice is questionable," states the letter.
The fifth objection came from Christian leaders, who said that they "find it untenable that we would be expected to refuse entry into our churches to a subgroup of society based on their medical choice."
They claim that only Jesus Christ has the right to set the rules of corporate worship, which instruct them not to discriminate based on race or medical preference.
"I knew many Christians were confused by this," Pastor Littlefield told Caldron Pool in a statement.
"They want to know what pastors are thinking. So many people have heard Christians argue in apologetics that the Church has done much good for society, and now when so much is happening, the Church appears silent," he added.
Those who want to read and even sign the letter can do so here.
