This Bigger Pandemic Sweeping the World is Bigger than Corona... And You May Not Even be Aware!

With all this talk about Corona Virus and the various variants of the pandemic, we are missing a much larger pandemic sweeping our world that has graver consequences. And you may not even be aware of its existence!

This pandemic is as old as the ages, and runs rampant in society. It has caused the greatest of nations to fall and led billions astray for centuries.

It has devoured the hearts of mankind and consumed the egos of power-hungry leaders, celebrities, government officials, neighbors, and even friends and family members.

What is it that I speak of? It's called Idolatry. What exactly is idolatry?

By definition, idolatry is the "religious worship of idols," or "excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, etc." and includes such synonyms as "obsession, madness, mania" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).

A well known example of idolatry is found in the Bible when Moses led the children of Israel through the wilderness, and they grew impatient waiting on him, as he ascended up Mount Sanai to meet with God. The Israelites built for themselves a golden calf to worship. Meantime, Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments, where God addressed idolatry in the very first and second commandments, which state:

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments." - Exodus 20:2-6 NKJV

While the majority of us may not bow down to statues and images of false idols (albeit many religions, today, certainly do still worship false gods), idolatry can also be metaphoric or figurative. For example, the obsessive pursuit of fame, money, material things, power, or position is a metaphoric form of idolatry. Figuratively, the extreme admiration, devotion, or attraction to something or someone, such as a celebrity whom you "idolize, is equally as dangerous.

It is one thing to admire someone or something. It's another to become so obsessed with that figure we lose all common sense in our judgment.

The pandemic sweeping across the world right now is blatantly obvious. And, unfortunately, it involves the shameless mishandling of the COVID vaccine. As government officials have pounded the demand for mask and vaccine mandates, it has led to tyranny, a false sense of security, fear among the citizens, and ultimately idolizing "the shot" as the savior of humanity against the potentially lethal virus.

To give you a little background, I was hospitalized with COVID-19 in August 2020 for six days. It was the worst experience I have been through health-wise. Granted, I'm in my early fifties and have some minor health challenges, but overall in pretty good shape. Nonetheless, this virus attacked me full-force to the point the doctor's first words to me, when I arrived at the hospital by ambulance, were, "It is a good thing you came in. If you do exactly what we tell you to do, you'll get through this and be okay. But, if you don't, you'll likely end up on a ventilator, and I'm not sure I can save you."

Talk about slapping you with a reality check you were not prepared to face, it got my attention! I immediately realized I may be on my way out! My exit was closer than I thought!

Granted I was not immunized, largely because I was not yet convinced that the immunizations didn't come with a plethora of their own side effects nor was I convinced they were as successful as everyone preached! After my stint in the hospital, I was most definitely more persuaded and leaning toward everyone getting the vaccine because side effects or not, it couldn't be worse than getting COVID!

However, additional research, education, and the overwhelming beating in a tyrannical manner by so called "experts" and public leaders, quickly persuaded me back to the other side of being less convinced the vaccine was a positive idea for me.

While there are certainly no right or wrong answers when it comes to the personal decision of getting the vaccine or not, the bigger picture focuses on the chaotic and tyrannical demand for people to get vaccinated. Never in history has any other pandemic been politicized by power-hungry public figures who spread fear as a manipulative tactic to demand herd response! Like a wildfire, the haunting message that everyone was going to die if they didn't get vaccinated, became the mantra of social progressives.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that getting vaccinated is a dumb idea, nor do I condemn anyone who made that choice for themselves. What I am concerned about is how the fear has created a widespread division amongst families, schools, employers, healthcare, and individuals.

It is important for each of us, as individuals, to first, pray about the vaccine and second, become more educated about the effects of vaccination versus natural immunity, and not just rely upon the talking heads to persuade us one way or another.

There is an excellent article written by Dr. Michel C. Nussenzweig, who is a Senior Physician Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor for the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology that simplifies the complex understanding of the vaccine vs. natural immunity. CLICK HERE to READ THE ARTICLE.

In this article, Dr. Nussenzweig shares the pros and cons of the vaccine versus natural immunity. As it turns out, the vaccine causes a more immediate defense against COVID, but has short-lived effectiveness. Hence the reason you need more than one dose and a series of boosters. On the other side of the coin, natural immunity has a more immediate danger of catching COVID (which can be deadly), but has long-term effectiveness, if you survive.

Both provide significant risk factors. Both have long-term effects that are both positive and negative. Suffering from what they are now calling "long-COVID," which refers to the long-term issues one may have after contracting the virus, I understand why people are getting vaccinated. I also understand why people are not getting vaccinated as studies are also showing people developing issues after getting the vaccine.

No matter which way you are persuaded, the fact is both are individual decisions and neither are right or wrong. And no one should be condemned, scrutinized, or publicly ostracized over his/her individual decision. The truth of the matter is we are all exposed to COVID. It has now reached the level where no one can escape exposure and more than catching the flu or the common cold.

In fact, COVID has been around for decades. In fact, the common cold, bronchitis, flu, and many respiratory infections are part of the COVID family. In fact, if you look on the label of an old Lysol can (prior to 2019), you'll see it mentions it kills 99.9% of several viruses, including Coronovirus.

Nonetheless, the propaganda spread throughout the world, condemning the unvaccinated and treating those who remain unconvinced that the vaccine is the right choice for themselves, is massively creating a form of idol worship! The vaccine is not the savior! It may or may not be effective, and whether or not you choose to be vaccinated or not is fine, as long as you are not of the belief that it is going to save you.

I have known vaccinated people who have died from COVID just the same as unvaccinated. I was fortunate to have been one of the unvaccinated patients who overcame COVID and survived. Yet, my dear aunt, who was vaccinated passed away just days after getting COVID. And there are many vaccinated surviving COVID and unvaccinated dying from it, just the same.

What is most important is that we do not allow this to divide our nation, our families, our friendships, our employment, our schools, and ourselves as a means of idolizing a supposed "cure-all" to preventing the contagion. God is our only savior.

It is written - if you so choose to read the Bible - that in the last days, such things would happen. Take time to read Jeremiah, Isaiah, Revelation, and Daniel. You'll learn far more about what is really happening in the world from a book written over 2000 years ago than you will from CNN, NBC, Fox News, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, BBC, or any other news program. You might be shocked to learn all of this was already foretold. We are witnesses to prophetic fulfillment. And idolatry is just as rampant in many forms, today, as it was in the days of old.

That, we must be wise about and beware of its consequences. And the vaccine, mask, and myriad mandates being pushed by our government is manipulative and controlling - just as it was written by the prophets of old. True freedom comes from a relationship with our Lord and Savior, and not Biden and Fauci.