Report of meeting with Sir Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland , and senior members of his staff, via ‘ZOOM’ on Thursday, 16th December 2021.
A meeting had been requested with Health Department officials by some evangelical Christians some time ago, though the good auspices of Mr Jim Wells, MLA and former Health Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
In attendance from the Department of Health were: Sir Michael McBride (Chief Medical Officer), Professor Ian Young (Chief Scientific Officer), Mr. Chris Garland (Chief Pharmaceutical Officer), Mr. Martin Coleman (Deputy Chief Pharmaceutical Officer), Mr. David Gordon (Chief Press Officer)
The members of the Christian delegation were Rev Brian McClung, minister of Newtownabbey Free Presbyterian Church, Rev Daniel Henderson of Moneyslane FPC, Mr Peter Johnston, an elder in Portadown Independent Methodist Church and Rev Ivan Foster, retired FPC minister.
I think it right to record that the delegation was received courteously and were encouraged by the fact that Sir Michael himself took part in the meeting even though we had expected to meet the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Chada. It seemed to indicate that there was a measure of recognition that the views of the Christian delegation were worthy of being noted.
The main purpose of the meeting was to register just why there were those in Ulster who felt unable to avail themselves of the Covid-19 vaccinations currently offered by the Government because of the use that was made of the foetal material from an aborted baby in the development and testing of the vaccines.
As well as this, the issue of ethical vaccines presently available in some ninety countries, including many in Europe, was pressed upon the representatives of the Health Department. The question of why such vaccines were not available in the United Kingdom was pursued.
It was the united witness of the Christian delegation that it was strongly felt that it was morally wrong to seek to safeguard our health through the murder of an innocent unborn baby.
The delegation also reminded the medics that, while it is often said that the baby, who was used in the development of the vaccines, was aborted in the 1970s and therefore considered by some to be long enough ago to be dismissed and forgotten, that the Lord does not think in this manner! The instance of the murder of Abel by his brother Cain was mentioned and even though it took place a very long time ago, it had not been forgotten by the Lord and Cain would yet stand before Him to be judged for that crime!
In truth Christian reader, there is only one case where it is proper and right to obtain benefits from the death of another and that is the instance set forth in the Gospel – “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit,” 1 Peter 3:18.
The vital and stark contrast between the Saviour’s death, from which all believers eternally benefit, and that of the little one whose body was used in the development of the vaccines presently offered was that the Saviour died VOLUNTARILY and WILLINGLY by a decision made by Himself and His Father in eternity. He was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” Revelation 13:8. Out of love for His elect, the Lord Jesus, of His own volition, offered Himself upon the cross an atoning sacrifice for sin. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10.
How different was the case of the little one from whose small mortal remains extensive use has been made, likely in the developing of many vaccines and experimentations! That little one was murdered! Wrenched from its mother’s womb in a most unspeakably cruel manner and used in this inhuman fashion and counted as something disposable and valueless, except for the use made of its body by men in the producing of a vaccine and, most importantly, a huge amount of money for pharmaceutical companies.
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The witness of the Christian delegation was respectfully heard and the sincerity of such views acknowledged. Mr Wells pressed home the fact that our objections to the vaccines were shared by many others outside the ‘evangelical Protestant’ community. The response he had received after the news of the purpose of the meeting was announced in the press indicated that many Roman Catholic people were glad to know that there would be a pressing upon the Health Department that there those who had moral objections to the use of such vaccines as were devised from the use of foetal material from an aborted baby.
What was chiefly learned by the delegation was that the making available of ethical vaccines, presently in use in many European countries and endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), simply put, depended upon the manufacturers of these vaccines applying for registration with the British authorities, and that being obtained, the vaccines would then be available throughout the UK.
We would urge Christians to pray that this might come about. It was pointed out to the medical representative present that the vaccines are proving much less effective than the ‘silver bullet’ it was claimed they would provide when first introduced. That being so, and in the light of the evolving of the virus to the confounding of medical authorities, then a new approach to vaccines may be forced upon the medical world and out of that perhaps an ethical vaccine may emerge.