TEXAS, Odessa (BNc) – This appeal is from a sister in Christ who is a dedicated Christian and a dedicated surgeon. She herself had a serious case of Covid-19 that greatly reduced her activity for many months.
Faye Armstrong-Paap – Friends, COVID is getting worse really fast here in Odessa. A month ago we were running 0-2 COVID patients in house. We admitted 11 yesterday morning! We are running about 1 vaccinated patient for every 7 unvaccinated patients. And the sickest patients are unvaccinated.
Yesterday, our outpatient OR was closed to accommodate the large number of COVID patients being admitted because we don’t have enough beds in the hospital. My ability to do surgery and scopes was cut in half (or more!).
The Delta variant is here big time! We in medicine need your help to avoid being overwhelmed! PLEASE reconsider getting the vaccine if you haven’t yet. It doesn’t completely protect you, but it gives HUGE protection from severe illness, hospitalization and death. The safety is very good. They are free and easy to get.
Please! For you. For your family. For your community. For your medical community.
If you still aren’t sure, private message me or reach out to your doctor.
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Dr. Faye Armstrong-Paap MD is a general surgery specialist in Odessa, Texas and has over 34 years of experience in the field of medicine.
To answer a question from a reader, in Ector County, 39% have had one dose and 32% are fully vaccinated. 1 in 8 is 12.5%. Thus, the 32% of fully vaccinated people account for only 12.5% of those being hospitalized.
2021-08-12 at 7:00 am
I do not believe this is the forum for such a post. It leads a person to believe that only unvaccinated people can catch or spread Covid and that simply is not true! Almost all the people I see who are catching Covid have already been vaccinated, so we need to be very careful what is posted on this Covid subject. Instilling fear within the brotherhood is not good.
2021-08-12 at 10:39 am
Amen!!
2021-08-12 at 7:47 am
Do you REALLY want to open this discussion here? Are you prepared to compare the opinion of a general surgeon with those of epidemiologists and others, including the inventor of mRNA technology? To compare the numbers in Odessa, Texas to those in Israel, Palestine, and Sweden? If you are going to publish the opinion of this dedicated sister in Christ, I believe you really obligate yourself to do likewise for other, equally dedicated, brothers and sisters in Christ.
2021-08-12 at 10:39 am
Amen!!
2021-08-12 at 8:51 am
This is a fact-based news item reporting the appeal of a front-line health worker. Some comments by those objecting indicate that they did not carefully read the item. Factual news items are welcome. Several reports of Covid-19 deaths among Christians have already been published.
2021-08-12 at 9:43 am
I love you Brother, but the article is one-sided and to say it is fact based news is also one-sided. People will get Covid and people will die from Covid….99.7% will fully recover from Covid. To propagate a shot that doesn’t work is not the sort of thing I support. Unfortunately, many of our older folks have 100% faith in local news and main stream media….this is a huge mistake. As Christians, we are commanded to test all things…unfortunately, watching local and National news is not testing. It’s obvious to me that we will not agree on this topic, but all sides of the issue need to be seen and heard.
2021-08-13 at 12:02 pm
Agree. In an article such as this, both sides should be shown.
2021-08-12 at 10:38 am
It is appalling that you have posted this here. You have greatly discredited yourself and this platform. Of all the places we should be able to go without having satanic government propaganda shoved down our throats, it should be here. I’m infuriated that you allowed this to come into “Brotherhood” News. God is NOT the author of fear. Your faith is not in Him if you can post this sort of fear-mongering disinformation in a place that should be faith-based and faith-building!!
2021-08-12 at 11:25 am
Brother, you make reference to ‘objectors’ in the plural, and since there have (thus far) only been two of us who have objected, clearly I am included in your accusation of “not carefully reading the item.” This ad hominem attack is uncalled for. I assure you, I read it carefully, and repeatedly. I am personally aware of Covid deaths among Christians as well, including a fellow gospel preacher. I can also tell you that my youngest daughter, her new husband and her mother in law all contracted Covid simultaneously, that her husband and mother in law both struggled with it much more than she did, and that of the three, she was the only one unvaccinated. Israel has a high level of vaccinations, while Palestine has a low level, yet Israel also has a high level of Covid cases and reports a high percentage of serious cases are among the vaccinated. Sweden also has a low vaccination rate, and a low level of cases.
My point, and I believe that of Paul, is that this does not seem the proper forum for the debate. Unless, perchance, to discuss whether the vaccine is close enough to the abortion of innocent babies to present a moral dilemma?
2021-08-12 at 2:41 pm
Disclaimer: Negative reactions to this news item have been published to allow reader response. Various claims in the reactions are not substantiated, however, and should be checked for accuracy before acceptance.
2021-08-12 at 2:56 pm
In fairness, claims in the article itself should be checked as well for accuracy because they are also reactions that are not substantiated. Additionally, I do not believe my reactions to the article are negative…because I am positive the shots do not work and are not effective and also testing of the issue at hand by Christians is imperative.
2021-08-12 at 7:35 pm
Comments here by members of the C of C are one indication why we are losing 50 congregations per year in the U.S.
2021-08-13 at 3:38 am
Are you absolutely sure the comments are the reason? Maybe, just maybe it’s because we stopped commenting 40 years ago. You make it sound like Christians should not have a voice but to follow blindly. Personally, I thought the comments were meant to inform…how did you receive them? We’re the comments out of line? We’re they in error? Thank you.
2021-08-13 at 8:07 am
My comments are not intended to promote one position on the vaccines over another position, but to illustrate my point that this, in my opinion, is not the appropriate forum for the discussion, and that are are two (or more) sides to this very controversial debate. There are plenty of much more appropriate forums for it. I disagree that this is a “news Item;” it is an appeal, and not one which has anything to do with the work of the church.
As far as losing congregations, I believe it only fair to point out that we were losing congregations long before the pandemic began, to say nothing of when these comments began. We’ve been losing congregations since the first century! I believe there are a number of reasons for today’s loss of congregations, including ever increasing liberalism, teaching the Lord’s church is simply another denomination, abandoning the truth on any number of topics such as the Bible’s teaching on the role of women, the sin of the homosexual lifestyle, the use of mechanical instruments of music, and even the necessity of water immersion for the remission of sins. In the congregation for which I preach, we have members who have trust the vaccines, members who aren’t sure but have been vaccinated, and members who believe the vaccines, are dangerous, unnecessary, or immoral. Yet we love one another dearly, and are grateful to be able to worship our Creator together in spirit and in truth. Our attendance has not dropped!
This has been a very sad and disappointing experience. The ad hominem attacks on those who dare to question “the orthodoxy” have certainly been eye-opening.
2021-08-12 at 7:53 pm
According to Yahoo News, Dr. Scott Harris, an Alabama Health Officer said on Saturday, August 7, 2021 that of the 11,600 COVID deaths in Alabama only 26 were fully vaccinated. That says much to me.
2021-08-12 at 10:31 pm
I don’t believe those numbers. My daughter works in a hospital, and she noticed they/the media/who knows, were lying about the numbers.
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Fact-check by Roy Davison: Sandi, I am disappointed that someone who researches her books so well, would make a statement like the above. I have fact-checked it, and whether you believe it or not, the statement by Dr. Patrick S. Harris is correct. Of course, many of the 11,500 Covid deaths in Alabama occurred before a vaccine was available, but of the 2,379 COVID-19 deaths reported in Alabama from January 19 through June 30, 2021, only 25 deaths were reported among those identified as fully vaccinated, showing that 99 percent of all Covid-19 deaths in Alabama, even just since January 19th, have occurred in unvaccinated persons.
2021-08-13 at 12:06 pm
So, I’m not allowed to state what my daughter witnessed first-hand? What she experienced and witnessed causes me to doubt. This whole pandemic has ultimately been about the vaccine, not the cure which is readily available and not used.
2021-08-13 at 8:38 am
Some people trust Yahoo News, some trust what is frequently called “the mainstream media,” and some don’t. I don’t criticize you for choosing to believe them. Nor do I criticize those who believe Israel’s channel 13 TV news, on which on Aug. 5, Dr. Kobi Haviv, medical director of Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem, said in an interview, “95% of the severe patients are vaccinated.” Furthermore, “85-90% of the hospitalizations are in fully vaccinated people” and the hospital is “opening more and more COVID wards.”
Note by Roy Davison: Herzog Hospital specializes in nursing care for the elderly most of whom have been vaccinated in Israel. Dr. Haviv recommends that all people get vaccinated and that the elderly receive a booster.
2021-08-13 at 11:31 am
AGAIN, my point is that some people accept “news” from some sources, some from others, and because of that this mess was foreseeable. There is a ton of material out there (I don’t want to label it as either information or misinformation) and it is unreasonable to expect everyone to agree on what sources are more credible. I have listened to interviews with a number of medical professionals, including epidemiologists (not general surgeons) and front-line doctors actually and directly treating patients for Covid, and found them to have very different professional opinions on the proper treatment and prevention of this disease. I believe my assertion in my original post that this is an inappropriate forum for this discussion has been more than validated -especially by the responses of the host. I’m disappointed; I’ve read a fair bit of your writings and have been impressed. Clearly I have offended you, and I am sorry for that. You certainly have taken this very personally. Is perhaps sister Armstrong-Paap a friend of yours? You identify her as “a dedicated Christian,” and while I certainly don’t have any reason to question her faith, it seems rather a bold description in a piece presented as a “fact-based news item.”
2021-08-12 at 7:54 pm
Which vaccine do you suggest? The Johnson & Johnson that was produced using aborted baby cells, or the mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer), which are discouraged by Dr. Robert Malone (the inventor of the mRNA technology) because it’s sending spike protein instructions to our DNA? The DNA that God Himself created. Wasn’t what God made good enough? Isn’t the immune system God came up with efficient? My faith is in God our Creator, not in a man-made vaccine that can do damage to what He has created.
God has given us an amazing immune system, and I completely trust His creation and what He has done for us. For example, God has created cryptolepis, an herb (what I call God-made, not man-made) and it’s currently being studied by the FDA in Ghana as a possible cure for COVID-19. I have this here at home, and anyone can get it on Amazon. I’ve been told it has similar properties as hydroxychloroquine that doctors (who actually care about their patients) are using to cure COVID-19. I won’t even begin to say why doctors aren’t “treating” patients for this virus, using the excuse they have to follow protocol or lose their license. All I know is these higher-ups will have to answer to God for what they’re doing, or not doing.
There’s a reason God is the Great Physician. His powers are not limited to our spiritual health. God is ALL powerful, so why shouldn’t we trust Him? FULLY trust Him instead of living in fear? Isn’t that what this pandemic is about? Fear? Isn’t that why people are getting vaccinated? Because they’re afraid?
My faith is in God, not in “Pharmakeia” (Ancient Greek definition): Sorcery, witchcraft, and drug administration fostered by worshipping idols. Modern term is “Pharmacology.” The science dealing with the preparation, uses, and especially the effects of drugs. Couldn’t this be translated to “Drug administration fostered by worshipping modern technology”? I’m afraid many of us are indeed putting too much of our “faith” in modern technology.
I’m not saying God doesn’t use science for good. I’m not saying all doctors have bad intentions. I simply refuse to put all my faith and complete trust in these mere human beings. Many of us have forgotten what physicians did to our first President. “Oh, but we’ve come a long way since then. Haven’t we?” Yes, we have, because we learned from SCRIPTURE that “life is in the blood.” So because we looked to God for answers, we certainly have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. And I don’t trust man, especially not those who don’t acknowledge God the Father. They’ve had a cure for cancer since ancient times, and they’re still “searching” for a cure through modern man-made (NOT God-made) medicine. When I was five they were collecting money for cancer research on the Lawrence Welk show. I’m fifty, so that was forty-five years ago, and they still haven’t found a cure. But they’ve found one for COVID? Please forgive me for not believing it and not wanting to risk the lives of my family.
My aunt who was healthy as a horse got the COVID shot and four weeks later had a stroke. She fell into an autoimmune spiral and now has cancer all over her body. The doctor said her immune system was not acting like it should, and now she’s dying. According to the doctor, it was from the shot. She apparently had some “underlying issue” that no one knew about and they still can’t find. My sister’s childhood friend got the shot and he died three weeks later in his sleep. A number of friends who got it now have Bell’s palsy. Our family is also at risk for anaphylactic shock, so we are told not to take the “vaccine.” I’m also immune compromised and therefore shouldn’t take it. A dear friend died from contracting COVID by being surrounded by several of his grown children who got the shot. And there’s more I won’t mention.
We have heard people say the benefit of the many outweighs the loss of a few. This statement should horrify us. God knows when a single sparrow falls to the ground. Don’t they think the death of those “few” who are made in His image matter to Him? Jesus Himself says, “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows,” Luke 12:7b. Again, there’s that command we see throughout the entire Bible, “Do not fear.” Or does that command not apply to pandemics? If we don’t want to be afraid and want to trust in God, we should ask God to number our days. That way we’ll leave this earth on His timetable and on His terms, whether it’s from the pandemic, cancer, an automobile accident, or old age. “You do not have because you don’t ask,” James 4:2c. Eventually, we’re all gonna die of something. So why not ask for it to be on His terms? Then we don’t have to worry or be fearful.
2 Chronicles 16:12-13, “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. So Asa lay down with his fathers and died in the forty-first year of his of his reign.”
This all comes down to a faith issue. Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
If your faith in God leads you to trust in this experimental, man-made drug, that’s your choice. Please don’t push us to do this if we wish to put our faith in GOD alone.
2021-08-12 at 9:10 pm
Well said. I am so thankful for you and for your comment. Hopefully many will read it who have been wondering around in the dark.
2021-08-13 at 2:31 am
It is sad that anyone would say: “This all comes down to a faith issue.” As was stated in the news item, if you have questions, consult your doctor. I still have a scar on my arm from a smallpox vaccination my generation received when I was a child. I thank God that the horrible disease smallpox has been eradicated! Have you ever seen someone in an iron lung? I have. Do you even know what an iron lung is? When I was a child, we received a polio vaccine. In 1952 there were 20,000 cases of polio in the U.S. Hundreds of people were kept alive only by spending the rest of their lives in an iron lung. Through vaccination, type 2 and 3 wild polioviruses have been eradicated worldwide and endemic circulation of type 1 wild poliovirus persists only in two countries. Let us not dishonor God by twisting Scripture to question someone’s faith who wishes to make use of medical remedies that have been provided by the grace of God.
2021-08-13 at 3:29 am
I believe you are a well intentioned person and you are trying, but I also believe you are woefully uninformed about what is going on in our nation and the world. To compare polio and smallpox with what is happening today with Covid is an indicator that you don’t understand. Even cursory and superficial research into the Covid shots should give a person pause. Unfortunately, you seem to have blinders on and follow aimlessly without testing at all or using the good sense that God gives all of us. But, it’s not surprising….Satan fooled Eve and Adam right off the bat. I wish you well.
2021-08-13 at 8:01 am
The polio vaccine and the mRNA vaccine used for COVID are two different types of vaccines. One has a long history and other is still being tested for long term side effects.
It is unscientific to not discuss potential side effects.
2021-08-13 at 11:36 am
At least some good has come of this: I’m grateful to learn of the church of Christ Sermons website. Just subscribed!
2021-08-13 at 12:34 pm
Isn’t EVERYTHING in this world about “faith?” I made no mention of the other vaccines. This isn’t even about the polio vaccine or any of the others. What I also shared about what this vaccine did to my friends and family is completely ignored. Why? This entire subject is dividing the church, and as someone else said, Satan is having a heyday.
2021-08-13 at 9:26 am
And even the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines used abortion-derived cell lines to test their efficacy.
2021-08-13 at 4:04 am
Once again, I love you Brother, but to compare smallpox and polio to what is happening today with Covid is a non-starter. Your comment was valuable to me…it was an indicator that you are woefully uninformed concerning our nation and world. Unfortunately, the Covid shot is not a remedy as you say. I find it stunning that you seem to not have done any research about what is actually in the Covid shots, because if you had, you wouldn’t allow one of those needles near you or anyone you love. Unfortunately, we live in a cruel world and Satan is having a field day.
2021-08-13 at 7:58 am
Below are some facts to help you make your own choice:
Efficacy rate
This study found the Pfizer vaccine was only 42% effective against infection in July, when the Delta variant was dominant.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.06.21261707v1
Side effects
There are side effects with mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna), specifically heart inflammation:
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eu-drugs-regulator-looking-new-possible-side-effects-mrna-vaccines-2021-08-11/
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eu-regulator-lists-heart-condition-possible-side-effect-mrna-vaccines-2021-07-09/
CDC Report Finds Underlying Conditions in 94 Percent of COVID-19 Deaths
https://www.jems.com/coronavirus/cdc-report-underlying-conditions-94-percent-covid-19-deaths/
Vaccinated and unvaccinated had the same viral load
Scientists who studied a big COVID-19 outbreak in Massachusetts concluded that vaccinated people who got so-called breakthrough infections carried about the same amount of the coronavirus as those who did not get the shots:
https://apnews.com/article/science-health-coronavirus-pandemic-d9504519a8ae081f785ca012b5ef84d1
Exercise lowers COVID-19 severity
Adults who engaged in the recommended levels of physical activity were associated with a decreased likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 infection, severe COVID-19 illness and COVID-19 related death.
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2021/07/21/bjsports-2021-104203
Not all COVID cases are being reported accurately
CDC admits it DID overcount Florida’s COVID cases: Agency revises state’s weekend numbers down from 28,000 to 19,000 but offers no explanation after falsely claiming ‘record’ infections
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9884193/CDC-adjusts-Floridas-weekend-Covid-numbers-state-accused-agency-overcounting-cases.html
The data is very bad and inaccurate. There are lots of incentives to claim a death is a COVID death in healthcare
Florida Man Killed in Crash Listed as COVID-19 Death, Raising Doubts Over Health Data
https://www.newsweek.com/florida-man-killed-crash-listed-covid-19-death-raising-doubts-over-health-data-1518994
Note by Roy Davison: This is a good list of links but be sure to carefully read what is actually stated. The headline sometimes sensationalizes and even misrepresents the data.
2021-08-13 at 10:07 am
The vaccine does not have FDA approval.
The point of FDA approval is to assure the public that medical products are safe.
It has not been approved, yet you as an employer are forcing this new therapy in your employees? That seems arrogant and unfair.
The vaccines appear safe in the short-term for most age groups, but we don’t know what we don’t know.
No mRNA therapy has ever won regulatory approval.
You can say that mRNA is “old science” but these therapies are new in humans and we lack data.
The vaccines do not stop transmission of covid-19.
We can argue about whether they are 80% effective or 20% effective at stopping transmission, but we know that they are not 100% effective.
Booster shots further complicate vaccine mandates.
Booster shots increasingly appeared needed to ensure the safety of the vaccinated, especially in high risk population.
Multiple doses of anything have a different safety profile than single shots.
For young people, the risks of the vaccine (peri/myocarditis and clotting) may be comparable to covid infection.
In rare cases, young people have died from the vaccine.
Exposing a population with high-levels of natural immunity to this risk is inappropriate.
We do not know if vaccination can end the pandemic.
Viruses evolve and pandemics are complex systems that are not easily predicted.
Assuming mass vaccination will lead to an end to covid is speculative.
2021-08-13 at 12:37 pm
Thank you! Much of what you shared we’ve experienced first hand through family and friends.