Wow. Just wow. Several days ago, conservative, Christian news platform TruNews highlighted in a tweet an excerpt from a Fox News interview in which well-known televangelist, Pastor Robert Jeffress used the Crucifixion of Christ to endorse abortion-linked vaccines.
The comment has sparked outrage on Twitter, which goes to show that Christendom, not just in America but around the world, continues to be divided on the issue of Covid-19 vaccines.
The Tweet And Video Clip: Pastor Robert Jeffress Used The Crucifixion Of Christ To Endorse Abortion-Linked Vaccines
Here’s the text of the tweet posted by TruNews:
@robertjeffress ENDORSES the use of aborted baby stem cells to produce vaccines AND then uses bad theology to justify it.
And here is the tweet with the Fox News interview clip, so you can hear the televangelist’s ‘bad theology’ for yourself:
.@robertjeffress ENDORSES the use of aborted baby stem cells to produce vaccines AND then uses bad theology to justify it. pic.twitter.com/eI7b0U3UD1
— TruNews™ (@TruNews) March 29, 2021
Transcript Of The Fox News Interview
Now these are the exact words that the Fox News host (David) used to frame and ask Pastor Jeffress about faith-based concerns about abortion-derived vaccines:
I don’t want to discourage anybody from taking vaccines because we got to stop this pandemic. But there is concern among some Catholic bishops and some Evangelicals as well that the cell lines that were used to develop certain vaccines — particularly Johnson and Johnson — came from aborted fetuses…came from aborted babies — let’s just say it out loud. So, what exactly is your answer to that? I mean there are people that don’t want any connection there with with abortion and vaccines.
And this was the televangelist’s response to the objection by many Christians (from different denominations) of brands of vaccines that are (allegedly) connected to abortions:
First of all, we would never abort babies to provide a vaccine. I think Francis Collins has denied that linkage, and he is a strong Christian himself. But David if we’re talking about something from babies that were already aborted, I would just remind people, the whole Christian message is that Christ who was innocent, died for us and brought something good out of that unjust death. And I think if lives can be saved even from the unrighteous, killing of a baby, that there’s something to be gained there. So I would not refuse the vaccine on that point alone.
Some Reactions To Pastor Jeffress’ Comment
Obviously, sine the audiences of TruNews and others who retweeted the interview clip are (presumably) mainly antiabortion, conservative Christians, it follows that most of the responses would be critical of the use of the Crucifixion story to endorse these controversial vaccines.
Here are a couple of snapshots of the comments about the controversial endorsement: