Official Statement on Religious Accommodation and Medical Intervention

Followers are encouraged to reference the key tenets of the First Christ Ministry along with the core principals of Traditional Christianity when asking Him for guidance.

Members of the First Christ Ministry apply both individuality and decentralization to the Christian core practice while incorporating their religious studies and readings. Whereas one individual family unit may practice one form of decentralized form of Worship and another individual family unit may practice and follow a similar, but different form of Worship.

With the coming of the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah, and today in the ministry of the Holy Spirit in His Church, God made mankind in His image.

He gave unto man dominion over the world as His steward and representative whereas man’s life has transcendent value because of this act of special creation on the part of God. God’s law, therefore, is the highest standard by which man, God’s creature, is called to live and abide. With this, God has given man his body as an extension of His Temple as described using His words in Corinthians. Man is the ultimate steward and sole guardian of this extension of His Kingdom.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (ESV))

God’s law provides for freedom, for liberty of conscience, and these realities are to be exercised by mankind in light of God’s revealed will that man is to live for His glory always recognizing his own mortality and the briefness of life. The Christian is not to live in constant fear of death, and indeed it is for this reason that the gospel removes our dread of death and gives to us life eternal.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 (ESV))

Christians therefore proclaim Christ’s Lordship over all realms, for, as He claimed, all authority has been given to Him in heaven and upon earth, as in Matthew. In light of His Kingship, the Holy assertion that men and women have the right to refuse any medical interventions, mandatory medical procedures, actions, medications, or injections, whether these actions are ordered by the highest government authorities, or lesser authorities, such as an employer or local governing bodies. The highest power is, and always has been, that of Him. Worshipers may reject these mandates while protecting His Kingdom, their bodies; especially if and when they are convinced that these medical procedures could threaten their life or their wellbeing including physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually with God via scripture, psalm, or sincerely held religious belief in the word of God. These edicts from on-high with blatant disregard for Christ our Lord, is no different than of Caesar forcing Christians to recognize him as Lord, in Romans. However, Christians are not to be fooled or coerced and will always utter and confess that only Jesus is Lord and likewise shall only accept their guidance from the Lord Jesus Christ in this regard.

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10(ESV))

Christians believe and assert that their conscience can properly and validly submit to personal medical procedures, such as in the taking of tested and proven medications and vaccines, giving thanks to God whose ordering of His creation has allowed such wondrous advancements. At the same time, Christians can acknowledge and recognize that there exist many sound bases for a Christian to refuse similar treatments in protecting the extension of His Kingdom, their body, such as when they lack long-term safety information, have deleterious and dangerous side-effects, possible unknown impacts upon pre-existing medical conditions, and/or originate from, or make use of sinful acts. Likewise, one may be convinced that the demanded procedure arises from machinations of man, not of God. As such, these activities are opposed to God’s truth and ways.

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”

We assert, in the name and authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all Christians have the right and the responsibility to research fully the issues relevant to all such medical matters regarding their personal stewardship over His Kingdom. We also assert and support the right to either accept or refuse any such mandatory or compulsory procedures, including vaccination or other treatment, upon sound religious grounds in His name. We likewise call upon all governmental agencies, businesses, schools, employers of all types, to respect these deeply held religious conclusions and convictions, and to honor our religious liberty and freedom by granting religious accommodations, if requested, by His believers and our members.