Letter to the Editor: “Banned From Church Services in New Zealand Because We’re Not Vaccinated”

Hi Lighthouse Trails:

Here in New Zealand, we are opening up after Auckland, our largest city, has been in lockdown for quite a while. We have been going to the Salvation Army in _____________. They have now decided that because of the new restrictions coming into place this Friday they will not allow people without a vaccine passport to attend any of their services or even go on their premises. This came as a huge shock as we are not vaccinated yet. We are older people and were told through a Pastoral letter that we are now banned from their services; how about that? Their rationale was it’s the government’s decision, which is just not true—it’s their decision from a list of different options. They also say that it’s done as a safety precaution for our health. I’ve not been able to work that one out yet. How can a church ban anyone from their services? It goes against everything the church stands for. I’ve written to them to tell them of our disgust with their decision. You just can’t do that! They sent back a feeble reply.

What a world we live in, and it will probably get worse.

I have copied the relevant part of their Pastoral Letter detailing their decision, just to confirm to you we do have this right to share this with you.

“After much thought, prayer and discussion the unanimous decision of the Corps Leadership team and Pastoral Care council is that once the new COVID-19 Protection Framework comes into play on Dec 3rd, we will require those eligible for a vaccination, to be fully vaccinated to attend any activity held within our buildings, including Sunday Worship.  This applies to both ourselves and those who hire our facilities for other purposes.”

This simple means anyone without the vaccine passport and those who are not eligible for the vaccine passport will not be permitted to attend their services.

We will keep you updated on any further developments.

Take care, bless you.

P & J


(photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)

18 thoughts on “Letter to the Editor: “Banned From Church Services in New Zealand Because We’re Not Vaccinated”

  1. P&J,
    Here’s a link to a current admission from the CEO of the largest and most corrupt pharmaceutical company in the world, Pfizer, stating how “safe and effective” their gene-altering injections really are: https://www.bitchute.com/video/4EZzsgMj1HZS/. Look closely and you’ll see this man is your neighbor from Australia.

    If you are being banned from your “church”, count it as a blessing because you are being separated from the tares. Yahushua is calling both of you to Himself by cutting you off from man- and state-centered “church.”

    NEVER bow down to this psyop because I see this as the delusion spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:11. Also, remember, your body is the holy temple of YHWH spoken of in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Keep your bodies pure and holy for it is written in 1 Peter 1:16 – Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

    Stand your grounds and NEVER give in to these unlawful mandates. They are the diktats of men and not YHWH. Keep this from Matthew 10:28 – And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

    Our redemption is drawing neigh. Hold your lines and you will be given your glorified bodies.

  2. Indiana life insurance CEO says deaths are up 40% among people ages 18-64

    ( The 40% increases in deaths is not due to the COVID virus, read on)

    “And what we saw just in third quarter, we’re seeing it continue into fourth quarter, is that death rates are up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic,” he said.
    “Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a one-in-200-year catastrophe would be 10% increase over pre-pandemic,” he said. “So 40% is just unheard of.”

    “The number of hospitalizations in the state is now higher than before the COVID-19 vaccine was introduced a year ago, and in fact is higher than it’s been in the past five years, Dr. Lindsay Weaver, Indiana’s chief medical officer, said at a news conference with Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday.

    Just 8.9% of ICU beds are available at hospitals in the state, a low for the year, and lower than at any time during the pandemic. But the majority of ICU beds are not taken up by COVID-19 patients – just 37% are, while 54% of the ICU beds are being occupied by people with other illnesses or conditions.”

    https://www.thecentersquare.com/indiana/indiana-life-insurance-ceo-says-deaths-are-up-40-among-people-ages-18-64/article_71473b12-6b1e-11ec-8641-5b2c06725e2c.html?fbclid=IwAR3ma6huvTbw7nurp-0CwUZpGoZ04syW5ELWYMmytLa0W_a01gbvLsq_g8s

  3. The whole point of contacting Lighthouse Trials was not to talk so much about the vaccines but to tell you that the Salvation Army or any other Church cannot divide the body of Christ by banning some people from their services. We have since heard that several people are affected by this decision including a young family who have only recently become Christians. What message does this give them, they are not even welcome to go to a Carol Service? This is utterly disgraceful for any Church to do. Totally against scripture which tells us our Lord’s position on this very issue very clearly. I might add that other SA Corps also made the same decision. Clearly a numbers game.

  4. I am amazed at the sheer spiritual blindness and selfishness of those who advocate taking the vaccines. The vaccines are made of aborted baby cells, but they ignore that. Far more than 25% of healthcare workers do not want to take the vaccines, but to these deluded leaders and followers, that is not a problem. Would they eat food from a restaurant where 10% of the workers refuse to eat the food? Are they not aware of the shocking number of deaths that these bioweapons are causing? Have they not heard that Mike Yeardon, former Pfizer vice president has been warning the world not to take the vaccines. Nobel Prize winner, virologist, Luc Montagnier has filled a lawsuit in the ICJ against world governments and UN personnel accusing them of GENOCIDE! there are many others< but space is limited. Lastly, are they comfortable with the government and not God being the head of the church? In Isaiah, God says His watchmen had become dumb dogs that could not bark. In other words, they were useless! Do not stay and support a useless shepherd.

  5. I shudder at the thought of anyone advocating for these vaccines as if it’s one’s ‘duty’, go out and ‘do your duty’ and how safe and wonderful they are! They are far from it. Here is my list:

    1. There are many real news sources that expose the dangers of the vaccine. Mike Adams the Health Ranger, America’s Frontline Doctors, and the list goes on. In fact even the CDC site now admits that 80% of covid patients with the new variant were vaccinated, meaning only 20% of them were not vaccinated. But that is just to name a few. JD Farag, pastor of calvary chapel in Oahu has lists of information on vaccine injuries, and many other sites exist. The facts are out there for those who dare do the research.
    2. Do not ever let anyone guilt you into taking it.
    3. People are getting seriously ill and dying after taking it. I see it from personal experience all around me as well.
    4. The media campaign from all sides to twist the arm of the public into getting it is suspicious, to say the least. It is a mass propaganda and brainwashing campaign.
    5. I can verify that the comments against it here are true.
    6. Bill Gates is behind it and in one speech he was giving to a closed audience he said that the population needs to decrease. He then goes on to say that “if we do a really good job with reproductive health and vaccines…” we can reduce the population. It’s like wait, what? Vaccines to help ‘reduce’ the population? Yup! Just like abortion.
    7. The pope is pushing a global vax mandate. Enough said.
    8. The vaccines were made with aborted baby cells and thus are anathema to take. Every Christian should refuse and resist. It’s not a question of relativity “if it’s okay for you or me or not”, these are not okay for anyone.
    9. They are vilifying the resisters just like nazi Germany did, we are the new ‘Jews’ in this narrative.
    10. Any pastor or church who pushes this should be avoided at all cost as betrayers.
    11. It does not even protect you from viruses, in fact some say you develop it later as a result, as in the 80% statistic above. It’s not supposed to be traced back to it but it is the source.
    12. Someone I know was fully vaccinated. They got covid. I got covid from them. The vaccines helps for nothing! I know I got it from them due to the proximity and details of the situation. I recovered quickly and it was not as bad as many of the flus I’ve had in the past. I have not had and will never take a vaccine. I recovered much quicker than they did.
    13. The vax enhances any health problems you already have. People also get cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and other illnesses.

    People need to wake up.
    If anyone bothers to do the research they will see this. The rest who are too lazy, and after reading this warning list still think it’s just ‘great’ to go get, the devil says ‘step right up folks and get your shots’! I have nothing left to say to them.

    Blessings from southeast OR

  6. Now going back to topic – after my last rather off-topic comment. The topic is really not whether the authors of the original post should be vaccinated or not. That is a highly personal decision which neither I, nor any other commenter, nor any church or government has the right to interfere with.
    The topic is rather, what should I do when my church kicks me out for a reason which is not supported by any Biblical command?

    Would Jesus welcome the unvaccinated? He welcomed lepers; He even touched them (Mk.1:41), violating all the distancing rules which were in place at that time.
    Heb.10:25 exhorts us “not to abandon our meeting together”; so a church who bans members from attending (for reasons other than Biblical discipline), is contradicting God’s command. There are no exceptions such as “except there is a pandemic”, or “except the government forbids you to meet”. There were pandemics and government restrictions in the Roman Empire too, but the Christians did not stop assembling.

    Should a church ban the drunk, or the thieves, or the beggars from their services? Here I suspect some “respectable” churches might say “yes”. But we are speaking here of the Salvation Army, whose founders spent their lives making sure that precisely the outcasts of society would be the first to hear the Gospel. So if the unvaccinated are the new outcasts, banning them is a radical departure from the spirit of William Booth.

    So I think I would first question the leadership’s decision on these Biblical and historical grounds. But if they do not reconsider, I’m afraid I would have to find another church. There is no point in fighting a stubborn leadership.
    On the other hand, “virtual” meetings may transmit information and teaching, but they do not provide real fellowship, real caring for each other, or real functioning of Christ’s Body. Or could you imagine a “virtual Lord’s Supper”? So I would consider physical gathering as really essential.

    Now, by “finding another church” I do not necessarily mean walking into the building of another denomination or congregation. Your “new church” may even consist of some members of your “old church” with whom you meet privately, in your home or in theirs. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst” (Mt.18:20).

    Personally I think most of us will anyway soon have to meet that way, because persecution is coming, and most institutional churches will either compromise or be broken up, as it happened under Mao. (See for example “Heavenly Man”, Brother Yun.) But this is only my personal impression. “Examine everything, keep what is good.”

  7. When I get to choose between the testimony of a “voluntary vaccinator” and of a “frontline healthcare worker” (the last two comments below), I’d prefer the latter. The vaccinator does not see the adverse effects, but the frontline healthcare worker gets to see them.

    @SusanJ, you say: “Government data is showing …” Which government’s data? The US Government’s VAERS has registered until November 26 for these vaccines, only inside the US: 672,372 adverse events (AEs), of which 8986 deaths, 1430 miscarriages (i.e. deaths of unborn babies), 10,326 life threatening, 10,409 permanently disabled. For the EU, EUDRA Vigilance has registered until November 20: 2,890,600 AEs, of which 1,355,192 serious; 31,014 deaths. What is not clear about this data?
    I do not know where you are from, but if your government is not transparently and truthfully reporting AE data for your country, then you are being deceived. And if you are not giving your patients access to this data, you are making yourself complicit in a coverup, and in gross violation of the international principle of _informed_ consent.
    I do not intend to come across as rude. But there are some serious ethical and legal issues involved which I think you should be aware of.
    By the way, are you doing a follow-up on the people you vaccinated? Are you checking back on their health some weeks after vaccination? Are you reporting AEs? Depending on the country where you live, the latter may even be legally required, although your superiors may not tell you so.
    Truthfulness is not blindly obeying the government. Truthfulness is adhering to the facts, not adding nor taking away. Facts may be reported not only by governments, but also by independent researchers – whom you seem to accuse of “unscientific thinking”.
    Hypothesizing “what would have happened if” is not helpful. There are five people in my surroundings who died after vaccine, so I could as well hypothesize “they would be still alive if they did _not_ take the vaccine”.

    As for vaccine efficiency, governments themselves all over the world have already refuted that one, by telling the vaccinated that:
    1. they are still at risk of infection, and
    2. they will need a booster shot every six months or so.
    None of these statements would make sense if the vaccine were efficient.
    When was the last time you were warned that you are still at risk of contracting polio, tuberculosis, measles, or any other illness you were vaccinated against as a child? Or when was the last time you were told that you need a booster shot against one of these illnesses? Can you see the difference between an efficient vaccine and an inefficient one?

    As for P & J, in case you had not yet made up your minds regarding vaccination, I’d rather recommend
    1. to pray and ask the Lord, and
    2. to ask a trustworthy and independent physician to assess potential benefits and risks based on your personal individual health history.

  8. My question to P & J is simply why not just take the Covid-19 vaccine? Billions have received them and there are few real reasons not to. As a volunteer vaccinator I respect valid reasons.

    All govt data is showing the positive results of them and sadly hospitals and staff can be overwhelmed with unvaccinated people taking up beds and time. And sadly many now unnecessary deaths.

    And before referring to govt data on adverse effects people should take time to scroll through those lists. Right questions and right research is vital in the midst of all the conflicting information. And lies and skewed information should have no place in a believer’s life.

    I now see too many believers taking up a martyrs position over this disease and vaccines and even in the face of death some do not change. “There’s no doubt in my mind that this is a spiritual attack from the enemy,” said in relation to a questionable well known promoter of unscientific thinking to his followers. Instead of – “we made a mistake, if father had taken the vaccine he would likely be alive today. ”

    Certainly as believers we do not fear death but we have a responsibility to be wise with our lives for the sakes of our families, our ministries, the Gospel.
    Phil 1:20-25 comes to mind.

  9. As a frontline health worker I have seen firstand the enormous and devastating damage these vaccines are doing. They are neither safe – to date 668 dead due the jab here in australia – and neither are they effective. Look at the countries with hihgest vaccination rates, covid is on the rise. These jabs do not stop infection or transmission, therefore it is illogical to ban unvaccinated people from anywhere to keep covid out. Thats like saying I need to apply sunscreen to keep you from getting sunburnt. We definitely all need wisdom in these times, so much strong delusion around. If you are afraid of covid and have done thorough research on the vaccines and still desire to take it, go for it. I have seen and studied and i will not be taking it. The enemy wishes to divide us, we must not allow him to., over an ineffective and dangeorus vaccine.

  10. I too live in New Zealand. I have an immune disorder and to get COVID with its accompanying lack of breathing would do me in. I had other vaccines years ago which have spared me many diseases and they were all mandated. So any one unvaccinated going to a church with me could be signing my death warrant. My comment is that all drivers would stop at a level crossing if the bells were ringing and lights blinking. Why? One is its mandated and two it is good for one’s health.
    Sadly this issue has become a very spiritual issue, and the enemy is using it to divide, which is part of his mission. If it were an idealogical matter then I see a need to draw attention to it’s discriminatory intent, but at the moment it’s just taking Christians away from the commission of saving souls; no matter what is thrown at us. Go save the lost and leave the direction the world to the One who rules: despite our dispositions.
    Rubbish is going to happen to us somewhere along the way, so get used bro it and get on with the Great Commission. John

  11. Apostate pastors have been sending probably thousands of unsaved worshipers and their children to a killer vaccine. Doctors all over the world are saying do not take this killer vaccine!!! Wake up all Christians. Pray Franklin Graham recovers from his JAB.

  12. To John J, all we have to do is open our eyes and talk to the people in our communities and realize many are dying from the vaccines. The newspapers obituaries have tripled in the last year or even quadrupled. Your family and friends may not have died or become injured but many have and are suffering lifelong consequences. Also if you take the Covid Vaccine you can still carry the virus…The vaccine does not stop the spread! Vaccinated people are dying from the vaccine and they are carriers of the virus and spread it through out The community! My son and daughter-in-law got the vaccine and shortly thereafter their daughters came down with Covid. And I have heard numerous stories like this. A great resource for information on the Covid lies Is stand in the gap today with Sam Roar.

  13. To P & J,
    Like you, my wife and I are live in NZ, like you we are not jabbed, like you we know things will get worse.

    Initially, I searched for detail on this new method of delivery which is the MRNA jabs – because I have had previous reactions to vaccines and was diagnosed with ME/CFS some 30 years ago – we prayed about this asking our Heavenly Father to show us His truth. We believed to be ‘Berean like’ and check these things out.

    There are those who say these jabs are safe and effective – others say the opposite – somewhere in between is the truth. Govt. data from UK and other countries (available on the net) imply there is reason to question the safety of these new jabs – I can only find where countries (inc. NZ) have ‘approved’ these new MRNA jabs for emergency use.

    We know of those who choose not to have the jab – for various reasons, and since your letter, there are now businesses in NZ who refuse to segregate and are saying so.

    Once we are spiritually regenerated (born again) of the Spirit of God, – to be out of a denominational church is not to be out of His Church, the Body of Christ Jesus.

    We know many who, like us, are out of denominational churches, yet we fellowship, pray for and support one another.

    Yes, God has given us commonsense, intelligence and most importantly, His Counsellor and Comforter – His Spirit. I encourage you to firstly check with Him as to His will for you – in all things.

    In the love of Lord Jesus our risen…

  14. Vaccines are not safe for everyone and hence should not be mandated. Many doctors have raised concerns about this, however, it seems to have fallen into deaf ears. Dr. Shankara Chetty from South Africa is one of them. Here is a link which has a comment from a secular person.
    wwwdotarmstrongeconomicsdotcom/international-news/vaccine/the-lack-of-independent-thought/
    The real conspiracy is to suppress the truth, resist the truth and to silence the truth.

  15. A fair call as the numbers are spiking in New Zealand. And church services are still there if one’s vaccinated, which is also a fair call. If not vaccinated; well, do your bit and take the vaccination—it can’t keep you out of heaven or it does not mean you are weak, and no one is controlling your movements. So, be pro-active and intelligent and make it safer for the elderly, those with comorbidities, etc, and please run from conspiracy theorists and theories; they are worse than COVID. And don’t panic. Get the missed services via mail; besides, you have God’s Word with you and His spirit in you.
    When someone is ill, we seek help. Vaccines save lives. You don’t want to see loved ones gasping for air, unable to breathe on their deathbed, So, think twice and follow commonsense as given freely by God.
    Fear not, and I mean this with love.

  16. P.S.
    Please do not get any of these vaccines! They can be deadly and they do not work. I refuse to get any of these Covid vaccines.

  17. The action of this supposedly Christian body is shameful. They have been fooled by the leftist agenda. Hitler based his decisions at the beginning on health scares.

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