Trump-supporting pastor tells followers Covid vaccine is ‘preparing structure for the antichrist’

The pastor is a self-proclaimed apostle and preaches in a Miami megachurch

The pastor of a Florida megachurch has warned his parishioners not to take the Covid-19 vaccine as he claimed it is a part of a plan to prepare "the structure for the antichrist".

Guillermo Maldonado, a Trump-supporting pastor and a self-declared apostle, also said that the coronavirus vaccine will “alter your DNA”.

“People, I want you to look at me,” Mr Maldonado could be seen as saying in a video captured by the Right Wing Watch. “That is exactly what is happening with Covid-19. They’re preparing the structure for the Antichrist. How? The vaccine. They’re gonna demand for you to have the vaccine in your passport, otherwise, you will not be able to travel. Because they are preparing the way."

“The vaccines, they are made to alter your DNA. They are made to track you down. Do not [take] the vaccine. Believe in the blood of Jesus. Believe in divine immunity.”

This is not the first time that Mr Maldonado has asked followers to not pay heed to coronavirus related official guidelines. In March, he mocked those who skipped Sunday services, saying that they were caving into fear of the pandemic while suggesting that those who came to services were true and faithful believers.  

“I just want to tell you, I’m so proud of you, that you don’t let the devil and fear cripple you,” Mr Maldonado told congregants gathered at King Jesus International Ministry in Miami.  “Do you believe God would bring his people to his house to be contagious with the virus? Of course not... in the presence of God, no virus can stand.”

Mr Maldonado’s sermons, amid a pandemic that claimed over 1.5 million lives globally, carry weight because he is a televangelist and the lead pastor of a 7,000-seat megachurch.

The US has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases across the world with over 14 million cases including 278,000 deaths.