Blood That Redeems

by Rolaant McKenzie

Sometimes, in the pursuit of knowledge to achieve a desired outcome, dubious means are used that result in catastrophic consequences, requiring extraordinary effort to bring about recovery. Such was the case in the 2007 American post-apocalyptic movie I Am Legend.

The film starts in 2009 when British scientist Alice Krippin used a genetically manipulated measles virus to create a cancer vaccine. Though the vaccine cured cancer, insufficient long-term research to uncover any possible damaging side effects was done before releasing it to the public. Unfortunately, those injected with the vaccine eventually developed a lethal pathogen that infected and killed more than 90% of the Earth's population. The infected who did not die were transformed into mutated humans who, among other things, were extremely vulnerable to sunlight, whose ultraviolet radiation was fatal to them after a moment of exposure. They could only move about at night, where they would prey upon the remaining 1% of human survivors who were naturally immune to the virus.

In a deserted New York City gradually being overtaken by nature, U.S. Army virologist Robert Neville has spent the last three years doing research to find a cure for the virus and searching for food and supplies. He is naturally immune from the disease, and he avoids being killed by the infected by coming out during the day and hiding from them in a heavily fortified house at night when they roam the streets.

As he continues his research in the basement laboratory, Neville discovers a cure for the plague from his own blood. He sends out continuous radio broadcasts telling any survivors to meet him at noon at the South Street Seaport, where he checks each day hoping to find that someone has responded. Eventually, a woman named Anna and a young boy named Ethan arrive. They traveled from Maryland when they heard Neville's broadcast. Anna tells Neville that they are making their way to a survivors' colony in Bethel, Vermont.

As his guests returned with Neville to his house, a group of infected people managed to track them and discovered their hiding place. They attacked and invaded the house that night. Neville, Anna, and Ethan retreated to the basement laboratory in which they sealed themselves.

Disregarding Neville's pleas to let him heal and save them, the infected mob broke through the plexiglass door in order to kill him. He gave a vial of blood with the cure to Anna and shut her and Ethan into a coal chute at the back of the laboratory. To buy time for their escape, Neville sacrificed himself by blowing up the laboratory and the attackers with a grenade.

The next day, Anna and Ethan leave New York City and travel to the colony in Bethel, where they are welcomed by military officers and other survivors. She gives the vial of blood to them. As the film fades, she narrates how Neville's successful efforts to find a cure for the plague and the sacrifice of his life to preserve it led to the redemption of humanity from the brink of extinction. The light he brought out of darkness became legend.

At a press conference on January 21, 2025, President Donald Trump announced the launching of Stargate LLC, a joint venture of OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and the Emirati investment firm MGX. Its purpose is to invest up to $500 billion over four years to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the United States.

Larry Ellison

Among those present at the press conference was Larry Ellison, executive chairman and co-founder of Oracle. Similar to the confident enthusiasm Alice Krippin showed for her cancer vaccine in I Am Legend, Ellison excitedly stated that one of the projects of Stargate would be the development of AI-facilitated early cancer detection and the production of specific mRNA cancer vaccines that could be designed in about 48 hours.

In spite of efforts by technocrats such as Ellison to foster the impression that AI is virtually infallible, the truth of the matter is that it is only as good as the fallible and biased human beings who program it. The passage of several years since the introduction of mRNA injections has not shown them to be safe, effective, and a groundbreaking achievement in disease prevention and treatment as advertised. They have been hazardous to many who have received them and been involved in millions of serious injuries and deaths worldwide (e.g., blood clots, strokes, rapid heart disease, turbo cancer, etc.). AI with these genetic code infusions could prove to be a lethal combination.

Some state and regional authorities, concerned about the dangers of mRNA injections, have pushed back against federal recommendations. For example, Kentucky, Montana, and Idaho have led efforts to place moratoriums on the use of them. Idaho's Southwest District Health Department, covering six counties, has gone as far as prohibiting the use of these injections, recognizing from observational data that they are far more harmful than beneficial. As local and state-level resistance spreads, Stargate may find it difficult at best to sell the idea that it will develop a miracle cure for cancer using questionable AI and dangerous mRNA technology.

In the Garden of Eden, Eve was deceived by the lies of the serpent (the devil) into rebelling against God by eating of the forbidden fruit. She desired to gain hidden knowledge to achieve a certain outcome, namely, to be like God and be able to determine good and evil apart from Him (Genesis 3). Adam was not deceived by the serpent but also decided to rebel against God along with his wife, thus separating humanity from fellowship with God and bringing the virulent plague of sin and death into the world on all people (Romans 5:12-21).

God did not leave Adam and us, his descendants, without hope (Genesis 3:15). He sent His Son Jesus as a man, God in the flesh, immune from sin, to pay in full our sin debt and reconcile sinners back to God (John 1:1-14, 14:30; Galatians 4:4-5). He lived the perfect life we could not live and proclaimed the gospel during His three-year earthly ministry. At the end, He provided the only cure for the virus of sin. Jesus willingly humbled Himself and sacrificed His life by shedding His blood on the cross to pay in full the penalty of sin, bringing healing redemption and reconciliation with God for anyone who trusts in Him (Philippians 2:6-11).

Jesus is the Light of life who redeems us out of our darkness and grants eternal life (John 1:1-5). Rather than being a legend, His real victory over the grave demonstrates that all who believe in Him will also rise from the dead when He returns and experience the perpetual joy of redemption, complete healing, freedom from sin, and unbroken fellowship with God.

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7).