Rob Skiba, an influential figure in shallow and Christian circles, has died of COVID-19, colleagues announced Thursday. He has been battling the virus since at least late August, when he started experiencing symptoms after a biblical flat-earth conference, Take On The World. “He’s been sick since he came back from TOTW,” a Facebook friend posted in early September, adding that Skiba was hospitalized due to low oxygen levels. Skiba, one of the most prominent flat Earth proponents in the country, is also skeptical of a COVID-19 vaccine and some treatments for the disease. On the first day of the Take On The World conference, Skiba posted a Facebook post warning that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous.
“To those who disagree with my position on our current situation … one of us is right,” he wrote. “Unless YHWH miraculously intervenes, the only real concern is, I would say, in 2-3 years or so…one of us will, based on what I’ve seen/heard Those who arrive may die. Really, it makes me very unhappy to say this, and if I was the standing person, I would not.”
Skiba’s community remembered him on social media. “Whether you agree or disagree with him on a particular topic, you can’t help but love his sincere, authentic, loving, relaxing, and funny approach to highly polarizing content,” says a friend Write in remembrance. “What a good teacher.”