Post by Tom Green on Feb 21, 2007 12:10:15 GMT -5
The Bird Flu and the Judgment of God
Over the past few months, it has been impossible to watch TV or read a newspaper without encountering dire reports about an outbreak of bird flu and the possibility of a pandemic. (Epidemic: something that affects a large number of individuals within a population, community or region at the same time. Pandemic: a worldwide outbreak.)
In 1918, an influenza pandemic killed millions of people around the world. To illustrate how deadly that flu was, World War I killed 16 million troops and civilians from 1914 to 1918; but in 1918 alone, more than 40 million died all over the world from the flu. That same year over 600,000 in the U.S.—the same death toll as the entire Civil War—died from the flu.
The type of flu we are hearing about now is slightly different from the 1918 variety. Both are avian flu’s (carried by birds), and both are caused by a Type A virus—the only virus that can cause a pandemic. Scientists have identified the 1918 virus by the label H5N2, and the current flu virus is identified as H5N1.
Virus A(H5N1)
H5N1 has been a source of concern since it was first detected in 1997. All avian viruses, or bird flu, have a tendency to mutate into a form that is highly transmissible among humans, and this is what could set off a pandemic. The world’s scientists worry that the bird flu virus will join the human flu virus, change its genetic code and emerge as a new and deadly flu that can spread through the air from human to human.
Right now, H5N1, a type of avian influenza virus, has confined itself mostly to birds. It can be transmitted from bird to human but only by direct contact with the droppings and excretions of infected birds. However, bird flu has started showing up in humans in more and more places worldwide.
On average, a pandemic occurs at 40- to 50-year intervals. The 1918 outbreak of the flu was followed by the 1957-1958 outbreak of the Asian Flu. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences reports, “Another influenza pandemic is possibly inevitable, and even overdue.”
A Worldwide Plague
Bird flu outbreaks have occurred in many countries, although the United States has not had a single case yet. Since February 1, 2006, infections have been reported in Iraq, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Egypt, India, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Niger, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro, Pakistan, Albania, Poland, Georgia, Cameroon, Myanmar (Burma), Sweden, Denmark, Israel, Afghanistan, and Jordan.
First discovered in 1997, H5N1 can be deadly when it gets into people. It has killed more than half of its known human victims. Equally alarming is that many who died were healthy, not the frail or sickly types of patients usually thought to be at risk of death from influenza.
The disease usually starts with a fever, fatigue, headache and aches and pains, like a typical case of the flu. But within a few days it can turn into pneumonia, and the patients' lungs are damaged and fill with fluid.
In a few cases, children infected with A(H5N1) died of encephalitis, apparently because the virus attacked the brain. A number of people have also had severe diarrhea—not usually a flu symptom—meaning that this virus may attack the intestines as well. Studies . . . suggest that in mammals the virus attacks other organs, too, including the heart, liver and adrenal glands.
The early stages of the illness in people are the same as those of ordinary flu: fever, headache, fatigue, aches and pains. But within a few days, people with bird flu often start getting worse instead of better. Difficulty with breathing takes many to the hospital before they know they have it. People with flu-like symptoms that turn severe or involve breathing trouble are in urgent need of medical care.
Two Possibilities
Fortunately, the virus has not reached the Americas, but it seems only a matter of time before it turns up here. Dr. Roger Glass, a director at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), likened the prophesied pandemic to waiting for an earthquake along the San Andreas fault: it’s only a matter of time. “You know it’s going to occur but you can’t tell if it’s going to occur this year or next year or the year after,” he said, “but it’s clearly going to happen, and the only way you can prepare is to build your houses with structure.” He meant that we should be prepared.
Can we rule out the possibility that bird flu is being used as an agent of destruction? Unfortunately, no. With the technology revolution of the past ten years, and with bio-scientists manipulating genes in everything from micro-organisms to humans, it seems likely that virologists could have developed all kinds of unrevealed scenarios. What better way to eliminate an enemy, or an entire human population, than via the global migratory-bird thruways? There is no way to know for sure.
Can we rule out the possibility that it is the judgment of God? Again, unfortunately, no.
Archeological discoveries in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria continue to confirm the Biblical record of the history of Israel, as well as many of the practices of ancient Mideast civilizations. Unwittingly, secular scientists are confirming the Biblical record of idolatry and fertility cults that institutionalized male and female prostitution, child sacrifice and many other practices.
In uncovering the countless artifacts and relics that mark the march of history, they are also uncovering timeless records of many of the diseases and epidemics that plagued those civilizations of long ago. They constantly confirm the Biblical revelation of the dark side of human nature. Since the social sciences are continuing to confirm the Bible, let’s go to the original source and see what the Bible has to say about epidemics and diseases in connection with His judgment.
God’s Judgment on Sin
Some conveniently forget that God is a God of judgment as well as a God of mercy. God’s love has been the main theme in preaching for many years now, and it should be. But the Bible balances His love and mercy is with accounts of His judgment. Sin is always punished. Sin carries of seeds of destruction within itself, but when men sin openly and blatantly, God’s wrath is often poured out. God’s Word gives many examples.
23,000 people died in one day from God’s judgment on premarital sex. The New Testament warns us: “Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell” (1 Corinthians 10:8).
70,000 people died from a “pestilence” because of God’s judgment on Israel for disobedience. “Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel. So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell” ( 1 Chronicles 21:1, 4, 14).
14,950 people died when Korah agitated the people to question falsely, the leadership of Moses and Aaron: “Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those [250] who died in the Korah incident” (Numbers 16:49).
24,000 people died when the children of Israel began to openly commit adultery. “The people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand” (Numbers 25:1, 6, 9).
At least two whole cities were destroyed by God’s judgment because of the people’s open, public homosexual activities. “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (Genesis 19:24, 25).
185,000 threatening enemy soldiers were slain after they taunted, ridiculed and abused God’s people. “Then the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead” (Isaiah 37:36).
Can the Hand of God Ever Be Stayed?
God not only sent judgment, however; He provided a cure and He also provided a prevention. For example, when Moses was about to die, God accurately predicted what Israel would do after he was gone. More importantly, He predicted the judgment their disobedience would bring on them:
And the Lord said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land . . . and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them” (Deuteronomy 31:16, 17).
I believe that God is giving the same message to America that He gave to Israel long ago:
If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book . . . then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. You shall be left few in number . . . because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 28:58-62).
America’s Toxic Culture
We live in a culture that has become open and blatant in its sinfulness. People today practice sinning without any shame whatsoever. They do wrong daily and indulge in devilish behavior regularly. The primordial stew of our toxic culture is enough to make God sick to His stomach!
On the other hand, America has many righteous people who honestly and earnestly endeavor to serve God. I believe their prayers and their good deeds have held back the greater judgment God has promised to nations that disobey Him. America is the target of terrorists because we are still a Christian nation and the devil hates us.
The very thing that causes some to hate America is what causes men and women from every nation to acknowledge the God of the Christians—just as Rahab believed in the God of Israel long ago:
We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt. . . . And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath (Joshua 2:10, 11).
The Bible declares: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 13:34). God’s people must continue to lead the way in righteousness. Hear the word of the Lord:
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Over the past few months, it has been impossible to watch TV or read a newspaper without encountering dire reports about an outbreak of bird flu and the possibility of a pandemic. (Epidemic: something that affects a large number of individuals within a population, community or region at the same time. Pandemic: a worldwide outbreak.)
In 1918, an influenza pandemic killed millions of people around the world. To illustrate how deadly that flu was, World War I killed 16 million troops and civilians from 1914 to 1918; but in 1918 alone, more than 40 million died all over the world from the flu. That same year over 600,000 in the U.S.—the same death toll as the entire Civil War—died from the flu.
The type of flu we are hearing about now is slightly different from the 1918 variety. Both are avian flu’s (carried by birds), and both are caused by a Type A virus—the only virus that can cause a pandemic. Scientists have identified the 1918 virus by the label H5N2, and the current flu virus is identified as H5N1.
Virus A(H5N1)
H5N1 has been a source of concern since it was first detected in 1997. All avian viruses, or bird flu, have a tendency to mutate into a form that is highly transmissible among humans, and this is what could set off a pandemic. The world’s scientists worry that the bird flu virus will join the human flu virus, change its genetic code and emerge as a new and deadly flu that can spread through the air from human to human.
Right now, H5N1, a type of avian influenza virus, has confined itself mostly to birds. It can be transmitted from bird to human but only by direct contact with the droppings and excretions of infected birds. However, bird flu has started showing up in humans in more and more places worldwide.
On average, a pandemic occurs at 40- to 50-year intervals. The 1918 outbreak of the flu was followed by the 1957-1958 outbreak of the Asian Flu. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences reports, “Another influenza pandemic is possibly inevitable, and even overdue.”
A Worldwide Plague
Bird flu outbreaks have occurred in many countries, although the United States has not had a single case yet. Since February 1, 2006, infections have been reported in Iraq, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Egypt, India, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Niger, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro, Pakistan, Albania, Poland, Georgia, Cameroon, Myanmar (Burma), Sweden, Denmark, Israel, Afghanistan, and Jordan.
First discovered in 1997, H5N1 can be deadly when it gets into people. It has killed more than half of its known human victims. Equally alarming is that many who died were healthy, not the frail or sickly types of patients usually thought to be at risk of death from influenza.
The disease usually starts with a fever, fatigue, headache and aches and pains, like a typical case of the flu. But within a few days it can turn into pneumonia, and the patients' lungs are damaged and fill with fluid.
In a few cases, children infected with A(H5N1) died of encephalitis, apparently because the virus attacked the brain. A number of people have also had severe diarrhea—not usually a flu symptom—meaning that this virus may attack the intestines as well. Studies . . . suggest that in mammals the virus attacks other organs, too, including the heart, liver and adrenal glands.
The early stages of the illness in people are the same as those of ordinary flu: fever, headache, fatigue, aches and pains. But within a few days, people with bird flu often start getting worse instead of better. Difficulty with breathing takes many to the hospital before they know they have it. People with flu-like symptoms that turn severe or involve breathing trouble are in urgent need of medical care.
Two Possibilities
Fortunately, the virus has not reached the Americas, but it seems only a matter of time before it turns up here. Dr. Roger Glass, a director at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), likened the prophesied pandemic to waiting for an earthquake along the San Andreas fault: it’s only a matter of time. “You know it’s going to occur but you can’t tell if it’s going to occur this year or next year or the year after,” he said, “but it’s clearly going to happen, and the only way you can prepare is to build your houses with structure.” He meant that we should be prepared.
Can we rule out the possibility that bird flu is being used as an agent of destruction? Unfortunately, no. With the technology revolution of the past ten years, and with bio-scientists manipulating genes in everything from micro-organisms to humans, it seems likely that virologists could have developed all kinds of unrevealed scenarios. What better way to eliminate an enemy, or an entire human population, than via the global migratory-bird thruways? There is no way to know for sure.
Can we rule out the possibility that it is the judgment of God? Again, unfortunately, no.
Archeological discoveries in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria continue to confirm the Biblical record of the history of Israel, as well as many of the practices of ancient Mideast civilizations. Unwittingly, secular scientists are confirming the Biblical record of idolatry and fertility cults that institutionalized male and female prostitution, child sacrifice and many other practices.
In uncovering the countless artifacts and relics that mark the march of history, they are also uncovering timeless records of many of the diseases and epidemics that plagued those civilizations of long ago. They constantly confirm the Biblical revelation of the dark side of human nature. Since the social sciences are continuing to confirm the Bible, let’s go to the original source and see what the Bible has to say about epidemics and diseases in connection with His judgment.
God’s Judgment on Sin
Some conveniently forget that God is a God of judgment as well as a God of mercy. God’s love has been the main theme in preaching for many years now, and it should be. But the Bible balances His love and mercy is with accounts of His judgment. Sin is always punished. Sin carries of seeds of destruction within itself, but when men sin openly and blatantly, God’s wrath is often poured out. God’s Word gives many examples.
23,000 people died in one day from God’s judgment on premarital sex. The New Testament warns us: “Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell” (1 Corinthians 10:8).
70,000 people died from a “pestilence” because of God’s judgment on Israel for disobedience. “Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel. So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell” ( 1 Chronicles 21:1, 4, 14).
14,950 people died when Korah agitated the people to question falsely, the leadership of Moses and Aaron: “Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those [250] who died in the Korah incident” (Numbers 16:49).
24,000 people died when the children of Israel began to openly commit adultery. “The people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand” (Numbers 25:1, 6, 9).
At least two whole cities were destroyed by God’s judgment because of the people’s open, public homosexual activities. “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (Genesis 19:24, 25).
185,000 threatening enemy soldiers were slain after they taunted, ridiculed and abused God’s people. “Then the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead” (Isaiah 37:36).
Can the Hand of God Ever Be Stayed?
God not only sent judgment, however; He provided a cure and He also provided a prevention. For example, when Moses was about to die, God accurately predicted what Israel would do after he was gone. More importantly, He predicted the judgment their disobedience would bring on them:
And the Lord said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land . . . and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them” (Deuteronomy 31:16, 17).
I believe that God is giving the same message to America that He gave to Israel long ago:
If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book . . . then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. You shall be left few in number . . . because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 28:58-62).
America’s Toxic Culture
We live in a culture that has become open and blatant in its sinfulness. People today practice sinning without any shame whatsoever. They do wrong daily and indulge in devilish behavior regularly. The primordial stew of our toxic culture is enough to make God sick to His stomach!
On the other hand, America has many righteous people who honestly and earnestly endeavor to serve God. I believe their prayers and their good deeds have held back the greater judgment God has promised to nations that disobey Him. America is the target of terrorists because we are still a Christian nation and the devil hates us.
The very thing that causes some to hate America is what causes men and women from every nation to acknowledge the God of the Christians—just as Rahab believed in the God of Israel long ago:
We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt. . . . And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath (Joshua 2:10, 11).
The Bible declares: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 13:34). God’s people must continue to lead the way in righteousness. Hear the word of the Lord:
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).