Plague: Now or Later?

Plague: Now or Later? - J.L. Robb - http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8250

 

Just read a news article that over-the-counter cold remedies can cause dementia. That is not good news for almost everyone I know, including myself.

 

Benadryl, Tylenol PM, Advil PM and Nyquil.

 

An antihistamine known as diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and used in sleep medications over a period of many years has now been tied to less brain activity and smaller brains because of shrinkage, verified through PET scans and MRI.

 

Staying healthy is often not easy. We run, lift weights, kickbox, eat spinach and asparagus, avoid red meat and take whatever legal drugs are deemed necessary, and sometimes illegal. And we still get sick and sometimes die at 40 from a heart attack, probably from jogging.

 

Now a dreaded antibiotic-resistant superbug described as the "bug doctors were dreading," has been discovered in the United States. Even our strongest antibiotic, only used in worst-case scenarios, has no apparent effect. Of course, antibiotics are drugs, so here we are. Wouldn't a super-cure to fight this superbug be nice?

 

We once had a Super-cure:

 

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. Matthew 4:23-25 NIV

 

Jesus Christ could cure anything and his mending of the blind man was the first time a blind person since birth had been miraculously cured. It was also a prediction that came true through Christ. About 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Isaiah was prophesying about the future Messiah of the Jews and describing what it would be like in those days when Jesus walked the earth.

 

In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Isaiah 29:18 NIV

 

If Jesus appeared today, think of all the sick folk who would follow him from place to place, to touch his cloak or his skin and be instantly cured? Finally, a cure that doesn't cause dementia or have multiple drastic side-effects. When Jesus healed the lame man, he did not tell him to go to rehab. He told him to get up and walk, and he did. When Jesus healed the blind and the deaf, there were no instructions that they avoid loud noises or bright lights while the auditory and visual systems healed properly. They were healed, then and there.

 

One of the tragedies during the last days is plague, and plague is never a good thing.

 

The Black Death killed 50-million people (60% of Europe's population) between1346-1353. It was a horrendous plague, as described below:

 

All the citizens did little else except to carry dead bodies to be buried. At every church they dug deep pits down to the water-table; and thus those who were poor who died during the night were bundled up quickly and thrown into the pit. In the morning when a large number of bodies were found in the pit, they took some earth and shoveled it down on top of them; and later others were placed on top of them and then another layer of earth, just as one makes lasagna with layers of pasta and cheese.

 

The Black Death, or Bubonic Plague, was a bacterial plague and was spread by fleas from rat colonies. Once an infected flea bit a human, 80% would be dead within 25 days. It was not a pleasant death. The Black Death also affected cows, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens. So many sheep died, Europe suffered a wool shortage. Wages increased because there were not enough healthy people to work.

 

Many Europeans began believing this plague was a Divine Judgment and the purging of the sinner began. Thousands of Jews were slaughtered in 1348-1349 at the same time thousands of Jews were also dying from the plague spread by fleas. Once someone came down with the plague, it could spread via airborne transmission: a sneeze or cough.

 

It has been a long time since the world's population has suffered a pandemic as deadly as the Black Death. The 1918-1919 Spanish Flu killed an estimated 40-million in a year.

 

During the 18th century, smallpox killed 400,000 Europeans per year and estimates indicate that the 20th century saw 300-million deaths. The last case was documented in 1977 in Somalia.

 

Polio is described by CDC as an "incurable, crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by a virus that spreads from person-to-person invading the brain and spinal cord and causing paralysis." There is no cure.

 

In 1955, the year the polio vaccine was approved, there were 29,000 deaths in the United States. By 1963, the death rate was near zero. Thank you Jonas Salk.

 

According to the Book of Revelation there will be plenty of plague during the seven years of tribulation. The story of the fourth horse of the apocalypse, the pale horse, is all about plague and death.

 

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. Revelation 6:7-8 NIV

 

There have been plenty of disease fears lately. There is MERS, MRSA, SARS, Ebola, Marburg and now Zika Virus... and the new superbug that is almost unstoppable according to researchers.

 

What are the chances that there could be a flare-up of an almost eradicated disease, like smallpox and polio? The chances are good.

 

There is an anti-vaccine movement in the world. Many in the United States believe vaccines lead to autism, ADHD and other disorders. Though Centers for Disease Control, National Institutes of Health and Cleveland Clinic have found no link to autism, concerned parents are refusing vaccines.

 

In Pakistan and Nigeria where there are polio outbreaks, aid workers are trying to vaccinate the population. It is not a safe job. Workers are often killed by Muslims who think the vaccinators are causing the disease.

 

Here's a scenario: Parents stop vaccinating their children over fear of consequences. Within a few years, measles, mumps, whooping cough, smallpox, Spanish Flu, polio and Black Death make a resurgence. Because of the ease of contagion in our rapid-transiting world, before long everyone is dying a torturous death. With all the infection, even those who are vaccinated may not withstand the ravages as they too become infected. Then there are the new diseases that even the strongest antibiotic cannot address.

 

God's plan, spelled out from Genesis to the end of Revelation, is happening right before our eyes and the tribulation has not even begun.

 

It may eventually turn out that there is a connection between some vaccines and autism, but autism is much better than dead. Autistic children are often extremely talented in music, art or whatever interests them and are usually very loving. Every medicine has potential side-effects that affect a very small percentage of the users. Vaccines are no different.

 

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues-last, because with them God's wrath is completed. Revelation 15:1 NIV