Avian influenza (bird flu) is unsettling the medical experts and threatening the world. With haunting memories of the flu epidemic that killed an estimated 50 million people globally in 1918-1919, several strains of flu are jeopardizing the world. Some U.S. businesses are sponsoring seminars to ready their firms for a woeful reduction in their own workforces and the slowing of raw materials and delivery systems arising from millions being ill and unable to function.
The latest disquieting story comes from England where there is another outbreak of bird flu. According to a November 13th TIME Internet article, Britain’s poultry industry has already suffered a $19 million loss from a previous bird flu outbreak last February. And that is on top of two other animal pestilences of foot-and-mouth-disease and blue tongue disease. Now thousands of birds are again being slaughtered, and there are fears that a mutation of this deadly and virulent strain of bird flu could jump into humans and spread among global populations. How many more fowls face destruction to control the current outbreak is unclear.
One thing is perfectly clear. The world faces potential medical disaster from various bird flu outbreaks and from other viruses energized by casual overdosing of antibiotics. Even the vaccinations against these diseases are questioned by some who declare that the percentage of reaction illness, disability and death these injections cause are as bad as or worse than the peril of contracting the disease. (It is estimated that 25 died and 500 suffered the terrible effects of Guillain-Barré syndrome as a result of national swine flu inoculations in 1976.)
Whether the diseases are natural or man-induced, the Bible forecasts some rough medical years in the end times. Christ predicted, "And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven." (Luke 21:11) Pestilence is defined as "a deadly infectious disease." The 1918 Spanish flu epidemic took possibly the most lives worldwide of any recorded pandemic, and some analysts predict a potential epidemic eclipsing that. Interestingly, the Book of Revelation uses the term "plague" ten times indicating it will be a time of disease. The end times might well be upon us.
Should Christians fear? Never. Christ gives "perfect peace" to the trusting. Isaiah 26:3 says "You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You." And there is as much medical protection as is possible to those who trust. "You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you." (Psalm 91:5-7)
Whether you choose to be inoculated or not, Biblical insight, clean living, dietary discernment, optimistic attitudes and sound judgment are at least a foundation for health and a defense against disease. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones." (Proverbs 3:5-8)
The worst that disease ever does to the child of God is promote him to Heaven as II Corinthians 5:6 promises. "So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord…."
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, then genuine fear is warranted. Jesus Christ said that in the end times there would be the "distress of nations, with perplexity…men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth…" (Luke 21:26) Accept Him as Savior today, and you can face an uncertain future with the promise of Heaven and without fear.
Dave Virkler
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