Why Does God Allow Pandemics? | Telecasts | Tomorrow's World

Why Does God Allow Pandemics?

Why Does God Allow Pandemics?

  Original Air Date: 13th May 2020

Some see Covid-19 as a wake-up call, that maybe we are not pleasing our Creator. One thing we know for sure: Our world will never be the same. This crisis is evolving so rapidly that it is impossible to predict where we will be next week, much less a year from now. Is there a reason for COVID-19? Why does God allow pandemics?

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

We Knew Pandemics Pandemics Were Coming

No one ever wants to hear, “I told you so.” So I shouldn’t say it... but I did and I will! In two previous Tomorrow’s World telecasts, I told you what would happen if we, the human race, failed to follow laws written 3,500 years ago.

Some see Covid-19 as a wake-up call, that maybe we are not pleasing our Creator. One thing we know for sure: Our world will never be the same. This crisis is evolving so rapidly that it is impossible to predict where we will be next week, much less a year from now. But I can give you information, as I have done in the past, that is far more sure and timely than your latest newscast. Contrary to the opinions of many theologians, the Bible shows WHY this is happening and gives the solution, so that there is no excuse when it happens again. You’ll never hear what I’m about to give you from the mainstream media.

COVID-19 did not have to happen. Our lives did not have to be disrupted. People did not have to die. Businesses did not have to fail. Economies did not have to descend into recessions and worse. And governments did not have to fall. All this could have been prevented, and I told you so in a 2011 Tomorrow’s World telecast—“Lessons from SARS”, and in a 2014 Tomorrow’s World program—“Ebola Can Be Prevented.” So join me today as I explain the causes of these scourges and reveal the only true solution to pandemics...

COVID-19 Pandemic Was Predictable

Welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where I’m going to explain an absolute truth that few others have the courage to give. COVID-19 was entirely preventable. It did not have to happen. I explained this publicly regarding SARS, Ebola, and numerous other diseases in 2011 and 2014. Don’t believe me just because I say this. Check it out for yourself! It’s all a matter of record found in two Tomorrow’s World telecasts: “Lessons from SARS,” and “Ebola Can Be Prevented.” Both programs were recorded in Canada and later rerecorded in the United States. You can look them up on our website, TomorrowsWorld.org. Or better yet, I’ll send you a copy of these two programs, along with this program, on a DVD.

Sadly, the very people who should be teaching mankind these things have been negligent in doing so. Worse yet, those professing Christian ministers reject the very knowledge that would save mankind from all this heartache and suffering. They’ve chosen to dismiss this knowledge, spelled out in the very book they claim to represent!

COVID-19 did not arise out of thin air. It had a cause. There is more than one theory as to how it began, and the exact details may not be known at this time, and may never be known. Many believe it accidentally escaped from a biohazard lab in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus was found in horseshoe bats that were being studied. Others think that it came from a nearby “wet market” where exotic animals are sold for food. This is the official view coming from China at the time of this recording, but since some people are asymptomatic, the first person exposed to the virus may never be known. He or she may not work for the bio-lab and may never have visited the wet market. But whether from the biohazard lab, or the “wet market,” all trails lead back to the horseshoe bat, or some intermediary animal that got it from the bat, such as the suspected pangolin.

Scientists believe SARS, which emerged in 2002, originated in a wet market in or near Hong Kong. Bats are used in traditional Chinese medicine as well as gourmet food in that part of the world. SARS, MERS, Nipah Fever, and Ebola are all traced back to bats, though human infection comes from an intermediary. Scientists know exactly where to look when a new pathogen attacks humanity—the meat market.

That is where they traced SARS. They first thought it originated from a Civet Cat, a creature that is considered a delicacy among the Chinese—that is until SARS, at which time thousands of these animals were killed and are no longer sold legally in China. While there are various speculations about the exact route to humans, the Encyclopedia Britannica on the subject gives this explanation:

“Viruses that infect animals can jump from one species to another, causing a new, usually severe disease in the new host. For example, in 2003 a virus in the Coronaviridae family jumped from an animal reservoir, believed to be horseshoe bats, to humans, causing a highly pathogenic disease in humans called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The ability of the SARS coronavirus to jump from horseshoe bats to humans undoubtedly required genetic changes in the virus. The changes are suspected to have occurred in the palm civet, since the SARS virus present in horseshoe bats is unable to infect humans directly” (“Evolution of new virus strains,” Britannica.com, April 21, 2020).

The connection between bats and deadly viruses is clearly known, and SARS is not the only one. While the mortality rate for SARS is scary (10%), the death rate from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, known as MERS, another coronavirus, is even scarier. The World Health Organization reports that MERS is between 3 and 4 times more deadly. The WHO recognizes the MERS connection between bats, camels, and humans.

“The origins of the virus are not fully understood but, according to the analysis of different virus genomes, it is believed that it may have originated in bats and was transmitted to camels sometime in the distant past” (“Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV),” WHO.int, March 11, 2019).

So far, what I’ve given you may be found in many sources. But few connect the dots between the cause of these pathogens and Biblical laws. In light of the coronavirus ravaging the world, we are offering you a free DVD, “God Answers His Covid-19 Critics.” This DVD does connect these dots. It contains the 2011 program, “Lessons from SARS,” the 2014 program, “Ebola Can Be Prevented” along with today’s program.

All three programs connect the dots between these dangerous pathogens and Biblical commands, demonstrating why these pandemics are totally unnecessary. This DVD, “God Answers His Covid-19 Critics,” can be yours free of charge. Just click the link in the description to order your free DVD. And I’ll be back with new evidence regarding the cause of these terrifying diseases.

The Cause And Effect Of Breaking God’s Health Laws

We take for granted the yearly flu season. Yet, it did not have to be this way. Don’t get me wrong. The flu is here and it won’t go away just yet, but do you realize that the causes of such scourges as SARS, Ebola, MERS, Nipah Virus, COVID-19, Swine Flu, and more common flus, are known? And you don’t have to take my word for it. Listen to the scientists that study these things, but they will not connect the dots that you are hearing on this program! Not even professing Christian ministers have the courage to make the connection between the cause of these viruses and the word of God.

Let’s take a closer look at SARS, as it was a wake-up call for some and scientists have since studied it extensively. SARS is the acronym for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, and it burst onto the scene in November 2002. What made it so dangerous was that it was easily transmitted, it did not stay local, and it was deadly, killing about 10% of all who caught it.

Popular Science published an article during the crisis in which it stated the following:

“‘The fact that both sars and most flu viruses originated in southern china is no surprise,’ says virologist Michael Lai, who believes that the region’s social customs of catching and eating wild game expose people to animal viruses” (“SARS: Where Did It Come From?” PopSci.com, July 2, 2003).

Did you catch that, my friends? Let me quote Michael Lai again:

“The fact that both sars and most flu viruses originated in southern china is no surprise…”

Not only did SARS originate in Southern China, but according to Dr. Lai, “most flu viruses,” let me repeat, “most flu viruses,” do as well. Consider the profound implications of this! The cause of most flu viruses is known and if you stop the cause, you stop the flu! The article goes on to say,

“In theory, SARS leapt from a wild beast to a human when it acquired the molecular “keys” to gain entry to our cells, explains Lai. To do that, it may have first mingled with a human virus brewing inside another species. A pig, for example, can serve as a genetic mixing bowl when co-infected with two viruses, allowing them to swap genes” (“SARS: Where Did It Come From?” PopSci.com, July 2, 2003).

This 2003 Popular Science magazine article is not the only source calling the pig “a genetic mixing bowl.” Here is a clip from my 2011 telecast, “Lessons From SARS”:

Experts believe that a classic way for hybrid viruses to form is when different viruses meet and “marry” inside a single host, swapping genes. Humans and animals, such as pigs, can be efficient “mixing vessels.” Some scientists believe the pandemics of 1958 and 1968 occurred in such a fashion, killing up to two million and one million people worldwide, respectively. (Tan Ee Lyn, “H1N1 and bird flu virus produce dangerous hybrids,” Reuters, May 23, 2011).

What scientists are learning is how animal viruses can be transmitted to humans and vice versa, and domestic pigs seem to be excellent “mixing vessels.” Birds, which are a source of various flu viruses, can transmit the flu to humans, but human to human transmission does not normally occur. But when a virus is transmitted from a bird to a pig, it can mutate in such a way that it is now able to transmit not only from pig to human, but from human to human” (“Lessons from SARS,” TomorrowsWorld.org, June 28, 2016).

This entire program, “Lessons from SARS,” originally produced for the Hong Kong audience, can be yours at no cost. We even pay for the shipping. And we will never sell your name or personal information to others. We never have and we never will. This DVD, “God Answers His Covid-19 Critics,” also contains a second program, “Ebola Can Be Prevented.” This program explains the source of Ebola, and why it will keep coming back until the cause is addressed, and people stop eating the things God said not to. So click the link in the description and order your free copy today, and I’ll be right back to connect the dots between what scientists know and what the Bible says. You won’t see these dots connected in the media so don’t go away.

The Bible Tells Us The Solution To Prevent Pandemics

Today we are looking at the causes of Covid-19 and other contagions that can be stopped, if we STOP doing the things that CAUSE these afflictions. The annual flu may be unpleasant, but not since 1918 have we seen a contagion as serious as the one we currently face. Yet, virtually no one is turning to the source that gives the ultimate solution to the problem. All the so-called experts, and I do not in any way intend to denigrate these dedicated individuals, but no, they have failed to give the answer. Why? Because they do not have the KEY that reveals the way. As I said in my 2014 program,

The plain truth is that mankind would do well to come to grips with the cause of the problem.

The preventative solution to the scourge of Ebola is right education and changed habits. It will shock many, but the cause, as well as the solution, is revealed in the Bible, recorded some 3,500 years ago. And, if mankind followed its simple instructions, Ebola, SARS, and many other diseases would be no more than footnotes in history. These diseases ARE TOTALLY preventable. Scientists and health care professionals, national leaders, and philanthropic foundations have failed miserably in educating people with the only true and sure solution to these problems” (“Ebola Can Be Prevented,” TomorrowsWorld.org, August 11, 2015).

Simply put, the solution is found in the Bible, where the God of creation revealed that some animals are food for man, and others are not. Some creatures are labeled “unclean” and they are just that—unclean, unfit for human consumption. Note this short list of the creatures most often associated with these outbreaks:

Bats

Swine (pigs)

Civet cats

Camels

Primates, such as monkeys and chimpanzees

Note that every single one of these creatures is listed in the Bible as prohibited for man to consume. Regarding the current crisis, an insect-eating mammal known as a Pangolin is being investigated as the intermediary between bats and humans.

“Pangolins and other wild species, including a variety of species of bat, are often sold in wet markets, says Professor Andrew Cunningham of the Zoological Society London, providing opportunities for viruses to move from one species to another. “Wet markets, therefore, create ideal conditions for the spillover of pathogens from one species to another, including to people” (Coronavirus: The race to find the source in wildlife,” BBC.com, February 25, 2020).

Bats show up time and again as reservoirs for coronaviruses such as SARS. The horseshoe bat is also implicated in COVID-19, whether the virus came out of a wet market or a biohazard lab. Camels, on the other hand, seem to be the immediate source for the coronavirus causing MERS, although many scientists believe it traveled from a bat to the camel, and then to humans. Fruit bats and primates (such as monkeys and chimpanzees) are associated with the Hemorrhagic [fevers] of Ebola and Marburg.

But there is another creature very often implicated in these transmissions—swine, otherwise called hogs or pigs. Note this BBC report on another dangerous virus:

“Nipah virus, which emerged in Malaysia in 1998 and 99, we believe has fruit bats as the reservoir, but it had to go into pigs before it could infect humans” (“Bats a ‘likely source’ of Sars,” News.BBC.co.uk, September 29, 2005).

So how did that transfer take place? Bloomberg News provides the answer.

“One early clue of bats’ role came from a 1998 outbreak of brain-infecting Nipah virus in Malaysia that killed more than 100 people. It turned out that fruit bats with the virus were feeding on mango trees overhanging a pig enclosure, according to the EcoHealth Alliance. The bats dropped fruit into the pens and infected the pigs; the pigs then passed the pathogen onto people” (“Coronavirus Outbreak Likely Began With Bats, an Omen for Next Epidemic,” Bloomberg.com, February 3, 2020).

Swine are central to numerous flu viruses, from the more recent 2009 swine flu epidemic to the more famous 1918 so-called Spanish Flu. Regarding swine flu, Medical News Today says the following:

“Swine flu can affect both pigs and humans. It is a respiratory disease that results from an influenza A virus.

The influenza A variant subtype H1N1 is commonly the cause of swine flu in humans. It has similar genetic features to the H1N1 subtype of influenza virus that causes influenza in pigs.

Since 2009, the H1N1 virus has become one of the common viruses that circulate each flu season. Many people now have some immunity to the virus. [And] As a result, experts are now less concerned about this type of swine flu than they were in 2009” (“Everything you need to know about swine flu,” MedicalNewsToday.com, March 11, 2020).

The most famous pandemic of the 20th Century was the so-called Spanish flu of 1918. It claimed an estimated 50 to 100 million lives around the world. Considering the enormous death toll, one must ask, “Does having bacon for breakfast, or an Easter ham, justify the horrible agonizing deaths of 50 to 100 million people AND the tears of many millions of family members?” When we connect the dots, whether it’s bats, pigs, civets, camels, pangolins, or primates, these are ALL listed in the Bible as unfit for human consumption—God says NOT to eat them!

Now, if you would like a DVD of this program, along with “Lessons from SARS” and “Ebola Can Be Prevented,” just click the link in the description and order it now for free. You may be wondering how this is free. And the answer is, it has been paid forward by the members of the “Living Church of God” and co-workers behind this Work. Also, remember to subscribe to our channel and click the notification bell so you don’t miss another Tomorrow’s World video. And when I come back, we’ll connect the dots between two more pathogens involving Biblically unclean animals.

How Different The World Would Be If We Listened To Who Created Us!

Today, on Tomorrow’s World, I’m telling you something that you won’t hear from mainstream media or most Christian ministers. Yes, you may read of the connection between certain animals and various deadly diseases, but who’s connecting the dots between these animals and biblical laws that have been here for thousands of years? As long as we reject that knowledge, new pathogens WILL continue to afflict us, and old ones will return. This is why Ebola continues to come back again and again. This is why I told you in 2014 that Ebola would return, and it did, causing a greater loss of life! As I explained in, “Ebola Can Be Prevented”:

“What is known is that fruit bats and various so called bushmeat animals can be infected with the virus. This is fact. What is not known for sure is where the Ebola virus begins, but one particular source is highly suspect, and that is the fruit bat, which is a part of the diet of some Central and West Africans.

Note this headline and subhead from the journal, Nature:

Fruit bats as reservoirs of Ebola virus: Bat species eaten by people in central Africa show evidence of symptomless Ebola infection (Nature Publishing Group, Vol. 438, 1 December 2005).

The article explains that these fruit bats are carriers of the virus, but they are asymptomatic, meaning the virus is not a problem for them. They are, in effect, carriers of the virus that causes Ebola. So while it remains to be seen whether they are the original source, what is clearly known is that these fruit bats are A source of the virus and when handled as a food source they can transmit the virus to man and it then spreads from person to person by way of bodily fluids. Since people in Central and West Africa eat these bats, along with “bush meats” that are affected by the virus, Ebola breaks out from time to time” .

The 2011 thriller “Contagion” is making a comeback as many seek ways to entertain themselves during their lockdown caused by this new contagion. The movie begins with Beth Emhoff returning from a business trip in Hong Kong. She has a stopover in Chicago before arriving at her home and family in Minneapolis. Two days later she collapses and is taken to hospital, where she dies. Her husband Mitch returns home from hospital only to find that his son has died of what appears to be the same malady. So begins the movie “Contagion,” which shows the disease spreading from one person to another and blossoms into a full-blown crisis—not only with people dying, but also with social unrest.

I saw this movie on a long flight returning to Toronto from Hong Kong in 2012, where we stayed in Kowloon, that’s just across the harbor from Hong Kong Island. Oh, and by the way, if you happen to watch “Contagion,” watch it all the way to the end where it shows the beginning of the virus. And then, my friends, connect the dots!

Hong Kong and the surrounding areas learned a lot from SARS. Elevator buttons are sanitized in some locations, as often as every half hour, but no one learned the big lesson—stopping the contagion before it gets started. The typical diet in that part of the world is full of exotic creatures. Once in Guangzhou I bumped into an alligator in a restaurant, and I saw snake wine peddled on a river boat near Guilin.

Now, let me leave you with this sobering message, from the American Society for Microbiology:

“Coronaviruses are well known to undergo genetic recombination, which may lead to new genotypes and outbreaks. The presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats, together with the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China, is a time bomb (“Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus as an Agent of Emerging and Reemerging Infection,” Clinical Microbiology Reviews, iss. 20, vol. 4, October 2007).

That, my friends, was written October 2007! But if people read the Bible this would not be a surprise. Write this down: Leviticus chapter 11, and look it up in a Bible and see what God instructed 3,500 years ago. How different our world would be, right now, if we only listened to the loving God who created us!

Be sure to come back next week at this same time when Richard Ames, Wallace Smith, Rod McNair and I, connect the dots between the Bible and the world in which we now live.