Pandemic on the horizon?

Scientists are closely monitoring a swine flu virus outbreak which already has claimed the lives of at least 20 people in Mexico. Pigs are particularly predisposed to human and avian viruses and it is in pigs that "genetic reassortment" can most readily occur.  Scientists are very concerned.

The recent outbreak of swine flu has sparked concern around the globe. Dr. John Treanor, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, spoke to this point in a recent MSNBC article, which also stated that mutations caused by "genetic reassortment" could result in a global pandemic. The article explains, "Scientists have long been concerned that a new flu virus could launch a pandemic, a worldwide spread of a killer disease. A new virus could evolve when different flu viruses infect a pig, a person or a bird, mingling their genetic material. The resulting hybrid could spread quickly because people would have no natural defenses against it."

The article continues, "The most notorious flu pandemic is thought to have killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19. Two other, less deadly flu pandemics struck in 1957 and 1968." In 1976, under fear of pandemic, an estimated 40 million Americans underwent vaccination, although no pandemic occurred. "Thousands of vaccinated people filed claims saying they'd suffered a paralyzing condition and other side effects from the shots" (ibid.).

Additionally, we read, "In the past, insulin was only obtainable from the pancreas of cadavers (and it required 50 cadavers to yield one dose!). With modern [gene] splicing techniques, enough insulin can be produced for all diabetics. The insulin-producing genes from human DNA are spliced into plasmid DNA; the plasmids are then allowed to infect bacteria, and, as the bacteria multiply, large amounts of harvestable insulin are produced." This may be a tremendous blessing for the insulin-dependent, but the long-term effects of using these products simply cannot be known.

Mankind is on borrowed time as it toys with its food supply as well. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration tells us, "Though food-producing animals are given antibiotic drugs for important therapeutic, disease prevention or production reasons, these drugs can cause microbes to become resistant to drugs used to treat human illness, ultimately making some human sicknesses harder to treat."

So, how long will mankind's scientifically concocted remedies for combating influenza and other air-born and infectious diseases work to stave off a possible pandemic? One... three… five years? No one knows for sure. The fact of the matter is, with each passing year, the likelihood of a global pandemic—potentially claiming millions of lives—grows, because mutations occur as the viruses spread between humans, birds and pigs.

It has been foretold that wasting disease and fever will, without question, occur at the time of the end. "I also will do this to you [God speaking to the modern day descendants of ancient Israel]: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart" (Leviticus 26:16).

The modern day descendants of ancient Israel will be gripped in the end time by disease outbreaks and fevers. The word of God declares the end from the beginning, and it is sure! Could the mutating pig virus be the beginning of the fulfillment of this clear biblical proclamation?

Disease epidemics are one of the signs to watch for as the end of this age approaches. To learn more about this and the other signs, request our vital booklet, Fourteen Signs Announcing Christ's Return. What does ancient Israel have to do with our modern nations today? To learn more, request our informative booklet, The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy. Act now to seek the protection that God offers from the troubles that could be just around the corner!