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The World to Come. The Restored Church of God presents David C. Pack. Answering life’s
greatest questions straight from the Bible, and announcing the wonderful good news of
the World to Come.
Disease will soon alter the course of history in a profound way. Coming epidemics and pandemics
will dwarf all others before them. Hundreds of millions will perish---and this will not
only happen in poor, underdeveloped countries. The scourge of disease, unlike anything ever
seen, will also strike the world's wealthiest nations---many of which will collapse from
the impact. You have probably heard that "The past is
prologue." This is true. Giant pandemics will strike again. The ensuing chaos will affect
you, and your loved ones. Everything around you will change for the worse. Your life will
be at risk.
I must again be graphic throughout this broadcast. We broke off last time during a stunning description
of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. One survivor recounted the bodies that stacked up just
in Vancouver, Canada: "The undertaking parlours couldn't handle the bodies as people died...they
were having to use school auditoriums and places like that to store bodies temporarily."
A book quoted a New York Times reporter about what would happen if this flu struck the U.S.
now: "If such a plague came today, killing a similar fraction of the U.S. population,
1.5 million Americans would die, which is more than the number felled in a single year
by heart disease, cancers, strokes, chronic pulmonary disease, AIDS, and Alzheimer's…combined."
Most experts put this number much higher. A U.S. population today exactly three times
bigger puts it at over 2 million. Remember, these numbers speak of a stable, First World
nation. But also imagine hundreds of millions dying worldwide.
The Spanish flu pandemic is just one of many that have left their mark on society.
The deadliest disease in history was the Black Death---from AD 1347 to 1350. It was thought
to come from the same bacteria that causes the bubonic plague! In Mediterranean Europe---including
large countries like Italy, France and Spain---between one-third to three-quarters of the entire
population died. In China, one-third perished---the same as the Middle East. Most nations were
affected. The death toll worldwide was estimated at up to a staggering 200 million, or possibly
half the world's population at the time. Europe's population took 150 years to recover.
Tremendous religious, social and economic upheaval was triggered, which had a profound
impact on the course of all world history. As with famine, which interestingly was common
prior to the plague, and thus set it up, violence and truly bizarre behavior accompanied a general
pandemonium that always surrounds widespread disease outbreak. And scapegoats were needed.
Jews and others were attacked. Thousands of Jews were burned at the stake---20,000 in
just one city. It was every man for himself, including authority figures who almost all
bailed out on society---from noblemen to generals to civil officials to the pope.
All this from just one pandemic. Several theories exist about the Black Death.
Many medical historians believe it was the result of two deadly diseases: bubonic plague
(spread by rats) and anthrax (from cattle). One author graphically explains how the plague
affected individuals as it spread in three waves across the continent, similar to the
Spanish flu: "All over Western Europe commoners were buried in mass graves with bodies stacked
horizontally five layers deep. Archeologists have discovered such layered mass graves in
many places, including central London. Since the earth covering the mass graves was thin,
the stench rising from the cemeteries was initially unbearable."
Do not think this could not happen today. Jesus Christ said it will! An authority declared,
"There's absolutely no way that organized health systems could cope with an epidemic
of the proportions of the black plague." Another stated that there is no medical surge capacity
in society if something on this scale happens again.
Get this! This form of plague is in India and China today---and in rodents thruout the
American southwest now. A related threat exists. Notice: "American
laboratories handling the world's deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than
100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number is increasing steadily
as more labs across the country are approved to do the work…the documented cases reflect
poorly on procedures and oversight at high-security labs, some of which work with organisms and
poisons so dangerous that illnesses they cause have no cure."
The article describes several incidents when scientists were either bitten by infected
animals or exposed to deadly bacteria, including "an employee at the Lovelace Respiratory Research
Institute [that] was bitten on the left hand by an infected monkey in September 2006…the
animal was ill from an infection of bacteria that causes plague."
Imagine what would happen if just one worker caught this deadly plague unknowingly and
returned home. An entire neighborhood could quickly be infected---and wiped out!
One reason certain diseases became so deadly in the past was their transmission by animals.
Animal and insect-borne diseases have had a colossal impact on history.
According to a prominent Harvard bacteriologist, "Swords and lances, arrows, machine guns,
and even high explosives have had far less power over the fates of the nations than the
typhus louse, the plague flea, and the yellow-fever mosquito."
The main carriers of Black Death were rats. Fleas on the rats transferred it to people.
In other cases, dogs began to eat infected people who could not be buried fast enough.
They then passed the disease to people, continuing the fatal cycle. And housecats that became
infected spread it to their owners by simple coughing.
Few have even heard of, never mind seen, where people cannot be buried fast enough---but
this has happened many times in history. Disease moving from animals to humans is far
from new. A joint United Nations-World Bank study declared, "An estimated 75 per cent
of new human diseases originate in animals and an average of two new animal diseases
with cross-over capabilities emerge every year." The 1918 Spanish flu originated in
birds and moved to pigs, as did the swine flu, which killed almost 18,000 people in
2009. Dozens of diseases once only found in animals
have infected humans over just the past 20 years. Others are expected to cross over soon.
Examples---that are either emerging or re-emerging include ***, hantavirus (from rodents), bird
flu, rabies, malaria, West Nile virus (from mosquitoes), H1N1, SARS, and Lyme disease
(from ticks). United States Environmental Protection Agency
(the EPA) experts warn that a growing spread of diseases could result from environmental
changes and more people moving into rural areas: "We appear to be undergoing a distinct
change in global disease ecology," an EPA environmental health scientist stated. "The
recent emergence of infectious diseases appears to be driven by globalization and ecological
disruption." A lecturer in ecology at University College
London said scientists have identified a shocking pattern: "Since 1940, over 300 new diseases
have been identified, 60 percent of which crossed to humans from animals and 70 percent
of these came from contact with wildlife...I would expect the emergence of new diseases
from contact with animals to continue..." Think about the potential consequences, especially
in cities where certain disease-carrying animals outnumber people! In Paris, for example, the
population is something over 2 million---yet it has about 8 million rats. How easy would
it be for those living on the streets to contract illness and spread it?
The situation is much the same in New York, where The New York Times reported that subway
officials have been unable to control the pest population. "In the first study of its
kind, officials scoured the city's subway system to discover what accounts for the perennial
presence of rodents, a scourge since the system opened more than a century ago...Rodents,
it turns out, reside inside station walls, emerging occasionally from cracks in the tile
to rummage for food...half of the subway lines got a fair or poor rating for infestation,
meaning they exhibited the telltale culprits---overflowing trash cans, too much track litter---that can
lead to a rodent jamboree...[Rodentologist Robert] Corrigan told health officials that
while rats were a problem in the subways, the rodents inhabited many…public spaces,
particularly parks. 'Virtually all of New York is vulnerable to this uncanny mammal.'"
Rats are of special concern to health officials, as they carry 40 different diseases, some
of which kill people! The potential for disease is not only in rats,
but also birds, cows, pigs---and household pets! As the world grows more and more amoral,
there has been a resurgence in ***. Human diseases such as brucellosis are thought
to have originated this way. A 1948 study showed an incredible 8 percent of all men---almost
one in 12!---reportedly engaged in intercourse with an animal. In the over 60 years that
have elapsed since, how much more has this likely increased, especially when all mankind
is now awash in every conceivable *** perversion and pursuit?
A best-selling author summarizes the correlation effect between disease and animals: "The major
killers of humanity throughout our recent history---smallpox, flu, tuberculosis, malaria,
plague, measles, and cholera---are infectious diseases that evolved from diseases of animals,
even though most of the microbes responsible for our own epidemic illnesses are paradoxically
now almost confined to humans. Because diseases have been the biggest killers of people, they
have also been decisive shapers of history…the winners of past wars were not always the armies
with the best generals and weapons, but were often merely those bearing the nastiest germs
to transmit to their enemies." In fact, in perhaps the earliest use of bio-terrorism,
invading Mongols catapulted dead fellow soldiers over city walls during sieges of European
cities to spread the plague in the city. In the modern age, people place great faith
in the power of antibiotics to protect them. However, many diseases are proving to be antibiotic-resistant.
Antibiotics---drugs that either kill bacteria or hamper their growth---are no longer solving
the problem as they once did. The Staph supergerm MRSA successfully resisted the first new antibiotic
in 35 years in a little more than just one year after its introduction.
Penicillin and the more powerful drug vancomycin once easily controlled the staphylococcus
bacteria. But it has transformed into a superbug, which in some instances now has the capability
to resist both penicillin and vancomycin. Thousands die each year in America from incurable
hospital-acquired staph infections. Many are those who have friends or family who have
battled this scourge---some losing, some winning the battle.
A September 2010 article reported, "An infectious-disease nightmare is unfolding: Bacteria that have
been made resistant to nearly all antibiotics by an alarming new gene [in the bacteria]
have sickened people in three states and are popping up all over the world, health officials
reported...How many deaths the gene may have caused is unknown; there is no central tracking
of such cases. So far, the gene has mostly been found in bacteria that cause gut or urinary
infections. Scientists have long feared this---a very adaptable gene that hitches onto many
types of common germs and confers broad drug resistance, creating dangerous 'superbugs.'
"'It's a great concern,' because drug resistance has been rising and few new antibiotics are
in development, said...[the] director of infectious diseases at the University of Melbourne in
Australia. 'It's just a matter of time' until the gene spreads more more widely person-to-person..."
The article quoted a microbiology professor at South-Paris Medical School: "'The ingredients
are there' for widespread transmission, he said. 'It's going to spread by plane all over
the world.'" Do you doubt this? Think. 500 million people a year fly internationally.
70 million work outside their country. How did these near unstoppable bacteria grow
to such formidable strength? Doctors invited them by overusing antibiotics. Threatened
with lawsuits if they could not prove they did everything they could to protect a patient
from even possible disease, they for years overprescribed antibiotics.
Since the creation of penicillin, physicians have prescribed antibiotics as a "cure-all":
Have an earache? Take Amoxicillin. Have bronchitis? Try Zithromax. Sinusitis? Tri-metho-prim-sulfa-***-oxa-zole.
Still can't beat it? Take moxifloxacin. It's stronger.
Entire generations have grown up with this thinking. Nearly every trip to the doctor
ends at the drugstore---antibiotic prescription in hand.
Over time, bacteria learn to resist antibiotics. After an unwanted bacterium enters the body,
the immune system fights back. Physicians typically prescribe antibiotics to aid the
immune system. With each use, bacteria can begin and then continue to resist the drugs,
using certain tricks. Some make themselves less permeable and the antibiotic cannot be
absorbed. Others change their structure so antibiotics no longer recognize a bug, and
thus cannot find and destroy it. In the worst case, researchers now document
bacteria that produce an enzyme to dissolve the antibiotic. In effect, the hunter antibiotic
becomes the hunted! The result is antibiotic-resistant super-bacteria like Clostridium difficile
and MRSA. MRSA spores can enter a body during surgery---possibly
taken there by an instrument. If not treated soon after an infection, death or the loss
of a limb can result. This superbug usually manifests itself as sores on the skin, but
can also lead to fatal necrotizing pneumonia. Worse, MRSA can be carried unknowingly on
hands, clothes or even get well cards on flowers. Doctors can take it into exam rooms, visiting
family can infect patients---and surgeons can carry it into the operating room. And
it can infect a person thru a wound the size of a mosquito bite.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC), "MRSA occurs most
frequently among patients who undergo invasive medical procedures or who have weakened immune
systems and are being treated in hospitals and healthcare facilities such as nursing
homes and dialysis centers…MRSA in healthcare settings commonly causes serious and potentially
life threatening infections, such as bloodstream infections, surgical site infections, or pneumonia."
As resistance to antibiotics has worsened, hospitals have had to resort to "the drug
of last resort"---vancomycin---to combat MRSA. Now another super bacteria. The CDC describes
C. Difficile as "a bacterium that causes diarrhea and more serious intestinal conditions such
as colitis." Symptoms include diarrhea for several days, fever, loss of appetite, nausea,
and abdominal pain. In America, about 28,000 people die of "C. diff" infections annually.
These primarily occur in hospitals. Tens of thousands more in nursing homes become infected.
The UK Department of Health recorded nearly 37,000 total deaths for C. Diff and MRSA from
1997 to 2007. Researchers from the University of Nottingham
reported, "Official figures show that 5,000 people die from a healthcare-associated infection
every year in the UK and tackling the superbugs costs the NHS [about $1.5 billion dollars]
a year. 1 in 12 of us will pick up an infection during a stay in hospital. There's a 1 in
77 chance of contracting MRSA and a 1 in 50 chance of developing C. diff."
An April 2008 CDC report showed U.S. hospital patient infections doubled from 2001 to 2005.
The New York Times reported, "Several years ago, the mortality rate from a C. difficile
infection was around 1 to 2 percent. But today, various studies estimate that the death rate
is 6 percent. The reason is that a hypervirulent strain has emerged that emits higher levels
of toxins than earlier strains." Scientists fear community-acquired MRSA could
team up with the swine flu virus to produce absolutely horrific results. Those whose immune
systems are weakened by H1N1 virus are highly susceptible to contracting MRSA-induced pneumonia.
An infections expert at the University of Nottingham said, "The threat from [community-acquired
MRSA] in the US is a very serious concern, especially if there is an epidemic. It could
trigger a large number of cases of necrotizing pneumonia, which has a mortality rate of 50
percent in 72 hours." Try to imagine. Each time man tries to fix a problem, it almost
invariably grows worse. Antibiotic use is no different. The solution has come back to
now potentially bite all nations. The superbugs slowly become ever more resistant, and many
older diseases like tuberculosis, gonorrhea, yellow fever and cholera---once considered
eradicated---are now re-emerging and are more difficult to cure than before they disappeared.
If just one looming pandemic hits the now global village called civilization, weakened
immune systems---and a dwindling arsenal of powerful drugs---will leave wide-open a door
to other little-known diseases waiting in the dark.
The threat of disease is everywhere. Dirty water, pollution, war, livestock, pets, wild
animals, lack of proper nutrition, and overall degeneration of the body are paving the way
for a perfect storm of pandemics to come. Notice what an expert said: "Because we've
just had a pandemic does not mean we've decreased our chances of having another...We have to
stay vigilant." Consider how easy it is to spread disease
in today's society. A person going to another country on business or leisure contracts a
disease, returns home showing no symptoms, and infects those he contacts. It's that simple.
An example of how disease can spread in the modern age is West Nile Virus. It is believed
this disease came to America thru mosquitoes that crossed the ocean in airplane wheel wells.
It arrived in New York in 1999. The rapid rise of Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (or SARS) in 2003, when it suddenly spread from China to 37 countries, shows the
glaring vulnerability of the world to epidemics. Famed historian George Santayana said, "Those
who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Judging from history, humanity
is setting itself up for the "Mother of All Pandemics"---in fact, many of them. But most
will ignore this pattern of history. Take this beyond cold statistics. Make it
real. These things will happen in your lifetime! The entire world will SOON learn that God
is the only One who can truly cure, meaning heal, all forms of sickness and disease. (Read
Exodus 15:26 and Psalm 103:3). God alone can forgive sin, which is directly tied to why
people get sick. (Also read Matthew 9:1-6 and Psalm 41:3-4).
How will this come about? From the time of Adam, men have lived in rebellion against
God, breaking His laws with impunity. God has used pestilence to punish disobedience
so man could eventually learn the path to happiness and prosperity. Again, consider
reading these booklets: God's Principles of Healthful Living and The Truth About Healing.
You will be glad you did. More than 3,000 years ago, God used a series
of plagues to force Egypt to release Israel from slavery. Later, He brought pestilence
against the nation of Israel to punish King David. God will again use disease to punish
all nations. Notice this warning: "But it shall come to pass, if you will not hearken
unto the voice of the Lord your God...The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto
you, until he have consumed you from off the land, whither you go to possess it. The Lord
shall smite you with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with
an extreme burning, and with the sword [war], and with blasting [hot, dry winds], and with
mildew [too much rain---both causing famine]; and they shall pursue you until you perish...And
your carcass shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth,
and no man shall [stop] them away. The Lord will smite you with the botch of Egypt, and
with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof you cannot be healed. The
Lord shall smite you with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart."
In Revelation 6:8, God specifically mentions using "beasts of the earth" to punish. Hungry
animals desperate for food will attack vastly more people in the future. They will carry
all kinds of disease that infect people. This is coming!
Understand that even in the prosperous nations of the West, millions upon millions of vermin
(including rats, but also bats, skunks, raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels, foxes and pigs) live
side by side with people. In the biggest cities, beyond just Paris, they in fact greatly outnumber
human beings. In the coming scramble for food, these creatures
will compete with people for dwindling supplies, causing disease of every kind to spread everywhere
like wildfire. I must pause to tell you that I take no pleasure
in reporting these awful prophecies that God says are certain. But they must be said. You
need to know what is coming and have the opportunity to seek the God who is bringing such punishment
before it is too late. When the terrible worsening of disease arrives
from just over the horizon, panic will become the greatest pandemic. Sheer terror will keep
people from buses, planes, trains, restaurants, schools, malls, homes, places of work, and
virtually all indoor public places. Nothing will reassure them. Nothing will quiet their
fear. Pause at least for a moment to ask where you
expect to be when the pestilences Jesus foretold ARRIVE.
The citizens of the privileged countries in the Western world understand little about
most of the diseases described in the last two broadcasts. Usually it is only thru newspaper
headlines or news reports that these come to their attention. Even then, pandemic threats
and health organizations' gloomy statistics seem unreal.
Make no mistake! It is no longer a matter of if pestilence will strike the world, but
when. Millions upon millions will die. About 82,000 people now die of disease every day.
Recall that this translates to 30 million a year---or the equivalent of the entire nation
of Canada. But these people are dying the world over, not just in one place. If any
whole city of 82,000 disappeared in one day, with all of its citizens dying in a host of
terrible ways---and this always being followed by a slightly bigger city dying the next day
in the same way---the world would understand what is already happening.
(PAUSE) Scientists think they can control the spread of disease. How wrong they are!
The efforts of modern medicine to eradicate disease equates to plugging the Titanic's
gashed hull with caulking compound. The ship is going down!
Long ago, God foretold disease would come on a disobedient world---on billions who refuse
to obey His laws. What is occurring today is foretold to grow almost infinitely worse.
Diseases now primarily found in the "Third World," are foretold to slam into the First
World. Many scientists and doctors tell us these diseases are poised to "make the leap."
Global epidemics loom large over the earth. They are coming, they will happen! This brochure
The Pale Horse---There Shall Be Pestilences details what you have seen in the last two
broadcasts. I urge you to read all four of the brochures about the White, Red, Black
and Pale Horses of Revelation. The series of 10 broadcasts on the 4 Horsemen
of the Apocalypse is now complete. But the overall subject is not yet complete as God
intends that you understand it. What we will cover in the next two broadcasts will be the
most chilling news from prophecy you have ever heard.
Until next time, this is David C. Pack saying, "Goodbye, friends."
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