In the pestilence of 302 A.D., the plague had a companion–-famine. The people resorted to eating grass, and deaths from famine almost matched those dying from disease. Hungry dogs fought over the bodies of the human dead. Likewise, during the bubonic plague (Black Death) in the early 1300s, the population of Europe had outrun the food supply, and in a few years, the poor were eating cats, dogs, and other animals. Some say they even ate their own children!

Some historians suggest that up to 70% died of plague in affected areas. During this time, it took 200 years for the population of Europe to recover to the level prior to the epidemic.

This loss of population impacted the workforce, but at first, only the more skilled positions. However, when the second and third waves of pestilence swept across Europe, every job was affected. Farmers, servants, tinkers, and others were in short supply. J.L. Cloudsley-Thompson wrote, “some 50,000 persons died in London alone so that all public business was interrupted for two years and the war with France had to be discontinued.”

During this time, inflation skyrocketed. Goods became difficult to obtain and very expensive because so many people had died. Serfs no longer were tied to one master; it became easy to leave one lord and be hired at high wages by another master. It took between 100 and 133 years for Europe to overcome the shock and consequences of such a disastrous loss of workers!

There was a scarcity of all kinds of workers, so those who were still alive were worth more. They tried to unite and strike for higher wages, but the result was the Statute of Labourers of 1351 that kept wages at the 1346 level. It also prohibited workers from leaving their masters. Other laws followed that were just as bad, but the medieval economy experienced a major overhaul after a series of peasant revolts in 1381 and 1449. The plague helped force many economic changes.

The loss of workers caused wages and prices to soar; however, rents plummeted. Historian Gary North wrote, “There was now a labor shortage (at the old terms of labor). Wages shot upward. All over Europe governments passed wage controls. They made it illegal for people to move to new parishes. And all over Europe, this legislation failed.”

As the plague impacted a city, the healthy workers demanded higher wages and as the workers now had more leverage, even the dullest leaders knew serfdom (feudalism) was in its death throes. The serfs were no longer tied to a master for life with no hope of advancement. Of course, the aristocrats resisted, resulting in rebellion concluding with riots in Paris, Florence, and London in the mid and late 1300s.

If the coronavirus becomes more threatening, we can expect people to react in a similar fashion. The airlines, hotels, car rentals, and similar businesses are being decimated as you read this. Others will follow if the virus intensifies. If laws were passed forbidding workers to change or quit jobs or move, would you obey those laws? If you are quarantined, will you resist? If vaccination is required, will you comply? If church attendance is forbidden, will you meet secretly?

No one—politician, physician, preacher, or pundit—can give any guarantee that this threat is temporary or that it will kill millions, but everyone should consider all possibilities. It is only wise to pray, plan, then prepare for the worst. If it is a minor threat to a few thousand people and it fizzles in a month or two, then no big deal. If people keep dying worldwide, you will have been wise to prepare.

When the number of dead reached the breaking point in Europe which was different in various societies and ages, responsible people became irresponsible, calm people became terrified, and the borderline paranoid became dangerous. As fearful people ran from their homes, social and political organizations disappeared, crops were left to rot in the fields, populations were displaced, civil war was fomented, and major shifts in religious thinking occurred.

Religions were changed to a certain degree during and following all major plagues, and one of the most flamboyant results of pestilence was also one of the most appalling—religious excess. With a constant threat of death, it became time to look at one’s self, and as is often true, some people became mentally or emotionally unbalanced. Such were the Flagellants or the Brotherhood of the Cross. Those confused, but sincere people tore off their clothes and beat each other on their naked bodies with scourges, consisting of three lengths of leather with knots. In each knot were iron spikes, sharp as needles. The movement spread throughout Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, Germany, etc.

The extremists went from town to town spreading their fanaticism, and no doubt, the pestilence. Cloudsley-Thompson wrote of the Flagellants: “the gloomy fanaticism which gave rise to them infused a near poison into the despairing minds of the people. Thus, during the fourteenth century, the idea was spread that Jews had been responsible for spreading the pestilence by poisoning wells and infecting the air.” He was saying that a poisoned mind produced poisoned thinking and twisted actions, resulting in hatred of Jews and others. Any sane person could see that Jews were dying at the same rate as others.

Religious society was massively impacted not only by the plague but also by the printing press. When the printing press was invented in 1440, the Bible was printed for the common man and for the first time in a thousand years, people began to be informed and think for themselves. The influence of printing accelerated with the production of books, pamphlets, tracts, and flyers resulting in the Protestant Reformation.

The plague in the 14th century made a lasting impression on the Roman Catholic Church and its critics. Some of Rome’s monasteries were wiped out. Charles Gregg reports that all 150 monks died at the monastery near the French seaport of Marseilles and the same thing happened in Avignon.

A small group of intellectuals ruled the educational world, and most of them, being older, were most vul¬nerable to the plague and were mowed down when the pestilence visited Europe. In fact, four of Europe’s thirty universities disappeared in 1350 as a result of plague which was a major concern in academia during those desperate days of death.

Another consequence of plague was the disappearance of Latin as the medium for writers, and the acceptance of the common language for literature. The reason is simple: there was no choice since the teachers and clerics who taught Latin in the schools, seminaries, and universi¬ties were buried!

Today’s education has already been impacted by all schools closed in Japan, Italy, and twenty other nations. Homeschooling prevalence is exploding because of the epidemic.

An indication of the extent of national trouble during times of disease, destruction, and death can be seen in desperate laws passed all over Europe to alleviate their misery. During Diocletian’s reign (ruled 285-305) farmers were forbidden to leave the farms to take up other jobs and some occupations were made hereditary. That simply meant that a son had to follow his father’s trade or profession. Yes, such laws were tyrannical but politicians don’t think correctly in difficult times, or any time!

Obviously, the bug has caused more damage to nations than battles. Hans Zinsser wrote that the Plague of Justinian in the sixth century was responsible for the demise of the mighty Roman Empire. He suggested that it was “perhaps the most potent single influence—which gave the coup de grâce to the ancient empire.”

The mightiest empire of all time fell because of a bug! So, what are the possibilities for us today with the coronavirus in China, Italy, South Korea—even America?

It’s something to think about—then pray, plan, and prepare.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D.; and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)

Pestilences, famines, plagues, and wars have an appalling record in mankind’s history having produced enormous problems of public chaos, interruption of labor, economic disaster, revolution, and demise of whole populations. People panic, lose or quit their jobs, live from one day to the next, lose hope for the future, have no confidence in public officials, show no concern for others in the same circumstances, and often turn to crime to sustain themselves.

In 189 A.D., a great plague—thought to be smallpox—attacked the Roman Empire and 2,000 people died each day in Rome. The city was in trouble at that time with internal strife, debased currency, encircling barbarians, and demoralization of the populace. Those complex problems were made infinitely worse by 2,000 deaths daily. The labor supply dwindled, military campaigns were stopped or hindered, day-to-day business operations were paralyzed, and production of food almost ceased. The weakened Empire was grinding to a halt.

History records mankind’s response to disasters, disease, and devastation of war.

The nascent coronavirus is producing the same reaction that all past pestilences and plagues have created throughout history. Of course, this threat may turn out to be a minor problem in the overall scheme of things during the early days of 2020—or it may be a scourge of biblical proportions.

During historical disasters, it was common to have one disaster after another with everyone making a connection of them and ascribing them divine origin. In our day we see the coronavirus epidemic accelerating while locust swarms (the size of cities) attack East Africa, the Middle East and China. Discussion has followed about these being indications of the last days or the end of the world.

Terrified men have reacted the same way in all ages to invisible, imminent, and inevitable plagues and disasters.

History clearly reveals that the first reaction to a threat on your life is always self-preservation, the God-given impulse to preserve the human race. You will fight to overcome the initial fear of the disease or destruction or terrorism and make decisions to guarantee your personal safety. Everything else in life is secondary and delayed so you can concentrate on saving yourself and family.

After one is satisfied that he/she and the family are safe, then the humanitarian and altruistic spirit kicks in with a desire to help members of various social groups: church, school, lodge, workplace, union, club, etc. However, this philanthropic action will almost always cease if there is a threat to personal safety.

Next, there is a normal tendency to identify the reason for the tragedy they are facing with an accompanying desire to alleviate the problem. Ancient, pagan societies naturally thought their god was angry with them; consequently, they decided to sacrifice the daughters of their most elite citizens rather than daughters of the poor. Some doubled the number of victims, thinking that would placate their god.

When men thought they were too civilized to accuse the gods for catastrophic events, they instead blamed Jews, lepers, gypsies, and other minorities!

Finally, one adjusts to the threat as much as physically possible until the plague disappears, the storm subsides, the earthquake stops, or terrorists flee to the hills. If the disaster continued, men thought to be principled revealed their convictions were shallow, not deep, as families were deserted, friendships were severed, and some even resorted to dangerous, depraved, and deadly actions.

At this juncture, men do some very stupid things as they seek to work around or out of the threat. Often they pass laws that are unnecessary, unfair, and unlawful.

The above reactions were observed when malaria lashed the face of Greece.

The malarial parasite—passed to humans by the female mosquito— killed infants, weakened unsuspecting children, forced the freeing of the most productive farmlands, and helped produce Greek citizens who were listless, lazy, and licentious. As a result, the power and glory of ancient Greece became a derisive memory.

It is said that men refused to marry or, if they married, refused to have children. If they had children, they refused to rear them. Men went out of their way to be ostentatious, avaricious, and indolent.

The pandemic plague of Justinian (bubonic plague known as the Black Death) in the sixth century had a sweeping influence and permanently transformed the social fabric of the world. It contributed to the end of Justinian’s reign. The plague, starting in Africa, quickly spread to Egypt and the Mediterranean area. It was preceded by many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions–Vesuvius, in 513, was one–and famines that dropped a blanket of terror and death over Europe, the Near East, and Asia. The worst natural occurrence was the earthquake and fire that destroyed Antioch in A.D. 526, killing almost 300,000 people.

Food production was severely disrupted followed by an eight-year famine. The farming system of the empire was restructured to eventually become the three-field feudal system that impacted all of Europe! Three-field system was a method of farming that represented a significant improvement of food production techniques. Very simply, in the old two-field system “half the land was sown to crop and half left fallow each season; in the three-field system, however, only a third of the land lay fallow.”

This change in food production was a major positive result of the plague.

The social and economic disruption caused by the pandemic marked the end of Roman rule and led to the birth of culturally distinctive societal groups that later formed the nations of medieval Europe.

During this plague of Justinian, crops could not be harvested, traveling and trade were reduced, and food and other items became scarce or unavailable. Many workers died resulting in a massive loss of labor, exacerbating the situation. The remaining workers, realizing their worth had multiplied, demanded much higher wages from major landowners. After all, they were poor but not stupid. Those workers had never had any chance of upward mobility, but were now able to purchase land now that land was available at depressed prices. These unprecedented conditions changed social conditions adding a middle class between serfs and landowners.

This was another sea change in man’s improved social and economic life.

The Black Death galloped through Europe again in the mid-1300s with a similar result of the plague of Justinian. It started in Sicily, jumped to France, Germany, Spain, and England then skipped to Russia, India, and other nations. Millions died and some villages were totally wiped out while some large cities lost 75% of their residents to plague. A third wave smacked Europe again in 1855 after starting in a remote China province, and by 1900 it had reached ports on every continent! Many millions died—again. The total death toll of bubonic plague is 75 million to 200 million.

Most of our politicians and physicians (who are often politicians) are hoping, maybe even praying (!) that the coronavirus won’t explode here. Hoping won’t protect us from a plague and praying will only help if we follow common sense health practices.

Wringing of the hands won’t do much good either.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D.; and visit his blog. Send request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)

Chinese eat snakes, worms, and water bugs boiled and soaked in vinegar. The wealthier eat live scorpions soaked in strong liquor. Chinese connoisseurs delight in roasted bee larvae and fried silkworm moth larvae after a steaming bowl of ant soup. Others eat large water beetles, stinkbugs, and fly maggots. They raise the larvae of flies in heaps of rotting fish.

Live scorpions are placed on a bed of noodles and gourmets say they taste like potatoes. I’ll take their word for it.

The Chinese mainland has about 100 cockroach farms, and new ones are opening frequently. Even many Chinese were surprised when a million cockroaches broke out of one of those farms! This Great Escape made headlines around the world. Cockroaches are considered a succulent delight and are farmed like chickens in Georgia.

However, health experts reveal that the coronavirus is connected to bats that are considered a delicacy; a viral video has emerged online of a Chinese woman devouring a bat. A second video features a woman eating “bowl of bat soup.” There is little doubt these filthy creatures play a critical role in transmitting the deadly coronavirus.

After a careful review of the habits of ancient Jews, I suggest that Jews were thousands of years ahead of all nations, and a return to their diet and sanitary habits might limit or eliminate many of the world’s diseases.

Some uninformed health officials teach that Egypt was the medical center of the ancient world. This mistake was advanced by the ancient historian Herodotus who recorded that during the days of the Medo-Persian Empire, it was King Darius’ practice “to keep in attendance certain Egyptian doctors, who had a reputation for the highest eminence in their profession.” However, Egypt was not nearly as medically informed as ancient Israel. Egypt was more skillful in building (think, pyramids) than medicine, but Israel was far advanced of all nations in health issues.

An example of Egypt’s medical backwardness is their instructions on removing splinters from the flesh. It consisted of “worm blood, mole, and donkey dung.” However, Doctors S. I. McMillen and David Stern noted that dung “is loaded with tetanus spores” and “a simple splinter often resulted in a gruesome death from lockjaw.”

The ancient Egyptians’ prescription for skin disease was “A hog’s tooth, cat’s dung, dog’s dung, aau-of-samu-oil, berries-of-the-xet-plant, pound and apply as poultice.” (Ancient Egyptian, 1930, p. 92.) Other remedies included dried excrement of a child, hog dung, and a farmer’s urine. One recipe to prevent hair growth included lizard dung and the blood from a cow, donkey, pig, dog, and stag.

It was said that the urine of a faithful wife was effective in the treatment of sore eyes. It seems ancient Egyptians had a thing about dung and urine! Israel was not so backward.

The Encyclopedia Britannica’s conclusion regarding the Bible’s instructions on sanitary and medical practices is very revealing: “The Old Testament is a mine of information on social and personal hygiene. The Jews were indeed pioneers in matters of public health.”

The Jews’ strict regulations regarding sexual activity along with their sanitary regulations plus their treatment of infectious diseases were millennia ahead of all other nations. God gave specific instructions to Israel regarding human waste. They were to relieve themselves away from the living area and to carry a tool for covering excrement! People in third world nations still don’t follow that basic practice!

The Encyclopedia of Medical History declares, “The idea of contagion was foreign to the classic medical tradition and found no place in the voluminous Hippocratic writings. The Old Testament, however, is a rich source for contagionist sentiment, especially in regard to leprosy and venereal disease.” Maybe, just maybe, we should use the Bible to manage our personal lives, not because it is ancient but because it is accurate.

When one looks at the book of Leviticus for treatment of infectious disease he does not see dirty, dangerous, and deadly remedies and ingredients prescribed by Egypt and other ancient civilizations. In fact, the Pentateuch reveals awareness of germs and disease that “modern” medicine did not grasp for 3,500 years after the book was written!

For thousands of years, doctors denied that disease could be transmitted by imperceptible means; but in the 1860s, Louis Pasteur confirmed it in his Germ Theory of Disease. He proved that most infectious diseases were caused by microorganisms originating from outside the body.

Moses gave specific instructions to prevent the spread of disease from dung and dead bodies thousands of years before modern man understood the danger. Moses instructed Jews that diseases such as leprosy were dangerous to everyone and such infected people were to “dwell alone without the camp.” Leviticus 13:45 commands when an infected person came near an uninfected person, the infected person was to “cover his upper lip, and shall cry, ‘unclean! unclean!’” That was not unkind; it saved thousands of innocent lives.

It is obvious that the covering of the upper lip was to keep the infected person from coughing, sneezing, or spitting on non-infected people. On Oct. 9, 2014, it was announced that researchers found that a patient showing no symptoms of the disease “can still transmit a virus like Ebola by air if droplets containing the virus are transmitted to another person by a sneeze or cough.” That is contrary to what major health officials were saying!

It was 1873 that mankind finally realized that leprosy was infectious instead of hereditary but then, Moses and the Israelites knew about it 3,500 years earlier! If a Jew was suspected of being infected he was examined by a priest who confirmed whether or not he was infected. If so, then he was to be removed from the living area until he was healed. That meant quarantine and while it was unpleasant and uncomfortable, it was not unreasonable.

Because of Israel’s advanced knowledge they were the only culture cognizant of infectious diseases with the knowledge of how to deal with them. They were the only group to practice quarantine until the Black Death (bubonic plague) smacked the face of Europe in the 14th century. Millions were dying of plague until church leaders in Vienna thought about the Bible’s plan to stop the spread of infectious disease. Officials required all ships entering Vienna’s port on the Danube to be isolated 40 days to ensure that none of the sailors or passengers was infected. Other cities followed the plan and the Black Death was stopped.

U.S. and world health officials must realize they are health officials not politicians dedicated to making everyone feel good, safe, and fuzzy. We must prohibit anyone from entering the U.S. who has been to any Asian or African nation unless they have been in isolation 21 days. That also includes our southern border where people are entering our nation daily without any physical examination. Even animals have to have shots to enter and kids have to have vaccinations to attend school. You think maybe we could be a little stricter with so many deadly viruses? It is time to act now. If the coronavirus reaches a critical mass, it could become a medical tsunami that will burn itself out after killing millions of people.

Ancient Israel told us how to stop infectious disease: confirm, contain, and confine the disease. Maybe physicians should add the Bible to their medical references.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA TODAY for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D.; and visit his blog. Send request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)

There is ample evidence that humans have marked their bodies with tattoos for thousands of years. These permanent markings have been prompted by various motives such as status symbols, religious beliefs, proof of ownership, declarations of love as seen in ostentatious “Mother” tattoos. Or, like the Hollywood couple who had their names tattooed on each other’s rear but broke up before they got to the marriage altar!

The discovery of the “Iceman” (who had 61 tattoos) from the area of the Italian-Austrian border in 1991 has convinced experts that tattoos are even older than first thought, going back 5,200 years. Tattoos on women as displayed on figurines go back to about 4,000 B.C.

It has been long believed that only prostitutes were tattooed and were designated as “dancing girls” but many of the “dancing girls” were buried where the elite were buried. Others think tattoos protected women during childbirth because of the location of the markings.

The Greek historian Herodotus (“Father of History”) died 425 B.C., stated that among the Scythians and Thracians “tattoos were a mark of nobility, and not to have them was testimony of low birth.”
Accounts of the ancient Britons likewise suggest they too were tattooed as a mark of high status, and with “divers shapes of beasts” tattooed on their bodies, the Romans named one northern tribe “Picti,” literally “the painted people.”

Ptolemy IV who ruled Egypt from 221-205 B.C. was tattooed with ivy leaves to symbolize his dedication to the Greek god of wine. This was adopted by Roman soldiers and spread across the Roman Empire until the appearance of Christianity. With Christianity tattoos were thought to “disfigure that made in God’s image” and were banned by Emperor Constantine.

Many experts in theology and history, such as Charles Erdman, James Freeman, and Naves Topical Bible, reveal that both cutting and tattooing were done by the heathen, and so God forbade His people from doing so in imitation of them. God has always demanded there be a difference in His people and everyone else, but it seems there is not much difference in this day.

Evidence for tattooing is also found among some of the ancient mummies dated to about 1200 B.C. found in China’s Taklamakan Desert, although a thousand years later it seems that only criminals were tattooed. It was also an ancient Japanese tradition to tattoo convicted criminals.

In some parts of Britain, before Christ, adulterers and other “bad characters” were punished with tattoos. Some military branded troublemakers and deserters and later tattooed them with a “D.”

The National Geographic News reported that 15% of all Americans have tattoos and the Alliance of Professional Tattooists (APT) estimates over 39 million Americans have a tattoo.

My immediate question is why would anyone want to put markings, even “beautiful” marks on their flesh and a 2003 survey in the U.S. among females said they “feel sexier” (34%), and overall “feel more rebellious” (29%).

One man in a photo has tattoos covering his whole body from his neck down. Many years ago that might be seen in a circus but not in normal life. The word “freak” comes to mind. One preacher even had his body covered with Bible verses. What a perversion of the normal Christian life.

The motives for getting tattoos are many: some do so because they are followers and it happens to be trendy to have a tattoo. Some think it is manly or womanly. While others want to draw attention to themselves because of insecurity. Still others are doing it to express their rebellion. It is no surprise that 75% of prisoners have tattoos. The Bible teaches that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

My big objection is that tattoos have always been associated with magic, death, demons, witches, and the underworld. The demon-possessed man in Mark 5 was wild, naked, and had cut himself but when he came to Christ, he was dressed, calm, and “in his right mind.”

One thing tattoos are not and that is biblical. Lev. 19:28 reveals “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.” That’s reason number one.

Famous witch and author Laurie Cabot writes of tattoos: “The origins of tattooing came from ancient magical practices. . . “

Rolling Stone Magazine says of Paul Booth, famous tattoo artist, that his work is for those who
“. . . love death, perversion, blasphemy and torture” (Rolling Stone, March 28, 2002, p. 39). The article says that during his artistry he allows “his clients’ demons to help guide the needle.” Booth’s website boasts of his mission: “Spewed from the depth of Hell, Paul’s mission has been to reconfigure human hides and spread divine declarations of Blasphemy.” That should be reason enough to eschew tattoos. That’s reason number two.

Death and darkness have always been a major tattoo theme specializing in skulls, snakes, demons, dragons, etc. Christians must specialize in light, life, and love, not darkness, demons, and death.

Tattoos can be an indication of major emotional problems as reported by two psychiatrists. Drs. Robert F. Raspa and John Cusack who dealt with tattoos in their Psychiatric Implications of Tattoos declared that the mere presence of a tattoo (not its message) is evidence that “correlates with certain diagnoses.” They add that any tattoo can be viewed as a warning sign that an attending physician should consider in making a medical diagnosis of mental disorders. They reported “a strong association in males between tattoos and homosexual orientation, sexual sadomasochism, bondage or fetishism.”

Drs. Timothy A. Roberts and Sheryl A. Ryan wrote “Tattooing and High-Risk Behavior in Adolescents,” in Pediatrics, in which they reported, “Tattooing in adolescents was significantly associated with sexual intercourse, substance use, violence and school problems….” Dr. Roberts has a tattoo and did the study to prove that people with tattoos are being stereotyped. His research changed his mind! He said, “I was more than a little surprised at the result.” That’s reason number three.

According to research published in the Journal of School Health, 70 percent of 642 adolescents surveyed in a study reported hemorrhaging while being tattooed. That’s reason number four.

Underneath that “harmless” tattoo is a very serious risk of acquiring a deadly blood-borne disease such as AIDS, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, tetanus, syphilis, tuberculosis and other blood-borne diseases. An alarming research study published by Dr. Bob Haley and Dr. Paul Fischer at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas revealed that the “innocent” commercial tattoo may be the number one distributor of hepatitis C!

According to the American Society of Dermatological Surgery (ASDS), over 50% of everyone receiving a tattoo wants it removed. So, don’t get one.

That colorful, silky butterfly on your breast may be attractive at age 20 but by age 70 it just may look like a sick buzzard.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

The health professionals who almost worship vaccines tell us that without vaccinations infectious diseases would have almost wiped out the world; however that is not true. Dr. Harold E. Buttram reported that the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company reveals that from 1911 to 1935 the four leading causes of childhood deaths from infectious diseases in America were diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), scarlet fever, and measles. Then by 1945, “the combined death rates from these causes had declined by 95 percent, before the implementation of mass immunization programs.” It seems the greatest factors in this decline were “sanitation through public health measures, improved nutrition, better housing with less crowded conditions and the introduction of antibiotics.” That shoots down their best argument.

Some health care professionals charge that the vaccination of very young children has been the cause of many health problems in the past 20 to 30 years, with the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) and the diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT) vaccinations especially dangerous. I would not consider vaccinating my child if he/she were sick or would I permit multiple shots at one time. Nor would I permit shots near birth or shots close together. Often, the reaction is far worse than the disease. That is the least I would do and I demand that my critics explain how such caution might harm a child. Delay is better than possible disease, damage or death!

This issue has not been settled but it could be if the medical establishment would only do some long term studies; but they refuse to do so. Dr. Harold Buttrum declared, “There are NO (NONE) long term (months or years) safety studies on any vaccination or immunization.” So, why not? If medical people are so sure of their position, then let them prove it with long term studies.

Could the intractable reluctance of the medical establishment to do the necessary studies be because of ego, stubbornness, pride, and money? Especially the money!

Parents should remember that if they agree to a vaccination the doctor is required by law to provide information regarding the vaccine benefits and risks before the shot. He also must keep a permanent record of all vaccinations given, and that information must include the manufacturer’s name and lot number.

If your doctor refuses to report a reaction following vaccination, you have the right to report to the government yourself. If your child is left permanently brain damaged or dies as a result of a vaccine reaction, you may be entitled to benefits under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.

If you express concern about vaccinations your doctor will probably assure you that “the doctor knows best,” and this is usually affirmed in an arrogant and authoritative fashion. If that happens to you when you express concern for your child, you must take the position that if you are going to err it should be on the side of caution since your child’s life is in the balance. Remind your physician that a study done at a Boston hospital revealed that 36% of hospital admissions were the result of physicians’ blunders! Then, if you are convinced that it is useless to discuss with him any further your concern of vaccinations you might inform him of the disparaging, disgraceful, and deadly facts relating to the care of patients by physicians and hospitals.

Even if your physician is competent, the hospital has a 67% chance of misdiagnosis according to JAMA. Further remind him or her that one-third of U.S. hospitals admit that they give patients the wrong blood! Then smile and remind your physician that surgeons have been known to amputate the wrong leg, remove the wrong kidney and come to surgery drunk. Your anesthesiologist will probably not be drunk but he may sleep during your surgery! As you leave his office inform him that the Harvard School of Public Health reported on ABC that about 1.3 million people per year are injured because of hospital treatment with about 180,000 dying as a result! As you close the door, suggest that some physicians are as dangerous as Bonny and Clyde! Exit to look for another physician.

If your doctor refuses to talk intelligently with you about vaccines, then fire him or her. Monitor your child closely after a vaccination. Call your doctor if you suspect a reaction to a shot and if your doctor is not concerned, take your child to an emergency room.

You, not the medical establishment, are in control–for now.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

I am pro-choice when it comes to vaccinations since it is my body or the body of my child. After all, if a woman has the right to choose to kill her unborn child then I have a right to choose not to have my child vaccinated since many health professionals consider shots dubious, dangerous, even disastrous.

Frankly there appears to be hysteria even missionary zeal on both sides of the vaccine issue. It seems to be a medical reaction whereby screaming at opponents closes the hearing canal rendering one deaf but not dumb! Moreover, there are experts on both sides of this issue and for establishment physicians to characterize anti-vaccine people as quacks is unfair, untrue, and unprofessional. It’s also unnecessary.

Parents should be aware that all medical people are not excited about vaccinations; in fact some are very critical. Furthermore, it is parents (not physicians) who should decide what is best for their children.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) passed a resolution at their 57th Annual Meeting calling for the elimination of laws that require vaccinations for children. According to Jane M. Orient, M.D., the association’s Executive Director, “Our children face the possibility of death or serious long-term adverse effects from mandated vaccines that aren’t necessary or that have very limited benefits.” That was a courageous statement from a medical professional group! However, her critics stoop to accusations of quackery rather than provide a rational reply.

Let me remind my readers that the medical establishment should not throw stones (or smears) with their spotty historical record. These were the people who ridiculed citrus as a cure for the deadly disease of scurvy when every sailor in the western world knew the curative benefits since before 1700. Dr. James Lind, a ship’s surgeon discovered that when a ship’s crew drank lime juice, scurvy was never a problem. By the end of the century all British sailors ate the fruit or drank lime juice. That is why British sailors have since been known as “limeys.”

As early as 1498 Vasco da Gama sent a man to “bring off a supply of oranges” for his men suffering from scurvy. However, many physicians refused the new information for decades preferring to stay with the old, unsuccessful treatment. Nutrition Reviews (Vol. 67(6):315–332) reveals that “most physicians ignored this lay therapy in favor of ancient theories and useless polypharmacy.”

Further proof that the medical establishment refused to surrender old failures for new facts is the famous case of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis who proved in 1847 that if physicians simply washed their hands after handling the dead (before examining pregnant women) the death rate would plummet. Physicians fought and resisted his instructions. In fact, Semmelweis became insane because of the ill treatment received from his peers, was confined to a mental institution where he was beaten by guards, and died at age 47 a few days after admission!

Many physicians and health care workers still refuse to wash their hands!

I would be remiss if I did not remind you of the U.S. Public Health Service’s infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study in Tuskegee, Alabama between 1932 and 1972. It involved 600 black men, 399 with syphilis and 201 were disease-free. Each participant received free health care, free food, and free burial but were not even told they had the disease! By 1947 penicillin was common treatment for syphilis yet the carriers were not treated! Wonder if the medical establishment would have done that if the men had been white? Yes, that is a legitimate use of the race card!

However, let me say that to investigate an issue we must follow the inexorable rule: follow the money, honey. That is the first step in any investigation. Billions of dollars are involved with physicians, public health officials, and pharmaceutical companies who manufacture the many vaccines. I am not suggesting that everyone involved is motivated by money instead of the health of children, but those who refuse to consider the possibility of greed are very naïve people whose mail should be addressed to the local cave.

I’m pro-choice about vaccinations but most health professionals are pro-cash.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

In A.D. 250, the Roman Empire was in turbulence. The Goths had just won a major victory and the barbarians were at the gates of Rome. Barbarians originally meant any non-Greek people but eventually came to mean “a brutal, cruel, warlike people.” Then the plague of Saint Cyprian lashed the empire for fifteen years with wave after wave smashing the same areas. Its spread was facilitated by numerous military activities that were going on throughout the provinces. It was a time of terrible tragedy that pushed people to the brink of despair.

An indication of the conditions prevalent at the time can be seen in the statement of Heinrich Häser, a German medical author: “Men crowded into the large cities; only the nearest fields were cultivated; the more distant ones became overgrown, and were used as hunting preserves; farm land had no value, because the population had so diminished that enough grain to feed them could be grown on the limited cultivated areas. Hieronymus wrote that the human race had been all but destroyed.”

Much of the face of Italy was changed because of this epidemic. Large parts of the land were depopulated and left vacant. Swamps appeared and the earth was returning to a state of desert and forests. Disease was changing the face of the earth in every way. There were problems in the palace and bickering on the battlefields. The soldiers were often unpaid because the pestilence sapped the wealth and the cash flow slowed. Rebellious soldiers broke rank and fled into the forests, and took what they wanted from those trying to eke out an existence from the land. Military insurrections, civil disorders, and civil wars became common while the Roman Empire continued to crack along its foundations.

An indication of the extent of national trouble during times of disease, destruction, and death can be seen in desperate laws passed during Diocletian‘s reign (ruled 285-305). Farmers were forbidden to leave the farms to take up other jobs and some occupations were made hereditary. That simply meant that a son had to follow his father’s trade or profession. Yes, it was tyrannical but when you are poor without much of a future, the chain doesn’t seem too heavy! Just one more burden to bear.

Caesar had trouble “keeping them down on the farms” once they had been to the city. Moreover, after mutinous soldiers had robbed the country people and tax collectors had confiscated their money and crops (calling it–like today–taxes), the country people looked for other means to make a living. Those laws, forcing people to work at certain occupations, were passed because famine and epidemic had killed so many of the workers leaving critical jobs vacant.

The marching armies, fleeing populations, and famine all contributed to conditions that were inviting pestilence. The empire was crumbling and dying by the fifth-century with the Vandals, Goths, and other barbarians still beating on the gates of Rome. (Many were already in the Empire having crossed the Pyrenees into Spain.) The first of the barbarians to sack Rome were the Visigoths, led by Alaric in 410. Alaric‘s hopes of glory faded when he developed symptoms of malaria and soon died. His successful storming of the city signaled the final decline of the Roman Empire in the West, but it had been crumbling for many years from various internal problems. The mighty Alaric fell because of a mosquito bite!

In 455, the Vandals appeared at the gates of Rome, entered for a few weeks, and then left the city for Carthage! Angelo Celli suggested they were driven out by malaria. Thousands of infected people threw themselves into the Tiber River to hasten death and escape lingering pain. It was a time of famine, fear, and fighting–and pestilence. At this time, as if Rome were not having enough trouble, faraway Britain experienced a relentless epidemic.

The barbarians had been moving in human waves from east to west during the troubled early fifth century and were now settled along the Danube–in Roman territory. They had already knocked down the gates of Rome and had settled in Italy, Gaul, and Spain. Now they were interested in Britain. Vortigern, Britain‘s leader, had his back to the wall as he faced other barbarians from the north (the Picts and Scots), and the Venerable Bede reported that Vortigern called upon the Saxon chiefs, Hengist and Horsa, for help. Desperate leaders thought it wise to settle barbarians within their empire to furnish troops to aid in the defense of the empire. It worked–for a while.

Bede wrote: “…a severe plague fell upon that corrupt generation [Britain], which soon destroyed such numbers of them, that the living were scarcely sufficient to bury the dead….They consulted what was to be done, and where they should seek assistance to prevent or repel the cruel and frequent incursions of the northern nations; and they all agreed with their King Vortigern to call over to their aid, from the parts beyond the sea, the Saxon nation; which, as the event still more evidently showed, appears to have been done by the appointment of our Lord Himself, that evil might fall upon them for their wicked deeds.”

Apparently Britain‘s fighting forces were greatly depleted by the plague. The Saxons arrived in 449 and acted as mercenary guards for the Britons. The Brits discovered that their “help” was to be another “plague” upon their island. Everything would be different because of the Saxons, who came to help but ended up being a plague. Bede recognized that the pugnacious Saxons were a curse from God because of Britain’s wickedness.

Hans Zinsser, physician and author concludes: “It requires little exercise of the imagination, therefore, to conclude that the history of the British Isles in all its subsequent developments of race, customs, architecture, and so forth, was in large part determined by an epidemic disease.” Britain would never be the same because of an invisible bug!

And neither will we!

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY  Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

The bubonic plague cut its way through the Far East to Italy, then to the rest of Europe. It is believed that Genoa merchants transported plague in their cargoes of spices, nutmeg, jewels, and silks. In Siena, 75% of the people were cut down like grain before the scythe, and about 75% also died at Pisa. As described in the Cronica Senese of Agnolo di Tura, “Father abandoned child, wife, husband, one brother, another….No one could be found to bury the dead for money or for friendship.”

We are observing some of the same reactions regarding Ebola as health officials keep changing the narrative. The indecision of the “experts” is fueling the plague. First it is not airborne then it is airborne according to German doctors as reported in the Oxford University Press. The CDC agreed yesterday that Ebola can be contracted by a sneeze! The incubation period is 21 days, then 31 days, and some say 40 days. It seems health officials don’t know whether they are pitching or catching.

The virus can survive “a few hours” on an object and a “few days” in body fluids although now we are told at least one Ebola strain can live 50 days especially on a glass surface. It is not easy to catch, yet health workers dress in personal protective equipment (PPE) and still get the disease. Health workers are refusing to care for the dying and some are refusing to bury the dead in Africa. Even some U.S. health workers refuse to honor quarantine and spineless officials refuse to require it.

It seems Larry, Curly, and Moe are handling the Ebola threat with understandable results: Death is the result of ineptitude, incoherence, and incertitude.

The poet Petrarch, called the “Father of Humanism,” reported about the effects of the plague on Florence: “We go out of doors, walk through street after street and find them full of dead and dying, and when we get home again we find no live thing within the house! All having perished in the brief interval of our absence.”

George Astor wrote, “Almost half of Europe died from the Black Death between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries.” The Black Death (bubonic plague) raged into Paris in June of 1348, and about the same time, it ravaged up and down the valleys of the Rhine and arrived in England, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In 1360-61, 50% of the people in many Polish towns died! Lubeck, Germany saw 80,000 of its people swept away by the plague. In 1477-78, 30,000 died in Venice; 18,000 died in Vienna in 1542. London saw thousands die each week in 1563, 1592, and 1599. Spain was lashed by the plague in 1596-1602, when half a million people died! In 1603, when James I came to the throne, 38,000 people died in London; almost that number died in 1653.

Then the great plague lashed London again, and more than 68,600 died out of a population of 460,000. It all started slowly in London. Just before Christmas of 1664, two men died in Drury Lane, with a few additional deaths during the remainder of the winter. The next few months were months of beautiful weather in London, but not for people! As the temperature climbed, so did the death toll; however the town officials refused to admit the numerous deaths which is the charge made about Ebola. The rich and well connected began to flee the city. The College of Physicians left the city by the last of June, and the politicians and King Charles II fled in early July.

In the last week of August, over 7,500 people died, and the dead carts rolled through the streets each morning picking up those who had died during the night. The dead were taken to church cemeteries where huge holes had been dug and where the dead were thrown. Infected people threw themselves into the pit, and sought to bury themselves since death was so sure and dying was so painful. The plague spread from London to the rest of the country, and then disappeared after 1667.

By 1679, 76,000 people perished in Vienna and 83,000 in Prague during 1684. Moscow lost 57,000 people to the plague as late as 1771. In the mid-1800s, the bubonic plague raised its ugly head in China and skipped across the country. Almost 100,000 people died in Canton. It showed up in Bombay (30,000 deaths) and Calcutta in 1896 and in Japan and the Philippines the following year.

In 1899, the Black Death visited Hawaii, Central America, and South America. The next year saw it in Cape Town and San Francisco. Plague paid a visit to Egypt and Singapore in 1901. Bangkok played an unwilling host to the plague in 1904, Java in 1910, New Orleans in 1914, and Florida in 1922. About ten million people perished of bubonic plague between 1903 and 1921! Since then, it has only shown up periodically and has been contained, but the Black Death is on every continent of the earth at this very moment!

The preceding litany of deaths could be a portent of what the world faces if Ebola gets out of control or Muslim terrorists carry out their threats. No sane person thinks they are playing games. It is not demagoguery to suggest that the earth could become a mass graveyard!

If major disease, disaster, and death visit America I’m afraid we will see the same results witnessed in the past. Few seemed/seem to fear God or man. Honor was/is a forgotten concept.

And Larry, Curly, and Moe continue their silly, senseless, and stupid antics playing “doctors”!

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

The face of the world has been changed more through the louse, the flea, and the mosquito than by marching armies and flying missiles. When the daily count of the dead reached the breaking point (different in various societies and ages), responsible people became irresponsible, tranquil people became terrified, and the borderline paranoid became dangerous. As people fled their homes, social and political organizations disappeared, crops were left to rot in the fields, populations were displaced, civil war was fomented, and major shifts in religious thinking occurred. Some of that is taking place in African nations at this time.

After major plagues mysteriously left a nation, interest in religion decreased because of the many deaths among the clergy and because of so many unanswered prayers. Of course, unbelievers have used unanswered prayer as an excuse for unbelief since the beginning of time. J. L. Cloudsley-Thompson wrote, “It is beyond the bounds of possibility for anyone to estimate the influence of epidemic disease on religion and philosophy. Nor can we clearly assess its influence on the material course of human history.”

Many historians believe that the empire of ancient Greece fell into Roman hands because of malaria attacks, not because of marching armies. Malaria was endemic throughout the Greek world by 400 B.C. The malarial parasite (passed to man by the female mosquito) killed infants, weakened unsuspecting children, forced the vacating of the best farmlands, and helped produce Greek citizens who were listless, lazy, and licentious. As a result, the power and glory of ancient Greece became a mocking memory.

Greek historian Polybius (204-122 B.C.), called the most reliable ancient historian, reported that the whole of Greece had been visited in his time by childlessness and a general decline of the population that resulted in the emptying of the cities and the failure of the land to render its produce. He said that men refused to marry or, if they married, refused to have children. If they had children, they refused to rear them. He said that men went out of their way to be ostentatious, avaricious, and indolent.

Quite an indictment! Will Western civilization learn from the past or will we have the same experience? If Americans must live daily with the threat of terror (as do the Israelis) will that further erode our culture and destroy our homes and churches?

Some historians, in my opinion, give too much credit to the mosquito for the fall of Greece. It was a major factor, but men must always be held accountable for their actions. Today, a man gets drunk and kills a carload of people and pleads that he was not in control and should not be held responsible. Others tell us that sugar impaired their ability, and they lost control and should not be accountable for the results they produced. No doubt, there is some truth to those claims, but we must all be held accountable for our actions. The same was true in Greece. Malaria did make them listless, therefore lazy, but they chose to be licentious.

The Greeks slowly lost their brilliance which was thought to be epitome of original thought. This degeneration is obvious in their art and literature and other areas of creativity. W.H.S. Jones wrote, “Their initiative vanished; they ceased to create and began to comment. Patriotism, with rare exceptions, became an empty name, for few had the high spirit and energy to translate into action man’s duty to the state. Vacillation, indecision, fitful outbursts of unhealthy activity followed by cowardly depression, selfish cruelty and criminal weakness are characteristics of the public life of Greece from the struggle with Macedonia to the final conquest by the armies of Rome.”

Jones, De Sanctis, Celli, and others taught that disease has changed the condition of this world more than wars. Ancient Greece would not have fallen into the hands of Rome if it had not been for malaria. Are we not fools if we don‘t consider the same or similar results from possible contagious diseases and biological terrorism we face today?

We can now add AIDS, flu, and the Ebola viruses to the scourges that have smitten mankind, taking their dreary toll. As of today 36 million people have died of AIDS! The death toll from Ebola is climbing daily and will be 1.4 million by January according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)! Of course, they have been wrong so many times during these days.

Africa gave us Ebola, AIDS, and Obama, so what’s next?

If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY  Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

For instance, Egyptian health officials gave instructions how to draw splinters from the flesh which consisted of “worm blood, mole, and donkey dung.” However, doctors S. I. McMillen and David Stern note that dung “is loaded with tetanus spores” and “a simple splinter often resulted in a gruesome death from lockjaw.”

The Ancient Egyptian provided prescriptions for skin disease as “A hog’s tooth, cat’s dung, dog’s dung, aau-of-samu-oil, berries-of-the-xet-plant, pound and apply as poultice.” Other remedies included dried excrement of a child, hog dung, and a farmer’s urine. One recipe to prevent hair growth included lizard dung and the blood from a cow, donkey, pig, dog, and stag.

It was said that the urine of a faithful wife was effective in the treatment of sore eyes. It seems ancient Egyptians had a thing about dung and urine! Israel was not so backward.

The Encyclopedia Britannica’s conclusion regarding the Bible’s instructions on sanitary and medical practices is very revealing: “The Old Testament is a mine of information on social and personal hygiene. The Jews were indeed pioneers in matters of public health.”

The Jews’ strict regulations regarding sexual activity along with their sanitation regulations plus their treatment of infectious diseases were millennia ahead of all other nations. God gave specific instructions for Israel regarding human waste. They were to relieve themselves away from the living area and to carry a tool for covering excrement! People in third world nations still don’t have this basic knowledge!

The Encyclopedia of Medical History declares, “The idea of contagion was foreign to the classic medical tradition and found no place in the voluminous Hippocratic writings. The Old Testament, however, is a rich source for contagionist (sic) sentiment, especially in regard to leprosy and venereal disease.” Maybe, just maybe we should use the Bible to control our personal lives, not because it is ancient but because it is accurate.

When one looks at the book of Leviticus for treatment of infectious disease he does not see dirty, dangerous, and deadly remedies and ingredients prescribed by Egypt and other ancient civilizations. In fact, the Pentateuch reveals awareness of germs and disease that “modern” medicine did not grasp for 3,500 years after the books were written!

For thousands of years doctors denied that disease could be transmitted by imperceptible means but in the 1860s Louis Pasteur confirmed in his Germ Theory of Disease that most infectious diseases were caused by microorganisms originating from outside the body.

Moses gave specific instructions to prevent the spread of disease from dung and dead bodies thousands of years before modern man understood the danger. Moses instructed Jews that diseases such as leprosy were dangerous to everyone and such infected people were to “dwell alone without the camp.” Lev. 13:45 commands when an infected person came into the vicinity of others who were not infected, the infected person was to “cover his upper lip, and shall cry, ‘unclean! unclean!’” That was not unkind and saved thousands of innocent lives.

It is obvious that the covering of the upper lip was to keep the infected person from coughing, sneezing, or spiting on non-infected people. On Oct. 9, 2014, it was announced that researchers found that a patient showing no symptoms of the disease “can still transmit a virus like Ebola by air if droplets containing the virus are transmitted to another person by a sneeze or cough.” That is contrary to what major health officials have been saying!

It was 1873 that mankind finally realized that leprosy was infectious instead of hereditary but then, Moses and the Israelites knew about it 3,500 years earlier! If a Jew was suspected of being infected he was examined by a priest who confirmed whether or not he was. If so, then he was to be removed from the living area until he was healed. That meant quarantine and while it was unpleasant and uncomfortable, it was not unreasonable.

Because of Israel’s advanced knowledge they were the only culture cognizant of infectious disease with the knowledge how to deal with them. They were the only group to practice quarantine until the Black Death (bubonic plague) smacked the face of Europe in the 14th century. Millions were dying of plague until church leaders in Vienna thought about the Bible’s plan to stop the spread of infectious disease. Officials required all ships entering Vienna’s port on the Danube to be isolated 40 days to ensure that none of the sailors or passengers was infected. Other cities followed the plan and the Black Death was stopped.

U.S. and world health officials had better realize they are health officials not politicians dedicated to not making anyone angry. We must prohibit anyone to enter the U.S. who has been to any African nation unless they have been in quarantine 21 days. That also includes our southern border. People are entering our nation daily without any physical examination and no shots. Even animals have to have shots to enter and kids have to have vaccinations to go to school. You think maybe we could be a little stricter with the deadly Ebola virus? It is time to act now. If Ebola reaches a critical mass, it could become a medical tsunami that will burn itself out after killing millions of people.

Maybe Obama should sign an executive order forbidding the Ebola virus to enter the U.S.!

Ancient Israel told us how to stop Ebola: confirm, contain, and confine the disease.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”