More people died as a result of the Spanish flu than died in World War I–on both sides! During the Crimean War (1854-56), ten times more British soldiers died of dysentery than from all the Russian weapons combined! Moreover, 50 years later, during the Boer War, there were five times more deaths from disease than from enemy fire.

From the dawn of history, mankind has experienced times of sickness, sorrow, and suffering. Often, times of pestilence were mysterious, sudden, and without remedy. Lack of knowledge, superstition, and poor sanitary conditions often contributed to the progress of the pestilence. Men often felt that God was visiting them with plague to punish their evil deeds. The disease was usually dreadful, devastating, and deadly and often left as quickly and mysteriously as it appeared. Now, we face another deadly possibility: the Ebola virus (EVD). Plus, there are Islamic terrorists with the ability, equipment, funds, and commitment to wreak destruction, disease, and death on a massive scale.

Throughout history, people often reacted out of fear and ignorance, and that only compounded the problem, extending the pestilence. They ran from the towns, but found that when they arrived in a “safe haven” they were met by the same pestilence! Of course, the pestilence had been a traveling companion. Hopefully, the mistakes make in the past will not be repeated in the future. Our present threat could come from Ebola, a nuclear blast, poisoned water or food supply, or biological agents sprayed over a metropolitan area. It might simply be numerous suicide attacks in scattered malls and churches.

The further one goes back into history, the less reliable are the numbers of dead, and the less assurance we have of the pestilence that took them; however, it is a fact that mankind has suffered far more from bugs than from battles.

My use the word plague is a general term for any deadly epidemic disease since even the experts can‘t identify some of the major plagues of the past.

We know that malaria hit Italy in the first-century B.C., and that the dead were in all the houses, and the streets were crowded with funeral processions. Many who had mourned a stricken relative died themselves with such rapidity that they were burned on the same pyre as those they had mourned.

An epidemic that lashed the whole world started in Verus’ Roman army while his troops were fighting in the East in A.D. 165. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, the original infection came from a chest in a temple which Roman soldiers had looted. God warned about those who are greedy for gain in Proverbs 1:19, reminding us that it would cost the lives of the greedy souls. The results of this thievery cost the lives of millions of innocent souls. Verus’ army carried the disease homeward, scattering it everywhere, and by the time they reached Rome, the disease had spread from Persia to the shores of the Rhine, a world plague. Hans Zinsser, American physician, bacteriologist, and prolific author, quoted Orosius’ report that deaths were so many that some cities in Italy were abandoned and fell into decay.

There was so much terror of the disease that no one dared nurse the sick and dying. It even killed Marcus Aurelius, the Emperor of Rome, who was among the 2,000 per day that died in that city.

In the epidemic of Cyprian about A.D. 251, the plague skulked through Egypt, leaving the dead and dying, and then boldly attacked Rome and Greece where the daily dead rose to 5,000! It spread over the entire world, from Egypt to Scotland. It was during this plague that the custom of wearing black as an indication of mourning became common, according to Roman Catholic historian Baronius (1538-1607).

The pestilence of A.D. 302, had a companion—famine. The people resorted to eating grass, and the deaths from famine almost matched those dying from disease. Hungry dogs fought over the bodies of the human dead. Hieronymus tells us that the human race had been “all but destroyed,” and that the earth was returning to a state of desert and forests.

Headlines last week reported: “UN predicts global famine” if Ebola continues to explode. Anthony Banbury, head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response revealed that “Ebola got a head start on us.” He also said, “It [Ebola] is far ahead of us, it is running faster than us, and it is winning the race,” adding “We either stop Ebola now or we face an entirely unprecedented situation for which we do not have a plan.” Note, “We do not have a plan.”

So, maybe Ebola [EVD] or terrorism will do to us what Hieronymus reported about the human race in 302 A.D.–it had been “all but destroyed,” and the earth was returning to a state of desert and forests.

God help us! World health officials have not been very helpful!

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!”

Every federal agency is not corrupt, incompetent, or scandal ridden–only most of them. Everyone knows about the IRS, the State Department, the Veterans Administration, the FBI, the White House, ad infinidem. The CDC has a better reputation but it is not without warts, scars, blemishes, etc., and needs scrutiny and overhaul.

My experience with the CDC goes back to research for my book, AIDS: Silent Killer! when I had four interviews with CDC spokesmen. That period was not their most stellar performance especially for a conservative administration that I supported. In fact, the handling of the HIV-AIDS plague was a major failure of the CDC and the Reagan Administration in the person of Dr. Koop, the Surgeon General.

Koop and other health officials were prolific in denouncing the tobacco industry and obesity but they sadly failed with the AIDS plague. Koop and others were quick to yell, “Stop smoking” and “Stop gaining weight” but they refused to even whisper, “Stop your sodomy.” Koop was a committed Christian who had taken principled positions but failed miserably in the war on AIDS.

Another major CDC failure was their refusal to demand testing and tracing of HIV carriers, a time-honored and proven procedure in dealing with and beating the syphilis epidemic–until its resurgence with HIV. After it was too late, many of my opponents on talk shows agreed that I was correct in demanding that AIDS carriers be treated the same as syphilis carriers. But the horse was out of the barn; the kitty was out of the sack; and the toothpaste was out of the tube. It was too late.

Wonder why HIV infected homosexuals were not treated the same as people with syphilis? Everyone admitted that AIDS came to America through the homosexual community and 87% of HIV infected people were homosexuals and IV drug users. However, government officials tiptoed through the tulips so they would not offend homosexuals. Even today 78% of new HIV infections are homosexuals.

The reason for the different treatment is simple: syphilis carriers were not organized and the tobacco industry was easy to hate since no one could defend putting fire to your mouth and sucking it into your lungs. Cancer, you know. Also the obesity crowd didn’t have a lobby to attack those who criticized fatties. But to attack sodomy, that’s so, so, well, so biblical! And scary. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah!

That was a failure of Reagan, Koop, and others when they chose to do wrong because it was practical, popular, and political: give an open hand (full of cash) to the homosexual movement and a fist in the gut to Christians and decent people.

The CDC has also shown itself many times to be incompetent. In highly publicized incidents the CDC made major mistakes with the deadly anthrax and flu viruses. In an internal CDC review, the people commissioned to protect us admitted they shipped infectious agents to other labs–five times!

In yet another incident, the smallpox pathogen was supposed to have been sent to a CDC lab back in the 1950s yet remained unsecured at a facility for decades! Another incredible fiasco happened when CDC scientists stored the deadly anthrax virus in plastic bags! Say what? Highly qualified scientists placed a deadly pathogen in plastic bags! I should think they could have used mayonnaise jars.

Now enters the Ebola virus from West Africa although the head of WHO told us not to call it an “African virus.” Is that political correctness because the 2500 deaths have all been in Africa? Just for the record, the HIV virus also originated in Africa.

Wonder why such deadly viruses came from Africa and in the last 50 years! It may be because of two very simple and easy to solve problems: their water they drink and outdoor defecation!

Next column: “Can the CDC Handle the Worst Possibilities of Ebola?”

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!”