Do you see (understand)?
Uncertain Economy
The second week of March saw a fall of 800 points in the Dow Jones industrial average, and an even more precipitous fall in the Nasdaq. Weak economies in Europe and especially Japan have caused many analysts to wonder if in fact a worldwide economic slowdown may be on its way.
In addition, the continuing power crisis in the western United States has caused many to wonder if the shortages and gas lines of thirty years ago may be returning. The March 19, 2001 broadcast of the CBS Evening News reported that a number of major analysts believe the coming energy crisis will in fact be worse than the 1970’s.
Inspired Commentary
Long ago the modern prophet foresaw the unstable times we are now entering. Test. vol. 9, p. 13 states, “There are not many, evenamong educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the reins of government are not able to solve the problem of moral corruption, poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.”
Prophets and Kings, p. 537, states, “Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place – that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.”
Disease in Animals
The March 12, 2001 cover of Newsweek magazine featured an article titled, “The Slow, Deadly Spread of Mad Cow Disease: How it Could Become an Epidemic”. Describing this disease as “A killer in our midst”, p. 54, the report declares “mad cow is the creepiest in a family of disorders that can make Ebola (of “Hot Zone” fame) look like chicken pox.” The symptoms this produces can range from dementia to paralysis.
The protein molecules causing these diseases, according to the article, are “tough enough to survive harsh solvents and extreme temperatures. You can freeze them, boil them, soak them in formaldehyde or carbolic acid or chloroform, and most will emerge no less deadly than they were.” Says French physician Frederic Saldmann, “We have no idea how many deaths we’re going to see in the coming years” from mad cow disease. “We’ve been checkmated.”
Beyond this, the spread of “foot and mouth disease”, which destroys livestock but supposedly has no effect on humans, has resulted in cumbersome laws regulating travel into the United States from Europe and South America, so as to prevent the disease from affecting livestock in the U.S.
Inspired Commentary
Who can any longer doubt the accuracy of the following inspired predictions?
Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 366 states, “Disease in animals is increasing in proportion to the increase of wickedness among men. The time is near, when because of the iniquity of the fallen race, the whole animal creation will groan under the diseases that curse the earth.”
Ibid, p. 411. “There is no safety in the eating of the flesh of dead animals, and in a short time the milk of the cows will also be excluded from the diet of God’s commandment-keeping people. In a short time it will not be safe to use anything that comes from the animal creation.
Cloning Update
According to the March 10, 2001 issue of U.S. News & World Report, “A human is likely to be cloned, and soon. Is it worth the risk?” p. 42. According to this report, a conference on human cloning was held during the first week of March, organized by an Italian fertility doctor and the manager of a Kentucky fertility clinic. The article reports, “They plan to clone a human within two years, and many scientists don’t doubt that they’ll succeed.” P. 43. The article details many of the perils of cloning, the defects often experienced by recently cloned animals, and how such defects in cloned humans could quickly destroy interest in the idea. Appropriately, the article begins with the brief sentence, “prepare for disaster”, p. 42.
Inspired Commentary
Disaster indeed! Again we recall the words of inspiration regarding such experiments by the antediluvians.
Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 3, p. 64. “But if there was one sin above another, which called for the destruction of the race by the flood, it was the base crime of amalgamation of man and beast which defaced the image of God, and caused confusion everywhere. God proposed to destroy by a flood that powerful, long-lived race that had corrupted their ways before Him.”
“As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.” Luke 17:26.
More School Violence
“What is going on in our schools? What is happening to our children?” asked Dan Rather at the top of the March 7th broadcast of the CBS Evening News. Reporters and viewers alike were stunned yet again as 15 students were shot at Santana High School near San Diego, California on the morning of March 5th.
During the following two days at least 20 other such shootings were either attempted or at least partially succeeded, including one at a Catholic high school in Pennsylvania.
There have been 22 such shootings since the infamous day at Columbine High School in April of 1999, with 39 having died in such massacres. A poll taken for ABC’s Good Morning America was reported on March 14, indicating that at least 39 percent of American high school students believe a shooting was possible at the school they attend.
Inspired Commentary
Yet again we see the evidence that “as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. Luke 17:26. In Noah’s days we read that “the earth was filled with violence”. Gen. 6:11.
An inspired comment on this passage states, “The land was filled with violence. War, crime, murder, was the order of the day. Just so it will be before Christ’s second coming.” SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 1090.
May the God of heaven help us all to see the urgency of the times and be faithful to the Lord’s counsel.
AMEN.
Alin Emanuel Sirbu