LOIMOS – ANY DEADLY INFECTIOUS DISORDER
November 29, 2005
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
The Greek word “loimos,” which is found in the N.T. Olivet Discourse of Jesus, is supposed to become most evident shortly before the rapture.
According to Bullinger’s Critical Lexicon of the New Testament it is: “Any deadly infectious disorder.” Would the H5N1 strain of the Asian bird flu fit this definition – Absolutely! Is it going to become a “deadly infectious disorder for humans
? I have no way of knowing, nor does anyone else, but the world is anxiously waiting to see if H5N1 is able somewhere to jump from one human to
another. If this ever happens, the population of this planet is in big trouble. So let’s take a brief look at the history of H5N1 up to this point.
It was first detected in birds
in 2003.
It has spread from Asia to Europe, being detected in Russia, Croatia, Turkey, and Romania, and is certain to be carried into the rest of the Middle East and North Africa by migrating flocks of birds.
As long as we could say, “It’s just for the birds,” we had no problem.
But earlier this year scattered cases of the H5N1 bird flu were discovered in South Asia, and concern grew that the virus, having passed from birds to individual humans, might make the jump
from being passed from human to human,
which would create a vicious Pandemic. Tens of millions of birds have been destroyed around the world since the virus popped up its ugly head in 2003.
So far, so good, it hasn’t jumped from human to human. However, new outbreaks of bird flu suddenly regenerated in Vietnam, Thailand, and China early in November and, on November 16, 2005, China reported its first three confirmed cases of a human bird flu. However, it has not yet passed from human to human, and the world lives in
the hope it will not. In November 17th China confirmed its first human death from the H5N1 virus, and another was reported on November 23rd. This is a very deadly infectious disorder.
Since H5N1 is carried by migratory birds from place to place, I have no doubt it will begin to show up in the bird populations that migrate from Canada to South America on a yearly basis.
I believe it is quite likely that in 2007 we will find it in scattered bird populations across the face of the earth.
I am not trying to alarm anyone, but I will say this, if H5N1 ever passes from one human to another, it will generate chaos like this generation has never experienced, and could certainly be a part of the fulfillment of Luke 21:11. Both HIV and H5N1 certainly fit the definition of loimos.
Luke 21:11 – And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences (loimos); and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.