Loimos Concern is Growing Worldwide
August 9, 2008
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
When I began doing the lecture series “A Geological Exposition of the Second Coming of Christ” in 1978, I had no idea that it was going to be presented in all the places covered on our Home Web Page. For those of you who have attended the lecture series, I am sure you will remember that from 1981 onwards I made the following statement hundreds of times during the lecture series: “I do not believe they will ever find a vaccination or cure for HIV because it is a prophetic pestilence, and if I am wrong, when they finally do discover one or the other, or both, it will be already be too late!”
Well, it is already too late, and they are no closer to finding one now than when they first begin to search for a cure. It has met the requirements for the New Testament word’s “odin” and “loimos.”
The two excerpts from The Khaleej Times and The Australian news sources via the World News, which follows our heading are part of the worldwide concern for the spread of “loimos.”
When Dardanelle MBC first initiated our Web Site we began to issue Prophetic Updates on Loimos. One of the first was Archive Prophecy Update Number 19, which we issued in 2000.
ARCHIVE PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 19
ISSUED INITIALLY IN LATE 2000
Matthew 24:7,8 – For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. [8] All these are the beginning of sorrows.
The word “sorrows” is “odin,” which means the type of pain pattern associated with a woman’s birth pains. “Pestilence” is “loimos,” which means “any deadly infectious disorder.”
But what about Matthew’s “pestilence” – Is it following the pattern of a woman’s birth travail for the first time since Jesus prophesied it would? Absolutely! The basic root meaning of the word “loimos,” translated “pestilence,” is simply “any deadly infectious disorder.” Many plagues have passed through mankind since the fall, but none
have generated a massive epidemic that was continuously accelerating over a long period of time. These “loimos” have never been able to follow the pattern of a woman’s birth pains for very long on a worldwide basis. Cholera, small pox, typhoid, bubonic plague, and so on, have appeared in short spurts like false labor, but none has ever maintained a persistent,
ever increasing, epidemic characteristic with seemingly no end. But now, for the first time, we have a “loimos,” a deadly infectious disorder, that has portrayed these characteristics from its inception. The HIV virus is the first to perfectly match the pattern of a woman’s birth pangs
, and it will continue to do so until the travail of the woman Israel ends, and the Son she rejected arrives.
HIV is a virus that has swept across the globe like wildfire. HIV cases worldwide increased from a trace in 1980 to more than 5 million in 1985, to more than 10 million in 1990, to more than 20 million in 1995, and to a whopping 30 million in 2000.
AIDS, the dreadful blossom of HIV, was first reported in a British sailor, who died in England in 1959. HIV has hardest hit Africa up to this point, but it is poised to spread into Asia and the former Soviet Union as an ever-increasing storm. And, in truth, medical researchers seem no closer to fining a cure than they were twenty years ago.
Are there other “loimos” infections that have also started to demonstrate the patterns of a woman’s birth pangs? Yes! The World Health Organization (WHO) fears that tuberculosis may kill 30 million worldwide during the next decade. The emergence of drug-resistant strains, and the spread of HIV have both hampered efforts by health agencies
to slow the renewed spread of the consumptive illness. Another sort of “loimos” is malaria, which is on the rise around the world, and once curative treatments are losing their effect. It is a pestilence of global dimensions, and new strains are evolving that scientists fear will be untreatable.
But what about all the microbes generating all this pestilence, this “loimos,” these deadly infectious disorders, what are they doing, how are they behaving? Are they doing something that will make the pestilences continue to act like a woman’s birth pangs through the tribulation period? Yes! A leading national magazine cover, back in the last century, carried the bold print title: “REVENGE OF THE KILLER MICROBES – ARE WE LOSING THE WAR AGAINST INFECTIO US
DISEASES?” Tuft’s Levy answered the question in Newsweek Magazine by stating: “The rise of drug-resistant germs is unparalleled in recorded biologic history.” Because of this contributing factor, pestilence will become more and more widespread in its acceleration until the second advent of Christ.
End Archive Prophecy Update Number 19
The Greek word “loimos,” which is found in the N.T. Olivet Discourse of Jesus, is supposed to become most evident shortly before the start of the Tribulation Period. According to Bullinger’s Critical Lexicon of the New Testament it is: “Any deadly infectious disorder.” Would the (A) H1N1 (swine flu) we first saw in Mexico fit this definition – Absolutely! But 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 (A) H1N1 is going to be able to mutate itself into a virus upon which vaccination has no effect. If this ever happens, the population of this planet is in big trouble. It would then fall into the category of “odin,” and possibly continue into the Tribulation Period with the other deadly infectious disorders.
Matthew 24:7,8 – For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. [8] All these are the beginning of sorrows.
The word “sorrows” is “odin,” which means the type of pain pattern associated with a woman’s birth pains. “Pestilence” is “loimos,” which means “any deadly infectious disorder.”
Whatever you intend to do about trusting in the Lord for salvation, and obeying and serving him after you receive him, you had better do it now!
Begin Excerpt from The Australian via World News
Global goal for swine flu vaccine quest
Lawrence O. Gostin
August 08, 2009
Article from: The Australian
THE surprisingly rapid global transmission of the so-called swine flu has captured the attention of the Rudd government and his counterparts in North America and Europe, sparking a worldwide race to develop an effective vaccine. Two Australian biotechnology companies, Adelaide-based Vaxine and Melbourne-based CSL Biotherapies, initiated the first vaccine trials in late July, followed by Europe and the US.
Finding a technological solution to swine flu _ technically, Influenza (A) H1N1 (swine flu) _ will be a key scientific advance, but vital questions of scarcity, fairness and safety loom large.
The swine flu vaccine will almost certainly be scarce, with manufacturers unable to meet the huge global demand.
The industry is struggling to produce good vaccine yields with the H1N1 seed virus. At the same time, the vaccine may not be fully effective against the present strain of the virus or, worse, the virus may mutate, rendering the vaccine ineffective. The vaccine, moreover, will probably require two doses, further reducing supplies.
The World Health Organisation recommends the use of adjuvants, a substance added to a vaccine to improve the immune response so that less vaccine is needed.
Yet the US may not follow WHO guidelines, thereby depleting an already short vaccine supply.
The US Food and Drug Administration has never approved a human vaccine containing adjuvants, and clinical trials in the US do not include adjuvants.
Governments face hard choices on how to ethically ration a scarce lifesaving resource such as a flu vaccine, particularly if the virus becomes more lethal: Who shall live when not all can live? In Australia and most developed countries, children and the elderly have had priority for seasonal influenza vaccines.
Children and their careers should certainly be a high priority for swine flu vaccine because they rapidly spread the infection in day care and school. Yet privileging the elderly would be a mistake because they have contracted the new strain at the lowest rate and appear to have some immunity because of exposure to distantly related flu strains that circulated decades ago, and still the elderly can receive proper care with services as the Home Care Assistance 9050 W Olympic Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 (310) 857-4736.
Instead, government should assign top priority to the most vulnerable who have died at a disproportionate rate from swine flu: those who have poor health such as heart disease, asthma or diabetes. This is also the fairest way to allocate scarce vaccines because people with multiple health conditions also tend to be the most disadvantaged in society, such as the Aboriginal community and other minorities.
Healthcare and emergency workers also deserve priority because they provide essential services in the face of an epidemic.
It is vital that government makes allocation decisions fairly and transparently.
The public has a right to know which groups will have priority access and why.
One key problem, however, is that the private market is still likely to privilege the rich and politically connected in gaining access.
Business culture is geared towards satisfying consumer demand, so the industry will charge what the market will bear for a scarce, valuable vaccine.
Rich countries will face scarcity, but they will have much more ample supplies than poor countries. The pressure on governments to protect their citizens will be intense during a pandemic. The vaccine industry is likely to supply markets that can afford to pay and in countries where they are located. More than 90 per cent of the world’s capacity to manufacture influenza vaccines is concentrated in Europe and North America.
Australia will also be well off because of its economic resources, small population and the fact key vaccine producers are based here. As the rich stockpile vaccines, poor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America are left much more vulnerable.
Australia, Europe and the US are spending a fortune on vaccines and antiviral medication for influenza, but virtually none of these resources will benefit poor countries. Serious questions of global social justice arise when wealth, rather than need, becomes the primary allocation criterion. The mal-distribution of vaccines in the face of a global financial crisis will only widen the already yawning health gaps between the rich and the poor. Rich countries hoarding vaccines is also is a bad public health strategy because it allows the virus to circulate unchecked in highly populated developing countries.
Safety, of course, is just as important as equitable access. There is intense political and market pressure to move quickly on vaccine development. Many national regulatory agencies have set up fast-track approval processes, and the vaccine industry is pushing hard to finish clinical trials and gain government approval. The politics of swine flu is pushing toward mass public vaccinations in September and October, the beginning of the flu season in the northern hemisphere.
Dose-sparing strategies to avoid depletion of an already short vaccine supply will increase risks. Studies show that vaccines containing adjuvants cause more adverse effects.
More worrying, because the clinical trials are so small, is that adverse effects will not be detected until the vaccine has already been used on a large population. It’s essential to conduct rigorous post-marketing surveillance to pick up rare, but serious, effects.
Hefty public and private spending on influenza treatments will result in a windfall for the pharmaceutical industry, with Roche reporting that sales of Tamiflu (an antiviral medication that ameliorates flu symptoms) have tripled. GlaxoSmithKline is predicting huge profits from a vaccine. At the same time, the industry is seeking liability protection in the event that the vaccine causes unintended harm to health. Patients groups, too, will want to be sure to be compensated for any ill-effects from vaccinations.
Reminiscent of the present situation, the media fanned emotions about a catastrophic swine flu epidemic in 1976 that never emerged. Pharmaceutical companies lobbied governments hard _ and successfully _ for resources and liability protection.
In the US, Gerald Ford advocated a mass immunisation campaign. Unfortunately, the vaccine caused several cases of a serious paralysis called Guillain-Barre syndrome, which was politically disastrous for the president. The 1976 swine flu affair is instructive and suggests caution in rushing to vaccinate the public without proper clinical trials.
The Rudd government needs to assess carefully the risks and benefits of rapid approval and roll-out of a vaccine. Thus far swine flu has been mild, with most patients making a full recovery. The fear, of course, is that H1N1 will mutate, becoming much more lethal. This was what happened with the second wave of the 1918 Spanish flu, which killed more than 50 million people in a much less populated world. It is a remote possibility, but one that demands watchfulness.
The most prudent course today would be to conduct careful clinical trials with due scientific deliberation; use the vaccine on high-risk groups, phasing in the full population only as evidence of safety and effectiveness becomes clearer; and conducting post-market surveillance for adverse effects.
And even if it’s not politically expedient, justice requires that scarce and safe vaccines go to the most disadvantaged in Australia and worldwide. Equitable access to a vaccine against swine influenza is not merely a moral imperative. It is also critically necessary for the success of any pandemic strategy to safeguard global health.
Lawrence O. Gostin is visiting professor of global health law at the University of Sydney’s US Studies Centre and Law School, and professor of global health law at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, where he heads the World Health Organisation’s Collaborating Centre on Health Law and Human Rights.
Begin Excerpt from Khaleej Times Online via World News
Concern grows for Tamiflu-resistant swine flu
(AFP)
4 August 2009
Health officials raised the alarm about a strain of swine flu that is resistant to the Tamiflu treatment as the virus claimed more lives on Tuesday.
Vietnam reported its first fatal case.
India and South Africa both reported their first deadly cases of the A(H1N1) virus late Monday.
Maria Teresa Cerqueira, head of the Pan-American Health Organization office in La Jolla, California, said a Tamiflu-resistant mutation of A (H1N1) had been found around the US-Mexico border in El Paso and close to McAllen, Texas.
Experts had gathered in La Jolla, California, on Monday to discuss responses to the outbreak, and warned that resistant strains were likely emerging because of overuse of antivirals like Tamiflu.
“In the United States Tamiflu is sold with a prescription, but in Mexico and Canada it is sold freely and taken at the first sneeze. Then, when it is really needed, it doesn’t work,” said Cerqueira late Monday.
Cases of A (H1N1) that were resistant to the anti-viral medicine have now been found in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong and Japan.
In Vietnam, officials reported the country’s first swine flu fatality after a 29-year-old woman died from the disease in the southern coastal province of Khanh Hoa.
Nearly 1,000 people have been reported infected in Vietnam and about 500 of those are receiving hospital treatment, according to the health ministry.
In South Africa, authorities said a 22-year-old student at Stellenbosch University near Cape Town had died after contracting the virus, while in India a 14-year-old girl in the western city of Pune died.
With the world’s highest number of HIV/AIDS-affected people — nearly 19 percent of a 49-million-person population — South Africa is considered particularly at risk because people with compromised immunity are more likely to fall prey to the disease.
South Africa’s swine flu caseload has increased fourfold since the country’s first case was reported on June 14.
In India, the government said that 2,479 people had been tested for swine flu so far out of whom 558 had tested positive for H1N1.
Some health officials in India have suggested a combination of climatic and meteorological factors — such as high temperatures and humidity — and social factors are likely to lower the risk of transmission there.
The virus continued to disrupt plans for public events.
The Russian state health agency warned football fans to stay away from the national team’s World Cup qualifying tie with Wales in Cardiff on September 9.
“This would be an extremely unnecessary and inappropriate undertaking at a time of a flu epidemic,” the head of Russia’s state health agency Gennady Onishchenko said, according to local news agencies.
Onishchenko expressed fears that “the expressions of emotion on the part of football fans involving intense shouting” could lead to the airborne transmission of the flu virus.
Russia has to-date been relatively unscathed by the pandemic, with just 55 confirmed cases.
Begin Excerpt from BBC via World News
Plague death toll rises in China
A third man has died of pneumonic plague in north-western China where a town of more than 10,000 people has been sealed off, officials say.
The 64-year-old man was a neighbour of the first two people to die from the plague in Ziketan in Qinghai Province.
Police have set up checkpoints around Ziketan, as medics are disinfecting the area and killing rats and insects.
Pneumonic plague, which attacks the lungs, can spread from person to person or from animals to people.
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