FULFILLED PROPHECY : THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS - 10
Copyright 1994 - 2008 Endtime Prophecy Org
Last Updated : July 23, 2006
Newly-Discovered Pathogens, Threat Of Bio-Terrorism, Reap
What We Sow, Worldwide Low Sperm Count, Possible Solution,
My Time In Mexico City, Air And Water Pollution, Power Of
Tobacco Industry, Tar & Nicotine: Unseen Addictive Killers
As if fighting against known diseases, or new super-strains
of those diseases, weren't already enough of a challenge for
modern science, consider the fact that various news agencies
have also reported stories of viruses which are believed to
be either completely new, or at least which have never been
seen in the United States before. Consider the next several
reports which were also released during the months of August
and September of 1999:
----- Begin Quotes -----
Doctors Say 37 Now Sick In New York Virus Outbreak
Public health officials raised the number of reported cases
to 37 on Sunday in New York's outbreak of a West Nile-like
virus that is blamed for the deaths of four people. Two
other deaths outside New York City -- one in suburban
Westchester County and the other in Toronto -- are now
blamed on the disease. In the Canadian case, a 75-year-old
man died a few days after he visited the New York borough of
Queens, Canadian officials say. The case has not been
confirmed by U.S. officials.
. . .
Bird Virus Blamed For New York Encephalitis Death
Federal researchers now say a bird virus previously unseen
in the Western Hemisphere caused at least one of three New
York City deaths originally blamed on St. Louis
encephalitis, health officials said Sunday. Researchers are
reviewing three deaths and 15 illnesses that occurred in New
York during the past month after the discovery in dead birds
last week of a virus usually found only in Africa and Asia.
. . .
New Strain Of Encephalitis Identified In New York Birds
Health officials have identified a strain of encephalitis
never before seen in the Western Hemisphere in several bird
specimens found in the metropolitan New York area. The
discovery of this new strain, known as the West Nile virus,
has raised questions about whether 18 recently reported
cases of encephalitis stem from the St. Louis variety of the
virus or the new one.
. . .
Two More Encephalitis Cases Confirmed
NEW YORK (AP) -- As the city prepared to complete the first
round of aerial and ground spraying to combat mosquito-borne
encephalitis, two more cases of the potentially deadly
disease were confirmed.
The latest cases, a 15-year-old boy who has been
hospitalized and a 38-year-old woman who health officials
say appears to have recovered, bring the total number of
confirmed cases to 11. Three of those have died.
"Until now, the youngest person who had a confirmed case was
58 years old," said city Health Department director Neal
Cohen. "Younger people, given stronger immune response,
generally have milder forms of the illness."
The city is awaiting lab results for 65 other people who may
have been infected with the St. Louis strain, including a
79-year-old woman who died Saturday in the Queens borough.
St. Louis encephalitis can cause seizure, paralysis and
swelling of the brain that is sometimes fatal, especially to
infants, the elderly and people with immune deficiency. Its
symptoms include fever, headache and lethargy.
. . .
Potential New Deadly Virus Reported
The deaths of at least 34 young children in Malaysia may be
due to a mystery virus which causes massive brain and heart
collapse, say researchers. The children, aged five months to
seven years old, died within just five months in Sarawak. . .
The deaths were initially blamed on an outbreak of hand,
foot and mouth disease. But all the children who died had a
fever which rapidly progressed to heart and lung failure,
suggesting both their brain and heart had been affected by
the virus. . .
----- End Of Quotes -----
Fighting against all of these known and unknown diseases
presents a major challenge to the world's medical community;
particulary in light of the fact that the Earth's population
has now reached six billion citizens, many of which live in
crowded cities which provide the ideal environment for the
rapid spread of plagues of epidemic proportions. However,
the pathogenic nightmare does not end there. In recent years
world governments have had to confront a new threat, which
in reality, is the offspring of their own evil technology.
Consider the following excerpts taken from a CNN special
report on the twentieth century:
----- Begin Quote -----
Bioterrorism, Plagues Pose Threat
But some scientific circles are not as optimistic,
especially when it comes to mankind's inevitable next brush
with an epidemic -- including a possible man-made crisis.
A paper recently issued by the Center for Civilian
Biodefense Studies at Johns Hopkins University warns that
smallpox, "because of its high case-fatality rates and
transmissibility, now represents one of the most serious
bioterrorist threats to the civilian population."
"It is possible that smallpox virus fortifies the arsenals
of terrorist groups or some nations," the British medical
journal The Lancet notes in a May 8, 1999, editorial. "Some
experts fear that the release of smallpox virus into the
population, whether by mistake or intent, may be only a
matter of time."
Live samples of smallpox are now known to exist in only two
laboratories -- the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta, and the Russian State Center for
Research on Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo.
An international controversy has been brewing over whether
those centers should destroy their stocks -- or hold on to
the samples for future research. In May 1999, the World
Health Organization voted to delay destruction until 2002 at
the latest.
Dr. Donald A. Henderson, director at the Johns Hopkins
center, also warns of future plagues by as-yet-undetermined
biological threats.
"We are regularly detecting new viruses, new organisms," he
says. "There's a constant process of mutation and change.
Because of travel, people moving rapidly, penetrating areas
they haven't been before, the large, huge cities people now
live in -- there are all sorts of reasons for all sorts of
diseases to emerge."
----- End Of Quote -----
Thus we see that while some evil governments of the world,
like the United States of America, have introduced us to
chemical and biological warfare, in the end, they may fall
victim to the creations of their own hands. But then this
should not really surprise us; for as the Apostle Paul
wrote:
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap." Galatians 6:7, KJV
While conducting my research for this series, I also came
across the following interesting report which caught my eye.
How ironic that in this current age of selfish and perverted
sex, where men and women both resort to all kinds of birth
control methods, from condoms, to diaphrams, to creams, to
withdrawal, to the rhythm method, to abortion, etc., so that
they can enjoy the feeling, but not have to pay the price of
parenthood, in addition to AIDS and other STD's, or Sexually
Transmitted Diseases, the Lord has also apparently seen fit
to strike men with a low sperm count:
----- Begin Quote -----
Sperm Counts Dropping Dramatically
British scientists are set to carry out their biggest-ever
study into male reproductive health -- including why sperm
counts across the globe appear to be falling dramatically,
researchers said Monday.
----- End Of Quote -----
While you may find this a bit difficult to believe, I recall
reading quite a few years ago, that the physical source of
the above-described problem, may actually be related to what
kind of briefs a man wears. According to biologists, it is
because of the fact that a man's testicles hang outside of
his body, which results in a slightly lower temperature of
the same, that they are a more conducive environment for the
production of the male gamete, or sperm. If we consider the
fact that it has only been in the past fifty years or so,
that 'Fruit-Of-The-Loom' type briefs have replaced what are
known in the United States as loose-fitting 'boxer shorts',
and that this new type of more tightly-fitting briefs holds
a man's testicles closer to his body, thus slightly raising
their temperature, it should come as no surprise then that
the sperm count appears to be dropping.
If you are a couple who has been desperately trying to have
a child, but has thus far been unsuccessful at doing so, may
I suggest that the man switches to 'boxer shorts' for a few
months, in order to see if your results improve. You never
know; you just might be pleasantly surprised; but please
give it some time and a fair chance, so that the man's sperm
count will rise again first.
While I have thus far discussed diseases which have a direct
effect on the human body from the inside, these are not the
only ways in which the Lord appears to be chastising this
foolish and rebellious world, which has chosen to either
ignore His existence altogether, or at least to defy both
the Natural Laws and the Spiritual Laws which He has laid
down in His Word. There are other external, non-corporal
plagues which are having an equally detrimental effect on
the health of the world's populace. These plagues, some of
which are the result of man's own wasteful and destructive
lifestyle, include such things as air and water pollution.
Even though it has been over two decades since I last lived
there, I can still remember the terrible air pollution which
plagues Mexico City. In the central district known as the
Zocalo, the degree of pollution was such at that time, that
just a few minutes walking on the street next to the snarled
traffic would cause one's eyes to really burn, and force him
to cover his nose and mouth. I can only imagine how much
further the situation has deteriorated since that time, as
that giant metropolis has continued to grow and to develop,
due to the steady influx of poor 'campesinos' from the rural
areas, who flock to the capital in droves seeking financial
opportunity; many of whom never find it, and end up sitting
on blankets on city street corners selling red, sugar-coated
peanuts called 'garrapinados' and other treats and trinkets,
to passers-by.
The steady flow of news reports concerning air and water
pollution which have filled the airwaves, as well as the
pages of the world press during the past four decades are
indeed many. To even begin to thoroughly discuss this topic
would require a lot of time and space; and would undoubtedly
overburden you, the reader. That being the case, allow me to
share with you just a few of these reports which help to
emphasize the seriousness of this deadly menace:
----- Begin Quotes -----
Report: More Than Half The World's Rivers In Serious Trouble
More than half the world's major rivers are going dry or are
polluted, a panel studying global water problems reports.
The fouling of the waterways and surrounding river basins
contributed to the total of 25 million environmental
refugees last year, for the first time exceeding the world's
21 million war-related refugees, said the World Commission
on Water for the 21st Century.
. . .
Mysterious Pollution Turns Surfing Mecca Into Ghost Town
The usual atmosphere at Huntington Beach has been crashed by
thousands of gallons of bacteria. For nearly eight weeks,
health officials have closed section after section of the
8-mile beach trying to find the source of a sewage leak. The
problem surfaced in late June when sanitation officials
found unhealthy levels of bacteria, including extremely high
levels of enterococcous -- known to cause gastrointestinal
and respiratory infections. It now threatens Bolsa Chica
State Beach to the north.
. . .
EPA Proposes Regulation Of Radon In Water
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed Tuesday for the
first time to regulate the amount of radon in drinking
water, urging a strategy that would allow less stringent
controls on water supplies if states take aggressive action
to curtail radon in indoor air. Radon, a naturally occurring
gas that comes from soil, has been linked to thousands of
cases of lung cancer and is second only to smoking in
causing lung cancer.
Air Pollution Kills, But Deaths Can Be Prevented
Eight thousand people a day die from illnesses caused by air
pollution but some simple preventative steps and increased
monitoring could lessen the toll, according to a recently
released report by Australia's Commonwealth Science Council.
Of the 3 million annual deaths, 2.8 million are from indoor
air pollution. Ninety percent of the deaths occur in
developing countries, according to World Health Organization
estimates.
. . .
Smog Sends 53,000 To Hospital Each Summer - Report
Smog sends 53,000 people to the hospital each summer and
triggers more than 6 million asthma attacks in the eastern
United States, according to estimates released on Tuesday by
clean air activists. Smog created in the summer is called
ground-level ozone, the main culprit in what
environmentalists believe is a public health crisis
generated by coal-fired power plants.
----- End Of Quotes -----
Directly related to air pollution is another deadly form of
pollution which ultimately results in the death of some four
million people worldwide annually; and the death toll is on
the rise. This particular kind of pollution is extremely
subtle; and quite often it remains invisible until it is too
late to reverse its deadly effects. What is so tragic about
this form of pollution, is that not only could it be easily
prevented, but it could be completely eradicated, if more
people would take control of their own wills, bodies, and
lives, and force the American government, as well as other
governments of the world, to close down the irresponsible,
greedy companies which fuel this form of pollution. I am
referring to none other than the tobacco industry. Sadly,
the American tobacco industry possesses a lot of money; and
it has an extremely powerful lobby in Washington, D.C. As
proof of this, consider the following report which was
issued in October of 1998 by the Common Dreams News Wire
online service:
----- Begin Quote -----
Big Tobacco Lobbying Costs $81,000 Per Member of Congress in
First Half of 1998; Industry Blows Away Previous Record
WASHINGTON - October 29 - Big Tobacco fired up an intense
lobbying campaign in the first half of 1998, spending more
than $43 million on high-priced, insider lobbyists -- an
astonishing 174 percent increase from the same period in
1997, according to a Public Citizen report released today.
"Big Tobacco paid lobbyists unprecedented amounts to
keep crucial public health legislation from being passed,"
said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "This money
helped buy early deaths for thousands of teen smokers and
will leave an enduring stain on our society as American
families struggle with tobacco-related fatalities and
injuries well into the next century."
The $43.3 million in lobbying expenses reported by six
tobacco companies and three industry trade groups breaks all
previous spending records set by the tobacco industry,
according to the report, Blowing Smoke, an analysis based on
lobbying disclosures for the first half of the year.
"This remarkable attempt to buy influence through
lobbying, while considerable, reveals only a fraction of the
money Big Tobacco spent last year to thwart tobacco control
legislation," Claybrook said. "The tobacco companies spent
millions on grassroots campaign expenditures that are not
required to be reported. They spent at least $40 million for
TV and other advertising, and another $5.6 million has been
spent so far in this election cycle to influence the outcome
of federal elections through soft money and PAC
contributions. They spare no expense when it comes to
protecting their profits, even at the cost of millions of
lives."
Of the $5.6 million in soft money and PAC contributions,
$4.3 million -- 77 percent -- went to Republicans, and $1.3
million -- 23 percent -- to Democrats.
While the tobacco companies were able to block passage
of a strong, pro-health tobacco control bill, they were
unsuccessful in their efforts to pass a sweetheart
settlement deal that would have let them off the hook for
the death and disease caused by their products and for
decades of lying about the dangers of tobacco. The industry
sought broad protections from legal liability and once those
protections were stripped from the tobacco bill, the
industry began to withdraw its support for the legislation.
In the first six months of the year, according to the
report:
* Big Tobacco's $43.3 million in lobbying expenditures
represents a 174 percent increase over the first half of
1997 and a 22 percent increase over the $35.5 million spent
in all of 1997. It represents a total industry expenditure
averaging $81,000 per member of Congress.
* Tobacco companies besieged the Capitol with an army of
192 lobbyists -- one for every three members of
Congress.These lobbyists included at least seven former
senators and representatives and at least 18
ex-congressional staff members. Also included were big-name
politicians, including former Texas Gov. Ann Richards and
former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, both
Democrats, as well as former executive branch members and
Haley Barbour, formerly head of the Republican National
Committee.
* Brown and Williamson was the top spender, reporting
$18.2 million in expenditures in the first six months -- a
whopping 1,000 percent increase over the previous year's
$1.7 million in spending. Philip Morris more than doubled
its lobbying expenses from the prior year, reporting $14.4
million in expenditures, compared with $7 million the year
before.
----- End Of Quote -----
To emphasize how serious the tobacco problem really is on a
worldwide scale, consider the following alarming information
which can be found at the World Health Organization, (WHO),
web site:
----- Begin Quotes -----
About Tobacco and Treatment
* Tobacco use is widespread. At the beginning of this
decade at least one-third of the global adult population, or
1.1 billion people, used tobacco. Although overall tobacco
use is decreased in many developed countries, it increased
in most developing countries. An estimated 48% of men and 7%
of women in developing countries smoked; in industrialized
countries, 42% of men and 24% of women smoked, representing
a marked increase among women. Tobacco use is a pediatric
epidemic, as well. Most tobacco use starts during childhood
and adolescence.
* Tobacco kills. A long-term tobacco user has a 50%
chance of dying prematurely from tobacco-caused disease.
Each year, tobacco causes some 4 million premature deaths,
with 1 million of these occurring in countries that can
least afford the health-care burden. This epidemic is
predicted to kill 250 million children and adolescents who
are alive today, a third of whom live in developing
countries. By the year 2030, tobacco likely will be the
world's leading cause of death and disability, killing more
than 10 million people annually and claiming more lives than
HIV, tuberculosis, maternal mortality, motor vehicle
accidents, suicide, and homicide combined.
----- End Of Quotes -----
Despite the fact that humanity in general is more than aware
of the health hazards related to inhaling cigarette smoke,
and using other tobacco-related products, in confirmation of
the previous WHO report, a November 1999 report from CNN
also indicates that this global evil is on the rise, and
that millions of foolish people continue to cut their lives
short needlessly:
----- Begin Quote -----
More People Smoking Despite Known Health Risks
(CNN) -- Thursday is the American Cancer Society's "Great
American Smoke Out," a day smokers around the country are
encouraged to kick the habit. Despite millions of dollars in
state spending for anti-smoking campaigns, more adults and
teens are smoking now than in the early 1990s.
In 1991, 28 percent of high school age teen-agers said they
had smoked in the past month. By 1997, the most recent
figures available, that number jumped to 36 percent. And
young adults aren't doing much better. Smoking among 18 to
24 year-olds has increased from 25 percent in 1990 to 29
percent in 1997
----- End Of Quote -----
I am truly amazed by the way so many foolish people have
been duped and enticed into smoking and chewing their lethal
products, and thus gradually filling their lungs with tar,
and encouraging the growth of cancerous cells, through silly
advertising campaigns, which have sported such 'heroes' of
the industry as the macho Marlboro Man, graceful Virginia
Slim and cool Joe Camel. It would be ludicrous, if it wasn't
so sad. These people, particularly the young people, need
to wake up, and stop allowing themselves to be affected by
peer pressure, and stupid television and magazine ads. As
the Apostle Paul tells us, we are to respect and care for
our bodies, and not abuse them, because they are the temples
of God's Spirit:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not
your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify
God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
1 Corinthians 6:19-20, KJV
"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do
all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31, KJV
Ironically, the world's largest tobacco company, which is
comprised of Philip Morris U.S.A. and Philip Morris
International, is now publicly admitting that cigarette
smoking is not safe. In October of 1999, CNN reported the
following story:
----- Begin Quote -----
Philip Morris Admits Health Hazards Of Smoking
Philip Morris, the world's biggest tobacco company, has
admitted publicly that tobacco isn't safe, and is trying to
remake its image with a $100 million advertising campaign.
"For too long we have let others define who we are," Steven
Parrish, senior vice president for corporate affairs for
Philip Morris, said. The company has launched a corporate
Web site, stating in one section that "there is no 'safe'
cigarette."
----- End Of Quote -----
After Philip Morris executives have spent decades grossly
enriching themselves, and indirectly killing untold millions
of people through their subtle marketing campaigns, which
draw both young and old into their nicotine snares, they now
have the audacity to come forth with this..ahem..remarkable
confession; but is this sudden 'about face' really all that
remarkable? Don't be so easily deceived by such trickery!
They are not going to make such a statement, unless they
already know that it is going to have a very minimal effect
on their overall worldwide profits.
While on the surface, this admission may at first appear to
be a responsible move by the tobacco giant, if we consider
the fact that the vast majority of cigarette smokers now
live outside of the United States of America in non-English
speaking countries, and that the vast majority of them will
most likely never even become aware of this admission by
Philip Morris, then it is easy to see that this so-called
'confession' will have very little effect on curbing tobacco
sales worldwide; which of course means that company profits
will not be significantly affected. That being the case, it
seems that this admission of guilt is nothing more than a
well-calculated, politically-correct, strategical move in
order to reduce the public pressure on its American-based
companies, where environmental and health issues often fill
the daily news.
To emphasize how minimal the economic loss will be from
their statement, consider the fact that according to their
web site, Philip Morris now employs 144,000 people in 150
countries worldwide. They also boast of having 180 markets
worldwide in which they sell their tobacco products. In
addition to this, they claim that 'In 1998 one out of every
six cigarettes sold worldwide was a Philip Morris brand'. In
plain English, even if they were to lose every single one of
their American customers due to their admission, it amounts
to very little. So as you can see, Philip Morris can afford
to appease the American public by presenting this new image
of being a 'repentant', responsible, caring tobacco company.
Many Americans are naive enough to swallow such hogwash,
because they have been swallowing government and commercial
propaganda for years.
To conclude this section on the mortal dangers of cigarette
smoking, and to further substantiate my claim regarding how
the Unites States of America is not Philip Morris' primary
market, allow me to share some additional information with
you which you will find rather alarming. Please carefully
note that the majority of cigarette smokers are found in
Europe and Asia, and that only a mere ten per cent live in
the United States of America according to this 1993 report:
----- Begin Quotes -----
Human Resources Development and Operations Policy
HRO Dissemination Notes
Number 1, February, 1993
Added to all the most fearsome plagues (the Black Death,
smallpox, malaria, and tuberculosis), a man-made
plague--diseases resulting from the smoking, chewing and
snuffing of tobacco--is now the leading scourge of the
twentieth century. But unlike most microbial plagues, damage
to the human body from cigarettes progresses slowly.
Approximately five trillion cigarettes are produced each
year, or 1,000 cigarettes for each man, woman, and child on
earth. Worldwide, consumption is increasing about 2% per
year, with the greatest rise occurring in the developing
countries and eastern Europe. China is the world's leading
consumer of cigarettes (31%), followed by the United States
(10%), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (7%), and
Japan (6%). Fifty-two percent of cigarettes are consumed in
Asia.
Hazards of Tobacco
Tobacco is highly addictive: studies of people who have
smoked for many years show grossly higher death rates among
smokers than among non-smokers. Most of this excess
mortality is caused by tobacco. Overall, more than one-third
of all regular cigarette smokers, many of these still in
middle age, will be killed by the habit. Smokers lose an
average of 20-25 years of non-smoker life expectancy.
Tobacco also causes excess morbidity. Up to 14% of all
preterm deliveries in the U.S. may be attributable to
maternal smoking. Children whose parents smoke experience
more respiratory symptoms and have an increased frequency of
bronchitis and pneumonia.
Magnitude of the Hazard
The annual global tobacco death toll is already about three
million--about 1 million in developing countries-- and will
rise to more than ten million by the 2020s according to
current trends. Most of this increase will occur in
developing countries. Of all the people aged under 20 alive
today in China, 50 million will die prematurely from
tobacco. For men, the epidemic of premature death from
tobacco has already become substantial in all developed
countries. The death rates in middle-aged men from all
causes are especially high in eastern Europe, one major
reason for this being tobacco.
----- End Of Quotes -----
As we continue our series in part eleven, we will take a
look at the scourge of deadly famines which have struck many
different parts of the world, particularly the continent of
Africa, as well as the many droughts which have occurred in
recent years, from Africa to the Middle East to the United
States of America to South America and elsewhere. I trust
that you will join me.
[ Click Me ] Go To Part Eleven . . .