Viewpoint of Mark Cadwallader, Creation Moments Board Chairman
Millions of people are now clamoring for paper masks to cover their mouths and noses while thousands of healthcare and public service workers are wearing full Hazmat suits. The new Coronavirus – now officially known as SARS-CoV-2 – has had a devastating effect in China this winter of 2020.
What can we learn from this plague in regard to biblical and creation truth? Apart from being another example of a creation fallen from innocence and perfection because of sin, the Bible has much to say about it that is relevant. In Leviticus chapter 11, the Bible presented the Jewish people with dietary laws for animals. These laws were ceremonially important for honoring God and remembering the people’s place before Him. But we know today that these principles from the Bible were filled with keen insight and prophetic foreknowledge in their understanding of health science and disease prevention.
And while the ceremonial aspects of these dietary rules were replaced by New Testament freedoms (see Acts 10:9-28), the fact is that important medical and health wisdom predating modern science is reflected in these laws! For example, warnings appear throughout Leviticus 11 about handling dead carcasses, including water and any objects which contacted the carcasses – something medicine lost sight of until modern germ theory in the 19th century.
Though many people now think that SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus originated as a biological weapon, the official explanation is that it started in a “live wildlife” market in Wuhan, China. We are told that the virus got its start from people who were eating bats. Interestingly, in Leviticus 11:13-19, “bats” are listed along with 19 unclean birds which “shall not be eaten” as “they shall be an abomination unto you”. The last phrase is also translated “a detestable thing and abhorrent to you”.
Bats are known to host up to 137 different kinds of viruses – the most well-known one being rabies. These include over 60 “zoonotic” viruses (viruses which can be transferred to other species). Bats and rodents (prohibited in Leviticus 11:29) carry the most such viruses of any animals. The viruses can make the leap to humans through an intermediate species such as dogs and cats (also prohibited because they are animals that walk on their “paws”. They eat the meat of other unclean animals and thereby ingest more pathogens which can be transferred through their own meat. In addition, of course, the unclean animals of Leviticus 11 are eaten directly by humans, especially in parts of the world which do not have a biblical tradition.
Viruses are difficult for the immune system to contend with because they disguise themselves by hiding within the body’s own cells – a cell “uniform” which the immune system’s “soldiers” have learned to overlook. The thing that keeps us alive against the ravages of infections and other “uncleanness” is the blood’s immune system. And with viruses, the immune system must “train” and deploy the special B- and T-lymphocyte immune system cells to become like specially trained commandos to recognize and neutralize the virus-infected cells.
As the Bible puts it, “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). This biblical statement is true on many levels. It is true on the surface as well as on a deeply spiritual level. We can make the connection between our own blood carrying life-giving oxygen and nutrition to our whole body with our incredible immune system manufactured with and carried by the blood throughout our bodies, knocking out the pathogens which would otherwise quickly bring death. And then there is the wonderful renewing love, joy, and peace of spiritual life brought with the blood of Christ cleansing us from spiritual infection (sin)!
Viruses mutate. And this makes them able to re-infect people. But the truth is, contrary to the assumptions of evolution, such mutations – as with any mutation – will be far less likely to survive. This fact – that mutations are at best equally viable but most frequently weaker members of a species – is a key reason why evolution is impossible. Mutations do not advance a species and make it more genetically complex. Mutations result in the loss of genetic information in the same way that a random disturbance of the letters in the words of a book will detract from what is being said rather than adding information to the sentences.
The overwhelming probabilities of increasing entropy (disorder) applied to genetics prevents any fluke positive mutation from ever accumulating and surviving into a more “advanced” species or even so-called “transitional” species. This is why there are no transition species in the fossil record, and the rarities that are claimed as such are fraudulent or otherwise dubious.
The viral epidemic in China has made things difficult, not only for victims of the virus, but for Xi Jinping, President for Life and communist dictator of China since 2013. He has been leading a renewed effort of totalitarian oppression of freedoms, including bulldozing churches and rolling back Christian freedoms in China – which has seen many converts since relaxation in the 1980s of Mao Tse Tung’s oppressive tactics. But communism, supported by evolutionism, has taken its toll. And according to mission groups, China has over 60% of the world’s “Religiously Unaffiliated” people (i.e., atheists, agnostics). The “good thing” about this new virus is that it has further exposed the deficits of communism to China’s population, in spite of tight control over the internet and censorship of expression.
There is an epic struggle between totalitarianism and freedom. As usual, evolutionism is on the side of totalitarianism, while biblical Christianity is on the side of freedom! Please pray that “the wicked be snared in the work of his own hands” (Psalm 9:16).
At Creation Moments, we understand that we are up against a world system bent on denying the truth of God – and that we must work to expose the deception and to proclaim the truth that would otherwise be hidden from many people. As always, we need you, our faithful partner in ministry, to give and to pray so that this crucial work can be accomplished. Thank you so very much for standing with us in these challenging times!
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