I was surprised this week while reading our local newspaper, the Daily Oklahoman, at breakfast. I saw a major headline about the rising fears of a bird flu pandemic.
Now, this is something that seems to be flying under the radar. I talked to my wife later, and she hadn’t heard anything about it—most people haven’t.
As I searched online, here’s a sample of the headlines I found:
- The spread of bird flu virus on US dairy farms alarms WHO
- What to know about the latest bird flu outbreak in the US
- Just One Human Is Infected by Bird Flu in the US. More Cases Are Likely
- Could Avian Influenza Be The Next Covid-19?
Now, over the last decade, bird flu cases in mammals have been on the rise, and that’s the real concern. When it comes to humans, the Associated Press reports in their article:
Since 2020, the virus has been spreading among more animal species — including dogs, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and porpoises — in scores of countries.
In the U.S., this version of the bird flu has been detected in wild birds in every state, as well as commercial poultry operations and backyard flocks. Nationwide, tens of millions of chickens have died from the virus or been killed to stop outbreaks from spreading.
This bird flu, avian flu, or H5N1, is not new. According to Forbes, “The highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 was first identified in Southern China in 1996 during an outbreak in domestic waterfowl, and it resulted in more than 850 human infections with a mortality rate greater than 50%.”
That is sobering. This isn’t like COVID, which carried a very low death rate; the H5N1 reportedly carries a rate of 50%. There was an outbreak of this bird flu in Hong Kong in 1997. From 2003 to 2018, human cases were reported from 16 countries, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
Now, these diseases that come from animals to humans are called “spillover diseases” or “Zoonotic Diseases,” and about 70% of the new diseases in the world are of this variety.
One article I read this week said, “61% of the 1,415 pathogens known to infect humans originate with animals. These include Asian flu, dengue fever, Ebola, bird flu, HIV, West Nile fever, yellow fever, and the more recent COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Guardian made some astonishing statements in an article they published earlier this week:
Last week, the World Health Organization raised fears about the alarming spread of the H5N1 strain of influenza that is causing millions of cases of avian flu across the globe. This outbreak began in 2020 and has led to the deaths or killing of tens of millions of poultry and has also wiped out millions of wild birds.
Most recently, the virus has spread to mammal species, including domestic cattle which are now infected in 12 states in the US, further increasing fears about the risks to humans.
“It means that the risks of the virus getting into more and more farm animals, and then from farm animals into humans just gets higher and higher. The more the virus spreads, then the chances of it mutating so it can spread into humans goes up and up. Basically, we are rolling the dice with this virus.”
What really caught my eye as I was reading the paper a couple of days ago was this statement: “The US Food and Drug Administration has identified genetic traces of the virus in one in five commercial milk samples tested.” I was sitting, eating breakfast, having milk as I read this—my attention was immediately grabbed. However, the virus fragments, the paper said, are not actually capable of causing an infection because of the process of pasteurization. So that relieved my fears!
The fact that it’s in one of five commercial milk samples tested is an alarming statistic, showing how prevalent this virus is in cows.
Now, no one knows what will happen with this bird flu. But we do know that the Bible predicts in the end times that deadly plagues and pestilence are going to be catastrophic and sweep the globe.
Jesus, in Luke’s account of the prophetic sermon He gave two days before His crucifixion, says: “Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by… Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences [plagues]; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven” (Luke 21:8-11).
Jesus said during the end times, these plagues are going to escalate and rise.
In chapter six of Revelation, the fourth Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the pale rider, talks about plagues in the end times.
Revelation 6:7-8 KJV – “And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death [plagues], and with the beasts of the earth.”
25% of the people left behind after the rapture in the Tribulation will die in this one judgment. It mentions four means by which this death will occur: By sword (war), famine, plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
Now, that statement, “wild beasts of the earth,” is taken by some to mean that animals will become ferocious and kill people. Others believe these are world rulers in the end times. The Antichrist is called “the beast,” and it’s the same word that is used here. However, since it occurs right after plagues, it could also refer to “spillover diseases” that come from animals to humans.
Modern travel and commerce have made the spread of these viruses much more deadly. COVID went quickly from China to Europe and around the world in an unbelievably short time.
COVID was the first major pandemic in recent decades, but more of these are sure to come, and we’re constantly being warned about them.
Plagues and pestilence create deep fear because they’re silent, invisible killers; you can’t see them. We can also be sure that the slightest threat of a new pandemic will be seized upon by global elites to gain greater control over citizens.
We saw a dress rehearsal with COVID, which almost served as a warm-up. We saw demands for vaccinations, track and trace technology, and global passports with all kinds of conditions put on them for international travel. Each pandemic will bring greater control from global groups like the World Health Organization (WHO).
What we see today are harbingers of greater plagues to come in the future. What Jesus talked about in Luke 21 and what the apostle John wrote about in Revelation 6 are looming just over the horizon.
This is another sign for us that the coming of Christ is drawing near and the end times stage is being set.
