Recently, I have been asked by a couple of people what plague or disease I thought was coming next. People are understandably concerned after having dealt with Covid over the past two years. The women I have spoken to thought possibly Ebola would be the next pandemic we would experience. After watching outbreaks of Ebola over the last several years, I wouldn’t think so. Ebola does seem to be controlled with proper sanitation, hospital stays and isolation. One must have close contact with a person with Ebola to get it.

Covid, Ebola, Monkey Pox, Swine Flu, and Bird Flu are all examples of zoonosis. Zoonosis is “a disease which can be transmitted to humans from animals,” Oxford Dictionary. The worst epidemics in history have been caused by a vector (flea or mosquito) transmitting the disease from a host to a human. One only has to think of the Bubonic Plague that killed millions during the Middle Ages as an example of zoonosis.

I do think that what people are most concerned about are the viruses that exist in labs today. Is gain of function research being done on them? Are some of them being genetically engineered to cause them to be transmitted in an aerosol form? Are some of them being developed as bioweapons by governments of the world? According to the UN, “Historical biological weapons programmes have included efforts to produce: aflatoxin; anthrax; botulinum toxin; foot and mouth disease; glanders; plague; Q fever; rice blast; ricin; Rocky Mountain spotted fever; smallpox; and tularemia, among others.”

I do think if we knew what was going on in labs in other countries that we would be quite concerned as my friends are. Other countries do not have the constraints our labs do and the laws governing them are different. There is always a chance of an accidental leak or in the case of war, deployment of a bioweapon could be unleashed.

Scripture does tell us that in the last days we will experience plagues and Revelation does mention that many will be killed by the wild beasts of the earth. The word used is “therion” which in the Greek is the diminutive of “theria,” a word used to denote a wild animal or beast. Sharon Gilbert believes that this word might have to do with the bacteria or viruses that come from the beasts of the earth.

No matter what is coming down the pike in the future, we know we cannot depend on man, science or our government to save us. Surely they will try to use whatever is available to them as far as medicine or vaccines to help the population but modern medicine can only go so far, especially if some virus has been genetically altered in a lab. If nothing else, Covid has taught the world that man is indeed susceptible to zoonotic viruses and that it will take a while for pharmacological help to reach the general population.

What’s next? I have no idea. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. I believe we each only get today (that’s why it is called “the present”). We are not guaranteed another one. Rather than live in fear we can trust our lives to the Lord and leave our future in His hands. I rely on the words of Psalms 23 and 91 in order to find peace in an insecure world. We are, after all, finite and we need Someone greater than us to provide the protection we need from seen or unseen forces.

Image by Kalhn, Courtesy of Pixabay.