by Mike James

On December 31, 2019, a virus that has thus far killed 200 and sickened 8,000 was detected and linked to a dirty food market in Wuhan, China. The Chinese government has quarantined 50 million people, and many more will die before this outbreak subsides. The market is known for selling all kinds of biblically unclean animals for food consumption. These animals include wolf pups, civet cats, snakes, marmots, frogs, and hedgehogs. The Chinese believe the most likely source of the latest outbreak came from animals in this market. All of these animals are not permitted to be eaten by God (Leviticus 11).

The Chinese authorities say this latest virus is the seventh type of coronavirus known to affect humans. Interestingly enough, the other six viruses include Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The SARS epidemic of 2002-2003, which killed 774, also originated in China. Researchers report SARS developed in China due to infection by bats and/or civet cats. The bats may have directly infected the first human or the consumption of civet cats could have led to SARS entering the human population. MERS transmission to humans is similar to SARS. Experts believe it could have occurred by exposure to bats or camels. Both camels and bats are unclean biblically, but camel meat and milk is consumed in Saudi Arabia where MERS originated in 2012. Over 800 died due to MERS.

As I read about the recent outbreak in China, I decided to do a little research on another scary disease we have all heard about in the last 10 years, Ebola. The Ebola virus dates back to 1976 and originated in the Congo. It gets its name from the Ebola River in the Congo. Since 1976 almost 10,000 people have died from Ebola with the greatest death toll occurring during an outbreak in Africa in 2014. Once again, the experts have theories on how the disease got to humans. Some suspected a possible simian connection due to a similar disease that appears in chimps and gorillas. But the most likely culprit might be a fruit bat that carries the disease. The fruit bat is a local delicacy in some parts of Africa that can be served dried or as part of a soup. The virus can be cooked out of the bat meat, but merely handling and butchering an infected bat can transmit this disease.

Further research on other virus-like diseases—avian influenza, swine influenza, HIV, and the plague—show a connection to the animal kingdom. Avian influenza obviously comes from birds, but interestingly enough another host for the Avian flu can be pigs due to their habits. HIV is theorized to have originated in Africa due to the eating of simian meat. The various plagues throughout history were believed to have transmitted thru flea infested rats. Once again, there is a connection in most of these diseases to biblically unclean animals. Some might cite mad cow (biblically clean animal) disease as an example of a disease humans could die from due to eating infected cows. That’s true, but the origins of this disease are due to man feeding the cows feed infected with the tissue of infected cows.

There is no doubt we can get sick in many ways in this world. Sometimes even foods the Bible says are clean can make us sick. But many times those clean foods were made bad by human means. I find it very interesting that many of the mass virus outbreaks on the human population have an origin that comes from animals God told us not to eat. I want to conclude this article by quoting from a commentary published in China in reference to the recent coronavirus epidemic. The commentary came from state China Central Television and it condemned the eating of wild animals (biblically unclean).

“It rankles that some people out there are obsessed about game meat and eat to their hearts content because of gluttony and greed,” it said. “They harvested this evil fruit, making a whole city, a whole country, and even the entire human race pay such a heavy price; and the worst is yet to come.”

Those words seem prophetic as we look out into the future. As man continues to disobey God and His ways there will be a heavy toll to pay for the entire world (Revelation 18). 

Sources:

The Washington Post, 1/20/20-1/27/20

Transmission of Avian Influenza A Viruses Between Animals and People, cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/virus-transmission.htm