THE PANDEMIC THAT MAY KILL AMERICA

When it comes to pandemics, history has been a very poor teacher. Like Hollywood, news writers and historians have found war, cannons, guns and bullets more exciting to write about than killer bugs. As a result, we tend to fear wars, terrorism and atomic bombs. But there is far less interest in the killer bugs which produce the much more lethal viral and biological diseases.

We don't understand that throughout history, epidemics and pandemics have not only killed multitudes of people, but have changed the course of world history. That means that you are now quite different from the person you would have been had not pandemics crashed into your ancestors.

Way back in 700 BC, Senecherib, the nasty king of the Assyrians, was systemically storming the walled cities of Judah, conquering its cities, then torturing and destroying its citizens. One of the king's favorites: forcing a father to watch his sons tortured and killed, immediately before gouging his eyes out.

Having taken 45 walled cities, King Senecherib and his army approached the last remaining redoubt of the Jews, Jerusalem. By capturing and destroying the city, the evil king would destroy the Jewish race for all time.

Fortunately for the imperiled people of Jerusalem, they were governed by a wise and shrewd king named Hezekiah. Anticipating an Assyrian siege years earlier, King Hezekiah secretly built a water tunnel leading from underground springs to the center of the city. In a long siege, the city would not want for water.

Just before the Assyrian army reached the city, King Hezekiah sent his troops out beyond the walls to destroy all the water wells in the immediate vicinity. All that was left to a parched Syrian army were polluted streams and marshes.

The Assyrian army encamped, formed up and prepared to attack the next morning. But suddenly the troops began dropping like flies. Within 24 hours, 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were dead, swept by a mysterious and frightening disease. Worried for the survival of his army, Senecherib pulled his troops away from the city and it survived to protect the future of the Jewish people.

Some say the city was saved by God, who promised the Jews He would protect them from the Assyrians. Some say it was the water. But whatever the source, the Jewish nation was saved from a massive epidemic which might have been the antecedent for cholera, malaria, yellow fever or other diseases associated with water.

Without biologists in 700 BC, we cannot know precisely the nature of the epidemic. But what we can project, with a degree of certainty, is the impact of this epidemic on history. More specifically, the impact of this epidemic on you.

If Senecherib had been able to destroy the Jewish civilization, he would have profoundly altered history. For it was the religion of Abraham which produced Jesus and Christianity. Without the survival of Jerusalem, there could have been no Catholic Church, no reformation, no Martin Luther. What would a modern-day Baptist have become?

The Church of the one God produced not only Jesus, but Muhammad. In Islam, there is only one true God and Muhammad was his messenger. But in the Queran, God had other messengers as well, including Abraham and Moses. Noah was a prophet, according to the Queran, not merely a boat builder. Thus, if Jerusalem had fallen, there could not have been a Muhammad and a powerful religion known as Islam.

One epidemic, more than all the wars put together, changed the direction and evolution of history. This one epidemic, more than all the wars of history, changed the very person you are.

That's why we should pay great attention to the epidemics growing in our midst.

AIDS, Avian Flu, Malaria, Ebola, SARS. Each, if not stopped, could alter the world as we know it.

AIDS alone is wrecking havoc in Africa, Indonesia, China and Russia. Scientists predict a second tsunami wave of AIDS to hit these countries.

According to the news reports, the future of Russia looks bright. It controls an enormous number of atomic weapons as well as advanced weapons delivery systems. It boasts enormous capabilities for space exploration and utilization. It possesses massive oil reserves in an oil-starved world. With Iran, Russia controls almost half of the world's natural gas reserves. Under Putin, it is clearly a rising power once more.

But AIDS is in the process of destroying all that. AIDS, added to Russia's historical disease of alcoholism, is rapidly depopulating the country. While Europe and Japan worry about their aging populations, Russia doesn't even have an aging population to worry about. By 2005, the average male lifespan had shrunk back to 57. So many young Russian men are afflicted with HIV and AIDS that the army cannot meet its recruiting requirements.

If Russia had to fight a ground-based border war with China over the Sinkiang Province, as it did in 1968, there is serious doubt that Russia would be able to hang on to all its territory. The weaknesses of the army, exposed by the Chechnyan revolt, indicates the evaporating strength of a large, depopulating nation.

If AIDs and alcoholism follow their predicted courses, there may not even be a Russia by the end of the century.

What Russia needs is another wise King Hezekiah.

And America? While you appear to have control of AIDS, what of the other major pandemics incubating in India, China, Indonesia and Africa? How ready are you to control them?

If you do not, there may not be an America by the end of the century, either.

(click here for a printable version of this article)