Down through history man has been plagued by a multitude of seemingly incurable diseases. Despite heroic efforts to stem the onslaught, many of these scourges became pandemic, and millions of people perished. No one knew what caused them nor how to combat them. Diseases such as smallpox, bubonic plague, influenza, tuberculosis, and malaria practically wiped out whole populations.
Medical science has made great strides since those days of ignorance. The invention of the microscope by Leeuwenhoek revealed tiny animals called microbes. Edward Jenner discovered that milk maids were immune to smallpox and Louis Pasteur discovered that pasteurization prevented fermentation. Now, man knows about phagocytes, lymphocytes, anti-bodies, viruses, bacteria, sterilization, antibiotics and sulfa drugs, vaccination and immunity. We know the cause of most common diseases and how they can be transmitted.
However, there are still many diseases for which there are no cures. Most viral infections do not respond to antibiotics, and recovery seems to depend on the ability of the immune system to mobilize an antibody defense. No cure has been found thus far for viral diseases such as cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer disease, Jakob-Creutzfeldt (mad cow) disease, and many others. We are technically challenged by such diseases as diabetes, heart failure, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, and other organic malfunctions.
Not only do we have a problem with long-standing health problems but there seem to be new ones popping up all the time. Some new strain of influenza or cold virus such as SARS, or a new form of an old germ that has become drug-resistant such as TB. It sometimes seems as if we are losing the battle. Even with our modern hospitals, our advanced research facilities, the plethora of drug medications, and highly skilled doctors and nurses, we are experiencing difficulty in coping with many modern health problems. Modern medicine does not have all the answers.
For example, there is one disease with which we are all infected from birth; it is very deadly and it has plagued mankind since his very beginning. There is no medical antidote nor cure for this disease which takes the lives of millions of people. The tragedy is that it not only causes physical death but also spiritually eternal death. The Bible calls this disease sin, and we are told that the wages of sin is death. There is only one cure for this infection and that is faith in the redeeming blood of Christ. It can be obtained only by request and it is received by a spiritual infusion or inoculation by the Holy Spirit. This faith in the atonement and the subsequent rebirth is the cure.
