The AIDS Explosion

The AIDS Explosion

As AIDS continues its global rampage, the statistics have become staggering. UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS, in its year-end estimates released in December 1996, stated that 3.1 million new HIV infections occurred that year. 1.5 million people died of AIDS in 1996, bringing the total of AIDS-related deaths to 6.4 million. As of this writing, over 24 million people are living with HIV / AIDS, which means well over 30 million have been infected since the disease was first recognized in 1981.[21]

The World Health Organization (WHO) says "around the world more than 6,000 people every day are infected with HIV and the epidemic is getting worse. Heterosexual transmission now accounts for about 75 percent of all HIV infections."[22] WHO spokesman Christopher Powell has predicted the number of HIV-positive people will reach 40 million by the year 2000.[23]

Aside from the above-mentioned plagues, there is, of course, cancer, which is considered non-infectious. Scientists estimate that about 80 percent of cancers are caused by environmental factors, such as tobacco smoke (actively or passively inhaled) and the ingestion of harmful chemicals in our modern food supply. Virtually unheard of among our ancestors, over 100 different kinds of cancer now kill over 6 million people every year. A dramatic rise in the deadly skin cancer melanoma is attributed to the depletion of the earth’s ozone layer, which blocks much of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.

Jesus said there would be an abundance of plagues and diseases marking the time of His return. Even though these things will become increasingly widespread in the days to come, the Bible also tells us that God can protect and even heal those who trust in Him: "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. … Unto you that fear My name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings" (Psalm 91:10; Malachi 4:2).