The Trumpet Herald

Giving the trumpet a certain sound

January 2003

A Race to Clone a Human

While WorldNetDaily.com is reporting that Italian gynecologist Severino Antinori says the first cloned human baby will be born in January 2003, “the first of five followers of Raelianism implanted with cloned embryos is due to give birth to a girl by the end of the year, according to the millennial cult's chief scientist, Brigitte Boisselier” (“The Real Clone Wars Heat Up,” WorldNetDaily.com, Dec. 16, 2002)

“'I think we have made a revolution in the field of genetics and Serbia will be one of three countries which will go down in history,' Antinori told the magazine [Nin, a Serbian magazine]” (Ibid.).

The report also noted that “Dr. Antinori's latest statements appear to contradict some of his previous claims,” and that other cloning experts have some skepticism regarding Antinori's credibility. This despite Antinori's fame for having helped a “63-year-old post-menopausal Italian woman become pregnant through fertilization treatment administered at his Rome clinic” (Ibid.).

Inspired Commentary

Some Old Testament passages suggest how God feels about tampering with human genetics. Here is one of them:

“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.” (Leviticus 18:22-25).

While the above passage does not expressly comment on human cloning, it appears that such efforts are less than wise, and have a large component of arrogant human pride (that God will one day punish).

Battle Against AIDS in Botswana

The Washington Post recently reported on efforts against the AIDS disease in Botswana in southern Africa:

“'We're making astounding progress, and it's astoundingly inadequate,' said Ernest Darkoh, a physician and former management consultant for McKinsey & Co. who runs Botswana's antiretroviral program. 'We've got all the guns blazing, machine guns, shotguns. But we're overwhelmed. The reality is just staggering.'

“The reality is that the nation spends its weekends at funerals. More than one-third of Botswana's adults are HIV-positive. Life expectancy has plunged from over 65 to under 40. More than 65,000 children have lost their parents to AIDS, and that number is projected to double or triple by 2010. If the United States had Botswana's rate of AIDS deaths, it would lose 15,000 citizens per day.” (“A Small Nation's Big Effort Against AIDS,” The Washington Post Dec. 2, 2002, p. A01).

The article pointed out that the nation's president is committed to the battle, that Bill Gates of the Microsoft company is providing funding, and Harvard University researchers are there developing new weapons. The article said the war was being lost because “the promise of free treatment has failed to persuade the vast majority of Botswanans to get tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, or to change their sexual behavior” (Ibid.).

Inspired Commentary

A familiar New Testament text comes to mind:

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

“For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth;” (Rom. 7:2).

“Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).

“And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet” (Rom. 1:27)

Many in the developed nations escape some of the relatively immediate results of sin, but all will eventually pay the price of unrepented-of rebellion against God's law.

Trend of Natural Disasters

Since 1988 the WHO [World Health Organization] Collaborating Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) has been maintaining an Emergency Events Database - EM-DAT. EM-DAT was created with the initial support of the WHO and the Belgian Government.

Inspired Commentary

Jesus once mentioned something about what it would be like before His return:

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matt. 24:7).