What We Can Learn From History
One of the deadliest pandemics in history came upon the world in the last century. It was at the closing year of the First World War in 1918. The War actually is where the pandemic was fostered and spread through camps of soldiers in the last year of the Great War. The first wave of the pandemic was in 1918 and concluded in 1920. The pandemic was known as the Spanish flu but was actually the H1N1 virus. It was called the Spanish flu simply because following the war there were media restrictions around the world that would not allow reporting on the pandemic. Spain was exempt from the media restriction and so the news first came from Spain and thus it was called the Spanish flu.
In the middle of this coronavirus crisis we heard about the death of one strong voice of hope in our world. Ravi Zacharias passed away May 19, 2020. He was a strong Christian voice of Christ-centered hope in the middle of a chaotic and troubled world. I would like to share a few thoughts about the life of Ravi Zacharias, who I am sure will go down in our history books as a person who made a major impact in the world and will continue to do so with the numerous books he has authored and the broadcasts and podcasts he has recorded through RZIM (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries). He had a voice that directed thousands of people around the world to hope in Christ. He was one of the most brilliant and humble men I have ever heard. Both he and Billy Graham—who also passed into eternity last year at 99 years on this earth—have made a huge impact for Christ in the 20th century, and in the 21st century as well.
Covid-19 is something invisible that has affected the world. The history of the world has been affected by serious pandemics over and over throughout human history. I feel we have almost come to a sense that we are immune to any serious pandemic in our Western world. We have been shocked to reality that all of our medical advancements, modern science and technology does not make us immune to the invisible things that affect the body, that devastate our way of life, and in such a short time too. In this article I would like to share with you the historic account of a true story of a message from an invisible hand.
Small pox was another virus that affected Canada from coast to coast over the first centuries beginning in the 17th century. Indigenous people had no immunity to small pox resulting in devastating infection spreads and death rates. The indigenous people from every corner of Canada were affected. History in Canada would have been written totally differently for the First Nations people if small pox had not affected populations in the first centuries of European settlement.
What Was The Reformation?:
The Morning Star is the first star and last star you see at the end of a dark night. It is actually the planet Venus. John Wycliffe is known as the Morning Star of the Reformation. He was the first bright light after 1000 years of spiritual darkness. Martin Luther and the printing press caused the light of that star to shine all over the entire plague devastated world 150 years later.