The difficult times of Ebola

Matthew 24:17-21 (NIV)

17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

Jesus is explaining the end times to the disciples after they asked when the end of the world would be coming. In the verses above Jesus gave some warnings and things that would take place before the end of the world approached.

The Ebola patient being held in a Texas isolation unit was a good neighbor who helped carry a pregnant woman who was convulsing and vomiting blood to an Ebola ward and then home again less than week before he left Liberia for Texas, neighbors told ABC News.

The pregnant woman who was 19 and about seven months along became sick on Friday, Sept. 12, according to neighbor Irene Seyou. On Monday, Sept. 15, she went to a clinic, but was told they couldn't help her and advised her to go to a hospital. After returning from the clinic, the woman started convulsing that night and neighbors, including Duncan, helped carry her to a taxi, which took her to the maternity ward at JFK Hospital, which wouldn't take her. The hospital's Ebola treatment unit also turned her away. They then drove to another hospital named ELWA2, which also couldn't take her, according to Seyou.

Duncan rode with her during this last trip and when the cab returned, it stopped at the edge of housing compound and Duncan helped carry her to home. During this time, she was vomiting blood, Seyou told ABC News.

She died the next day, Seyou said.

[ABC news, Texas Ebola Patient Was Good Neighbor Who Helped Dying Woman]

The Bible tells us that even before the end times come “How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!” Only God the Father knows the exact time when the world as we know it will come to an end. However, The Bible still holds true about things we will see as we draw closer to an end.

As I read about the Ebola virus in an online article; I was reminded of the verse above when it was mentioned in the article that women who are pregnant and catch Ebola have little hope of survival. I worry we have thought this problem was not ours and we will deal with it when the times comes. Well the time has come and we can say how dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! L

Let us take action to do what we can. Pray for those who are sick. Support charities that are providing aid and relief to the efforts against the Ebola virus. Remember above all that God is in control and will protect you as you stay close to Him.