The Wuhan Coronavirus and Old Testament Health Laws

The Wuhan coronavirus is a killer. While the true extent of the new coronavirus is unclear, it appears to be more deadly than seasonal influenza. Of the 1,370 cases confirmed globally as of noon on Saturday in China, there have been 41 deaths, a mortality rate of 3.1%. Agreed, this coronavirus is far less deadly than related coronaviruses. For instance, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) had a mortality rate of about 10% and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), some 34 percent.

It is believed that this latest coronavirus pneumonia virus emerged from a live animal market in the city of Wuhan – a city with some 11 million inhabitants. The market is located less than half a mile from one of the city’s train stations, where several high-speed trains stop. It must be assumed that people and their live animals, walked that short distance a few weeks ago, possibly carrying the virus via the trains to cities across China.

Although the vast majority of coronavirus cases are in China, thirteen other countries have reported outbreaks. On Saturday, the China Global Television Network reported that a doctor who had been treating patients in the city of Wuhan, had died from the virus.

Some in the medical field believe a barrage of infectious diseases is imminent. Within recent decades we’ve had SARS, MERS, Ebola and now the Wuhan coronavirus. We are facing a growing risk from emerging and re-emerging pathogens (infectious agents). In addition, the risk is much more than direct sickness and death. Trade and travel will be affected, and with them entire economies. Just imagine ships, trains and airplanes, plying routes having to be quarantined and subjected to fumigation procedures. Freight charges will definitely be increased in order to compensate for delays and processing fees.

Some 3,400 years ago, thousands of Jews left Egypt – a land riddled with diseases, despite having the most advanced medicine at that time. These Jews lived in tents, with animals in the wilderness for forty years. Without any knowledge of immunity, vaccines or bacteria, how did those Jews avoid massive infectious diseases among their people?

In his volume, Magic, Myth and Medicine, Dr D.T. Atkinson makes the point that “in the Bible, greater stress was placed upon prevention of disease than to the treatment of bodily ailments. “As a result,” contends Atkinson, “no race of people, before or since, has left us such a wealth of laws relative to hygiene and sanitation as the Jewish people.”

These important laws, coming down through the ages, are still used in every country in the world, sufficiently enlightened to observe them. Simply read the book of Leviticus carefully and thoughtfully, and one would conclude that the admonitions of Moses contained the groundwork of most of today's sanitary laws. Regardless of one’s spiritual leanings, one must sense that the wisdom expressed in the Bible regarding the rules to protect health, is superior to any which existed then, and even today.  

The Old Testament gave a list of unclean animals not to be eaten, now known, more likely to be transmitters of disease. Guidelines were provided regarding the proper handling of animal meat. For instance, “do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats” (Leviticus 7:23) - plant-based diet seemed to be preferred.

Also, handling the dead has been a significant avenue for the spread of infectious diseases. Jewish laws severely curtailed handling the dead and imposed a rigid system of purification washings for this and other situations like emissions and childbirth with its vulnerabilities to disease transmission. We now know, hand washing is the single most effective disease prevention activity. In addition, Jews rigidly applied the quarantine and curtailment of movement for deadly infectious diseases – ideas which we practice and have come to appreciate today.

The 14th century bubonic plague (Black Death) was kept at bay from the Jewish ghetto in Strasbourg, Germany. The Jews applied Old Testament sanitation principles. Balavignus, a Jewish medical doctor, directed the cleaning-up and burning of refuse. The rat vectors were forced to migrate to dirtier parts of town, taking the disease with them. In addition, the Jews were familiar with the Torah which instructed them “to dig a hole and bury their excrement” (Deuteronomy 23;12-13).

I thoroughly agree with the view expressed by Martin Henry, the late Jamaican scholar. He contended, “we are going to need a lot more than high-tech medicine to remain personally healthy, and to reduce the public health impact of new and resurgent infectious diseases rushing at us and the burden of non-communicable lifestyle diseases. We have a tried and tested old manual. Groups of people who follow it more than their neighbours, have been shown to be better off in health.”

Sixty Years of Kingston Keswick

Prior to 1972, I knew nothing about Keswick. Today, 48 years later, I am still involved in a Christian movement that focuses on living victoriously. I was introduced to Keswick in Kingston, Jamaica. However, the movement got its name from the place where the first gathering was convened in Keswick, England. In 2016, when my wife and I visited this community in the Lake District of England, it was the first time we were seeing the name Keswick as a location, and not as a Christian convention.

At the first Keswick convention in 1875, more than 400 persons met under the banner of “All One in Christ Jesus.” That same theme was prominently displayed in the 5,000-seater tent my wife and I visited in 2016. That theme was first used by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:28. Paul was emphasizing the oneness believers experience when the Holy Spirit brings them into the universal church. The distinguishing marks of ethnicity, status, and gender were subordinated to the primacy of oneness in Jesus Christ.

As I expressed in a recent Keswick publication, historians will concur that Keswick’s theological emphases did not begin in England. The theological emphases had their genesis with Robert and Hannah Smith in the United States of America. In the eighth year of marriage, these two Quakers were both converted to Christ on the same day.

In their struggle to live victoriously, they consulted with older Christians. They were told that the life of sinning and repenting was inevitable because of basic human weakness. They were caught in the cycle of sinning and repenting as well as making good resolutions and breaking them. They both longed for victory over sin.

The influence of a young Baptist theological student and a Methodist dressmaker helped Hannah Smith to understand what it meant to live victoriously by overcoming the power of sin. Hannah learned that she and Robert could be “more than conquerors through Christ” (Romans 8:37). Although neither of the Smiths had theological training, each had an unusual ability to simplify abstract religious truths. They used every possible minute to teach others to live victoriously.

Their commitment to the family business and to propagating this message of living victoriously began to impact their health. Their doctor strongly recommended a period of rest. In 1872, they chose England to get the prescribed rest.

On their arrival in London, they found that their fame had preceded them. Before long, they were addressing groups of Christians on the secrets of living victoriously. At one of those meetings, the Smiths met the Rev. Evan Hopkins. Hopkins invited clergyman, Canon Harford-Battersby from the district of Keswick to participate. Under Battersby’s guidance, the first convention met in Keswick in 1875.

From that small community of Keswick in northern England, the movement quickly spread throughout England. In 1900, the convention was introduced to Mandeville, Jamaica. It was the first overseas gathering under the Keswick banner. Mandeville Keswick has since given birth to a number of conventions, including Kingston Keswick in 1960. Since 1973 I have had the honor to serve at various levels of Keswick in different countries.

Keswick is unapologetically geared to Christians who see themselves as tired of sin and eager for victory over sin. At a 1905 convention, one preacher who was scheduled to preach, did not preach. He was so humbled and overwhelmed by the previous preacher, he led the congregation in a season of confession and prayer. This is how he described the experience – “The prayer was scarcely concluded, when a spirit of penitent confession broke out in every quarter, and I stood there on my feet for about two and a half hours, witnessing the Holy Spirit’s wondrous working.”

That spontaneous experience has been repeated numerous times in conventions around the world. It is not unusual to see scores of believers weeping after a service. Over the years, thousands have responded to missionary appeals. Hudson Taylor once said that two-thirds of the missionaries in the China Inland Mission were there as a result of the Keswick ministry.

My wife is a product of Keswick ministry. Keswick nurtured her fledgling faith in Mandeville, Jamaica. For our entire marriage, Keswick has had a major positive influence. Because of Keswick, we have established some of our more meaningful friendships and have had some unforgettable ministry opportunities.

Another of those opportunities surfaces this week when Kingston Keswick celebrates sixty years of ministry. I feel honored to be among some of the luncheon speakers. I am praying that God will use

this year’s convention to rekindle another movement – a movement to strengthen foundations for a strong future; a movement of godly passion and godly power among Christians.

King's Letter From Prison

I just finished reading two letters. Both letters were written in April 1963. The first entitled, “A Call for Unity”, was written by eight Alabama clergymen to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The second letter was Dr. King’s reply, entitled, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”.

Allow me to provide the background that warranted the writing of the letters. African Americans were living under some of the most horrendous conditions. Their churches and homes were being firebombed. Jim Crow laws prevented them from sharing with whites in various public settings - their sense of worth was denied.

Civil rights leaders peacefully protested the injustices of segregation. In order to protest, even peacefully, it was necessary to break Alabama’s segregation laws. In responding to this situation, the eight clergymen wrote to Dr. King. Their letter was “an appeal for law and order and common sense.”

They asked for the discontinuation of the protests. They cautioned that the demonstrations were providing opportunities for others to become violent. Hence, in order to avoid possible violence, discontinue the demonstrations; obey the law and resort to dialog with the authorities.

Dr. King’s response from the Birmingham City Jail should be read by everyone interested in civil discourse. The spirit and tone of the letter is a lesson in civility and Christian grace. As he came to the end of the ten-page document (single-space), he said, “If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.”

Other than the tone of the letter, Dr. King’s response was well-reasoned, biblical and sensitive to needs of hurting people. Although he never challenged the good intentions of the clergymen, he clearly challenged their devotion to “order” at the expense of “justice”. In essence, the clergymen were asking that their peace be maintained, as peace was delayed and denied for others.

The clergymen believed Dr. King’s peaceful demonstrations were tantamount to extremism. To this charge, he reminded them that Jesus was an extremist for love. He called for a radical reaction to opposition – “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44 KJV).

As though that were not radical enough, Dr. King went on to cite the Old Testament prophet Amos. He was an extremist for justice when he said, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).

For Dr. King, the issue was not merely being branded as extremist, “but rather, what kind of extremists we will be.” He went on to ask, “Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?”

Quoting St. Thomas Aquinas, Dr. King contended, “any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.” As such, all segregation laws were unjust – they damaged human personality. “Segregation gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.”

Here we are, almost 57 years since those letters were written and no one cares to know the names of those clergymen. However, Dr. King’s name and contribution are known around the world – as a matter of fact, to be able to honor his birthday with a national holiday speaks volumes.

In an article on the meaning of the holiday, the King Center website states that “the King holiday honors the life and contributions of America’s greatest champion of racial justice and equality, the leader who not only dreamed of a color-blind society, but who also lead a movement that achieved historic reforms to help make it a reality.”

This week we commemorate Dr. King’s great dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for children of every race and room at the inn for every needy child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial sister and brotherhood King so compellingly expressed in his great dream for America.

As we celebrate this week, culminating with the federal holiday on Monday, January 20, we have much for which to be thankful, much has been accomplished in race relations in America. Let us stop looking to others and ask, what more can I do to help?