 When we get sick, we try not to spread the disease. We quarantine ourselves with infectious diseases like God told the Israelites to do (Leviticus 13:45-46). It’s the only sensible and caring thing to do. Mary Mallon, known as typhoid Mary, was not so careful. An Irish immigrant in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s she became a known carrier of typhoid fever. She was a cook who refused to wash her hands as she cooked for many families in New York. She was asymptomatic, that is, she did not have the disease though she carried it in her gallbladder. The combination of lack of hygiene and food preparation meant she spread typhoid to many people, some of whom died of the disease. Forcibly quarantined on two separate occasions, she continued to change her name, work as a cook and further spread the disease. European immigrants brought small pox epidemics to New England in 1633-34. Caribbean refugees brought yellow fever to Philadelphia in 1793. A cholera epidemic spread across the U.S. between 1830-1851, having spread via the trade routes from India. A deadly flu epidemic that killed 20 million people spread through the armies of World War 1. The now 30 plus years of the H.I.V. worldwide epidemic started in Haiti, and has yet to be contained. Ebola plus open borders plus the food service industry plus amnesty for aliens plus the refusal to put quarantines in place equals an epidemic. Typhoid Mary, as irresponsible as she was, does not compare with health risks we are now taking. Rick Cunningham
 The apostle Paul endured a great deal of abuse: imprisonments, floggings, stoning, shipwrecks, etc. His back must have been solid scar tissue, as he had been beaten by rods on three different occasions and been whipped with thirty-nine lashes on five different occasions. He lived in perpetual pain and danger (II Corinthians 11:32ff). But maybe his most painful experience was dealt him by “false brothers” (II Corinthians 11:26). They said about him, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing” (II Corinthians 10:11). Some people, Christians, compared themselves to Paul and declared themselves to be superior to him. They thought they were better speakers, better teachers, able to boast that their understanding of things far exceeded Paul’s wisdom. Paul responded to these self-righteous know-it-alls in II Corinthians 10-13. He said in part, “‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord! For it is not the man who commends himself who is approved, but the man whom the Lord commends” (II Corinthians 10:17-18). Christians should never compare themselves to other Christians. Such self-righteous people put others down in order to make themselves look better. But it’s a delusional practice that ultimately proves the one who boasts is petty and self-serving. We would do well to remember Jesus’ words: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14). Rick Cunningham
 The world around us is spiraling down in a cesspool of sin. God’s Word is being ignored by legions of the godless. It is as if Sodom and Gomorrah are being rebuilt in our society. And we have to live in this filth and resist it’s evil influences. Will it ever get better? Yes, it will get better. In the original Sodom and Gomorrah region there were no righteous people except Lot. God fixed the problem while delivering Lot. Peter tells us about God, “If he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) – if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment” (II Peter 2:6-9). God provided justice for Lot in the end. Do you ever feel tormented in your soul by the lawless deeds you see and hear: Muslim beheadings, child pornography, kidnappings, rape, murder, homosexuality, cruelty, thuggery, thievery, bribery, drug abuse, corrupt politicans, drunkenness, lying, etc. It’s enough to make any soul sickened. When the ugliness seems to be overwhelming, remember how God saved Lot as he punished the evildoers. God will rescue us from Sodom and Gomorrah. Rick Cunningham
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