Sermon Central
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Smallpox Is An Infectious Disease Unique To ...
Contributed by Bobby Scobey on Jul 8, 2009 (message contributor)
Smallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans. It raises fluid-filled blisters in the skin. How many remember the smallpox vaccination? Do you remember that one big blister on your arm? A person with smallpox has them all over his skin. The image on Google was too hideous to show you. It results in scars, blindness, arthritis and osteomyelitis.
It was a scourge during the 18th century and killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year, including three rulers. It caused one-third of all blindness. Of all those infected, 20–60%—and over 80% of infected children—died from the disease. During the 20th century, it is estimated that smallpox was responsible for 300–500 million deaths.
In the early 1950s an estimated 50 million cases of smallpox occurred in the world each year. As recently as 1967, the World Health Organization estimated that 15 million people contracted the disease and that two million died in that year.
After successful vaccination campaigns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the WHO certified the eradication of smallpox in December 1979. To this day, smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been completely eradicated.
Vaccination was developed with astute observers noted that milkmaids who had contracted cowpox never got smallpox. Cowpox is a contagious viral disease of cows and is a mild form of smallpox.
Religion is a mild form of righteousness but it not the real thing. It is close enough that it will inoculate people from really coming to Christ. The mere form of religion will make them unaware they need faith in Christ.
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Pride Is The Dandelion Of The Soul. Its Root Goes ...
Contributed by Donnie Martin on Aug 18, 2004
Pride is the dandelion of the soul. Its root goes deep; only a little left behind sprouts again. Its seeds lodge in the tiniest encouraging cracks. And it flourishes in good soil: The ...read more
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India
Contributed by Paul Wallace on Feb 28, 2005
India So I wrote in my journal, describing the aftermath of the October 1999 cyclone whose 200 mph winds and 30-foot tidal surge devastated the coastal areas of Orissa , India . Originating in the Bay of Bengal , the storm killed an estimated 100,000 people and domestic livestock, mostly by ...read more
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Henry Blackaby—on Tsumani
Contributed by Paul Wallace on Feb 28, 2005
Henry Blackaby -On Tsumani Blackaby says natural disasters can point to God’s judgment By Ken Walker Baptist Press LEXINGTON, Ky. - The author of the bestselling "Experiencing God" study thinks divine retribution was at work in the tsunami that struck southern Asia in late December. Henry ...read more
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In A Back Yard There Once Lived An Apple Tree ... PRO
Contributed by Joel Pankow on Jun 25, 2004
In a back yard there once lived an apple tree and a thorn bush. The apple tree produced nice juicy apples that everyone liked to eat. Kids would climb up the tree and pluck the apples. Worms would eat the ones that fell on the ground. Birds would peck away at the fruit from the top. The owner ...read more
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As I Mentioned At The Outset, "Pride Is A ...
Contributed by Donnie Martin on Aug 18, 2004
As I mentioned at the outset, “Pride is a killer.” One man in history learned that lesson the hard way. During the Battle of the Wilderness in the Civil War, Union general John Sedgwick was inspecting his troops. At one point he came to a parapet, over which he gazed out in the direction of ...read more
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